If your supplier vanished tomorrow, could you carry on? A plain guide to code ownership, repositories, hosting and handover.
Plenty of business owners pay for custom software and later discover they can't get at the code, don't control the hosting, or can't change supplier without starting again. A few questions up front prevent this.
In the UK, the person who writes code is often its first owner unless a contract says otherwise. Your agreement should say who owns what on payment, and how any third-party or open-source components are licensed. Have a solicitor look over anything significant.
The code should live in a version-control repository, ideally one in your organisation's account, with the developer added as a collaborator. That way access is yours to grant or remove.
Domains, hosting, databases, email services and third-party API keys should sit in accounts you own. If they're in the supplier's name, moving on can be painful.
Ask for a short README covering how to run, deploy and configure the system, and where credentials live. Good documentation reduces the chance of building up technical debt and makes any handover easier.
We can review your current setup and tell you what you own and what you don't.
Start a conversation →Yes. Ownership and ongoing support are separate; many clients own their code and keep a support arrangement.
Start by finding out where the code and hosting live and who has access. A review can then tell you what condition it's in. This isn't legal advice.
