What is a code handover?
Whether you are receiving an app or leaving a supplier, a handover is only as good as its list. Here is the list.
In short
A code handover is the transfer of a piece of software from one team to another: the source code and its history, the infrastructure and accounts it runs on, the secrets, the documentation, and the knowledge of how it is built, released and fixed. A complete code handover lets the new team ship a change without calling the old one.
Also called: Software handover, Project handoff
Why it matters when your prototype goes to production
Most AI-built apps change hands at least once: from the builder to the founder, from a freelancer to an agency, from an agency to an in-house team. Each time, whatever was not written down stays behind with the people who leave.
What a complete handover includes
- The repository with its full history, owned by your organisation's account.
- Admin access to hosting, database, domain, email and payment accounts, in your name.
- Every secret, listed and rotated after the handover.
- How to run it locally, run the tests and release a change.
- Known issues and the reasons behind unusual decisions.
Our plans are built so that the handover is already done: the repositories, infrastructure and documentation are yours from the start, and if you stop, you keep all of it.
Common questions
How do I test that a handover is complete?
Ask the new team to make a small change and release it to production with no help from the old one. Anything they have to ask for was missing.
Related terms
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More on this: Product strategy & scoping · All glossary terms
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