"You own the code" is easy to say and easy to say vaguely. This is the list a client actually receives, and the test for whether ownership is real.
The list
- Source code, all of it. Back office, app, website, and the scripts that build and deploy them. Nothing held back as "our framework".
- The repository, in your account. The git history is transferred to a GitHub or GitLab organisation you own. We are added as collaborators while we are working, and removed when you say so.
- Hosting in your name. The hosting account, the database, storage and any email or SMS gateway are created under your billing and your login. Invoices come to you. If we vanish, nothing expires.
- Domain in your registrar account. The single most common way a business loses its website is a domain registered by a vendor who stops answering. Yours stays yours.
- Every credential, in a password manager you control. Admin logins, API keys, app store accounts. Shared once, rotated by you.
- App store listings under your developer accounts. Android and iOS listings are published from accounts registered to your business, so a future update does not need us.
- Documentation another developer can start from. How to run it locally, how to deploy, where the data lives, what each module does. Written for the next person, not for us.
- The data model, explained. A diagram and a plain description of the tables, because the data is worth more than the code.
The test
Ownership is real if you can hand the repository and the documentation to a developer we have never met and they can deploy a change within a week. We build and document to pass that test, and we would rather a client know they can leave than feel they cannot.
What is not included, and why
Third-party services the system talks to, such as a payment gateway, an SMS provider or map tiles, stay with their providers under your account. Open-source libraries stay under their own licences, which permit exactly this use. Neither is a catch; it is how every piece of software is built, and the documentation names each one.
After handover
There is no retainer. When you need a change, you message us and it is quoted like a piece of work, small changes small. If you would rather have someone in-house or a different studio make the change, the list above is what makes that possible. The questions on the home page cover the rest.
Your numbers
Pick your layers, see the band.
The scope builder uses the same bands as this post and shows a timeline and price for your combination in a minute.