Do I get access to the code, CMS and analytics?

Yes. Every LaunchPad tier includes a CMS and user analytics, and you get access to them alongside the code. During the build the accounts can sit with us or with you. At launch they’re yours either way.

This article is about the practical side: what you can log into, and when. The legal side, who owns the code, is covered in do I own the code and IP?

Your choice during the build

Some founders want everything in their own name from day one. Others would rather we set things up and hand over at launch. Both are fine, and neither changes who ends up holding the keys.

Either way, you can see the code and the work in progress throughout the build. Whoever holds the accounts during the build, you get admin access to them.

Whoever’s name is on them, the accounts are paid for until launch. The LaunchPad fixed price includes them, so no hosting or licence invoice lands on your desk mid-build.

The code

Your code lives in a GitHub repository, with its full history. If we hold it during the build, the repository transfers to your GitHub organisation at launch. Transfers keep the history, so nothing is lost.

Access means more than being able to read it. A competent developer should be able to clone it, run it and deploy it without asking us anything. That’s the test worth applying to any supplier.

The CMS

A CMS, or content management system, is where you edit the words and images on your product without a developer. Every tier includes one.

Which CMS you get depends on the product, and we choose it with you in Discovery. A content-heavy website needs a proper CMS. Some products need an admin portal more than a CMS. For Sea Turtles Jamaica, we built one on Forest Admin to produce guest lists for hatchling releases.

Your team gets its own logins, and adding or removing editors is up to you.

The analytics

Every tier includes user analytics, set up so you can see how people actually use the product. Scale adds deeper user analytics on top.

The tools are chosen in Discovery, based on what you need to measure. Whatever we pick, the analytics account and the data in it are yours at launch. Nobody filters what you see.

Hosting and the app stores

• AWS. Your setup is a whole AWS account, run under our AWS Control Tower, and it moves out to you.
• App Store and Google Play. Apps transfer between developer accounts. If you publish under your own account from the start, there’s nothing to transfer.
• Third-party services. Payments, email and similar services end up in your company’s name and on your card.

If you would rather we kept running the hosting and accounts after launch, that’s what TotalCare is for. Do you offer ongoing maintenance and updates? explains it.

Why we care about this

We’ve met founders whose agency held the repository, the hosting and the app store listing. When the project stalled, they couldn’t leave without starting again. Our guide to what to do when your agency has stalled starts with securing exactly these accounts.

If you’re in that position now, can you take over an app another agency built? explains how we pick up someone else’s work.

We’d rather you never need either. Owning every account at launch means you stay with us because the work is good, not because leaving is hard.