The main way to customize Gitea is by using the `custom` folder. This is the central place to override and configure features.
If you install Gitea from binary, after the installation process ends, you can find the `custom` folder next to the binary.
Gitea will create the folder for you and prepopulate it with a `conf` folder inside, where Gitea stores all the configuration settings provided through the installation steps (have a look [here](https://docs.gitea.io/en-us/config-cheat-sheet/) for a complete list).
If you can't find the `custom` folder next to the binary, please check the `GITEA_CUSTOM` environment variable, that can be used to override the default path to something else. `GITEA_CUSTOM` might be set for example in your launch script file. Please have a look [here](https://docs.gitea.io/en-us/specific-variables/) for a complete list of environment variables.
**Note** that you have to restart Gitea for it to notice the changes.
## Customizing /robots.txt
To make Gitea serve your own `/robots.txt` (by default, an empty 404 status is served), simply create a file called `robots.txt` in the `custom` folder with the [expected contents](http://www.robotstxt.org/).
## Serving custom public files
To make Gitea serve custom public files (like pages and images), use the folder `custom/public/` as the webroot. Symbolic links will be followed.
For example, a file `image.png` stored in `custom/public`, can be accessed with the url `http://your-gitea-url/image.png`.
## Changing the default avatar
Place the png image at the following path: `custom/public/img/avatar_default.png`
## Customizing Gitea pages
The `custom/templates` folder allows you to change every single page of Gitea.
You need to be aware of the template you want to change. All templates can be found in the `templates` folder of the Gitea sources.
When you find the correct .tmpl file, you need to copy it in the `custom/templates` folder of your installation, __respecting__ any subfolder you found in the source template.
You can now customize the template you copied in `custom/templates`, being carefully to not break the Gitea syntax.
Any statement contained inside `{{` and `}}` are Gitea templete's syntax and shouldn't be touch, unless you know what are you doing.
To add in custom HTML to the header or the footer of the page, in the `templates/custom` directory there are `header.tmpl` and `footer.tmpl` that can be modified. This is useful if you want to add in custom CSS files, or additional Javascript.
