Your code and accounts

Who owns the code?

You do, from the moment it is written. Our agreement treats the work as made for hire, which makes you the owner at creation rather than at the end of a payment schedule. There is no license you have to keep paying for and nothing of ours that stays embedded in your product.

The one exception is nonpayment, which pauses your right to use the work until the invoice is settled. Short of that, you can leave at any time and take it with you.

Where does my code live, and how do I get access?

For new engagements, in a repository owned by you or by your company, with us added as collaborators. Not in an Eight Bit account that you get a copy of later.

Some existing clients’ repositories still sit in our workspace from before that was the rule. If that is you, ask and we will either move it or add you as an owner.

The difference matters when a relationship ends: if the account is already yours, there is nothing to hand over, because removing our access is the entire transition. If you are not sure which arrangement you have, ask and we will tell you plainly.

Which accounts should be in my name?

All of them. This is the "no lock-in" claim made concrete, and it is worth checking early rather than at the end.

• Your domain registrar
• Hosting and deployment
• Apple and Google developer accounts
• Payments, such as Stripe
• Messaging and email delivery, such as Twilio and your email provider
• Analytics. Error monitoring is usually ours to run, so ask if you would rather it sat in your account
• AI provider keys and billing

Can I use my own AI tools on my code?

Yes. It is your code, and we would rather you build on it than around it. Work on a branch in your repo, with Claude Code, Cursor, or whatever you use. Nothing reaches production without passing the same automated checks our own changes pass and a look from us, so the app stays something we can stand behind. We keep the repo rules file current so your tools follow the same conventions ours do.

Support follows the same rule: at the first level of Live Mode we will tell you when one of your changes breaks something; above that we fix it, as long as it went through the checks. If your app does not have those checks yet, that is the first thing we set up, and we will tell you where you stand.

Where is my admin, style guide, or dashboard?

In your kickoff document, along with every other link specific to your project. We do not publish client URLs here.

If you cannot find it, send a request through the form and we will resend it.