Before you sign with a web app development company, ask one question: whose account will the code live in? If the answer is “ours, and we’ll transfer it at the end,” change the terms or change the vendor. Your code belongs in a repository you own from the first commit, with the agency’s developers added as collaborators.
It sounds like paperwork. It decides who holds the power when a project goes sideways. At AppVerticals, we have taken over a platform that a previous development partner couldn’t finish, and a rescue like that starts with two questions: where is the code, and who can open it?
Paying for Code Doesn’t Automatically Make It Yours
Plenty of founders assume a paid invoice transfers ownership. U.S. law is less generous. The U.S. Copyright Office’s circular on works made for hire explains that commissioned work counts as work made for hire only when it falls into one of nine specific categories and both parties sign a written agreement saying so. Custom software rarely fits those categories, so your contract needs an explicit assignment of intellectual property to your company. Have a lawyer read that clause.
The contract settles legal title. The repository settles everything practical. A signed IP clause helps very little if the only copy of your code sits in a vendor’s GitHub organization and the vendor stops answering email.
Three Clauses Worth Adding to the Contract
- IP assignment. Assignment on creation protects you from the first line of code. Many vendors ask for assignment on payment instead, which is fair as long as each payment milestone stays small.
- Account ownership. Every repository, cloud account and outside service sits under your company, with the vendor working as an invited user.
- Exit terms. If either side ends the contract, the vendor hands over credentials, documentation and any unmerged work within a fixed number of days.
None of these clauses insult a good vendor. They describe how good vendors already work.
What “Your Repo” Looks Like Day to Day
- You create the GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket organization and keep the owner role.
- The agency’s developers join as members, and you can remove their access yourself.
- Your company owns the cloud account on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, and the agency works inside it.
- Domains, DNS and services like Stripe or SendGrid sit under your company email.
- The repo has a README that explains how to run the project locally and deploy it.
A web app development company that resists this setup is showing you how a dispute with them would go.
Access During the Build Matters More Than the Handover
Owning the repo from day one also gives you visibility. Commits and pull requests show what changed each week. A technical advisor can review the code before small problems turn expensive. Nothing surprises you at the end, because you never wait for a final handover.With MVP development services, the stakes run higher. An MVP budget has no room for a rebuild, and founders at the seed stage often bring in a second team or an in-house CTO as the product grows. Access from the first sprint turns that transition into a simple handover. Without it, the new team starts with archaeology.
What a Takeover Teaches You
The platform we took over belonged to a U.S. logistics technology company that connects shippers with trucking carriers. Its previous partner couldn’t deliver the defined scope. Our team started by analyzing the existing system and listing the gaps against what shippers and carriers needed. Then we finished the job: live shipment tracking, instant freight quotes for shippers, a load board where carriers find freight that fits their capacity, and tools for payments and driver management.
That rescue worked because there was a codebase we could open, read and build on. When a founder can’t give the next team the code, the next team quotes a rebuild, and the founder pays for the same product twice.
Set It Up Before the First Sprint
Put the repository in your company’s name before development starts, add the agency as collaborators, and write the IP assignment into the contract. The same rules apply to a full product build and to MVP development services. A capable web app development company will set this up with you in an afternoon. If a vendor hesitates, take the hint before you sign.
Sandra Larson is a writer with the personal blog at ElizabethanAuthor and an academic coach for students. Her main sphere of professional interest is the connection between AI and modern study techniques. Sandra believes that digital tools are a way to a better future in the education system.
