Developer Left the Project? What to Secure First

Description

Troubleshooting Your developer left. How to get the project moving again

Secure access before anything else: the code repository, the hosting account, the domain, the database and the app-store accounts, in that order. Change every password the developer knew. Only then look for a new team, and ask them to audit the code before they quote. Most projects can be continued; a few need rebuilding.

Get a technical assessment Last updated 2 October 2026

What is at risk today

When the only person who understands your software goes quiet, the code is rarely the first thing to fail. These are:

Risk

What happens

How soon

Hosting or cloud bill unpaid

The site or app goes offline

At the next billing date

Domain expires

Your address stops working; someone else can register it

At renewal

Developer still has administrator access

They can change, copy or delete anything

Now

No recent backup

One mistake or one failed disk loses your data

Unknown until it happens

App-store account in the developer's name

You cannot publish an update or a fix

The next time you need one

Work through the list below in order. Each item removes one of these risks.

What to secure, in order

1. The source code

Ask for access to the repository (GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket) and make your company the owner, not a collaborator. If there is no repository and the code exists only on the developer's laptop or on the server, get a full copy now.

Check that what you receive is complete: it should include the history of changes, not only the latest files.

2. Hosting and cloud accounts

Find out where the software runs (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Vercel, a VPS provider) and whose name and card are on the account. Move it to an account your company owns. If the developer hosted it inside their own account alongside other clients, plan a migration; do not leave it there.

3. The domain and DNS

Log in to the registrar. Confirm the domain is registered to your company, the renewal date, and that the contact email is one you control. Domains registered in a developer's personal account are the commonest reason a business loses its own address.

4. The database and a backup

Take a backup today and store it somewhere the developer cannot reach. Then confirm that automatic backups exist and that one has actually been restored at least once. A backup nobody has tested is a hope, not a backup.

5. App Store and Play Store accounts

Apps published under a developer's personal account have to be transferred to yours. Both Apple and Google have a transfer process; start it early, because it needs the cooperation of the current account holder.

6. Third-party services

List every outside service the software uses: payment gateway, SMS, email, maps, analytics, push notifications. Each should be registered to your company. Reissue the API keys once they are.

7. Change every credential

When all of the above is in your name, change the passwords and rotate the keys. Remove the former developer's access from each system. Do this last, not first: locking someone out before you hold the accounts can leave you locked out too.

What to hand a new team

A new team needs four things to start:

Read access to the repository.

Access to a staging or test copy of the system, or permission to create one.

A list of what the software is supposed to do, even an informal one.

A list of what is currently broken.

They should respond with an audit, not a quote. The audit says whether the software runs from its repository, what it is built with, what is unsafe, and whether repairing it is cheaper than rebuilding. The steps WavX follows are on the software rescue page.

Signs the code will need rebuilding

A rebuild is the exception. It becomes likely when:

The source code cannot be recovered at all.

It was built on a framework or version that is no longer supported and cannot be upgraded step by step.

Customer data, passwords or payment details are handled unsafely throughout, not in one place.

It was generated quickly with an AI coding tool and never reviewed. See rescue for apps built with AI coding tools.

How to avoid this next time

Keep every account in your company's name from day one, and give developers access to it.

Ask for the code to be pushed to your repository weekly, not delivered at the end.

Pay against working software you can see, not against time elapsed.

Ask for a short written handover document as part of every project.

The guides on choosing between in-house, an agency and a freelancer and how to hire a software development company cover the selection side.

Frequently asked questions

The developer will not hand over the source code. What can I do?

Check your agreement first: if you paid for the work and the contract assigns it to you, the code is yours and a written request usually resolves it. If the code runs on a server you control, a copy can often be taken from there. If neither works, the software may have to be rebuilt. For a legal dispute, speak to a lawyer; a development team cannot resolve ownership.

Can a new team continue from where the old one stopped?

Usually, if they can get the code and run it. They should audit it first and tell you which parts are sound. Be wary of anyone who says it must all be rewritten before reading it, and of anyone who quotes a fixed price before reading it.

Is my live app at risk right now?

The main risks are a hosting bill that lapses, a domain that expires, and a former developer who still holds administrator access. All three are fixed by moving the accounts into your company's name and changing the credentials.

How long does a handover take?

With full access, a new team can usually have the software running on their own machines within days. Without access, recovery of accounts is the slow part, because registrars, cloud providers and app stores each have their own ownership checks.

Related

Software rescue: take over and fix an existing project

In-house, agency or freelancer: how to choose

How to hire a software development company in India

Build your own software — your way, your pricing.

WavX Solutions is here to create your own software in a fully custom way, built exactly how you work — with a pricing model that fits your business. Connect now and let's build it.

Contact Now helpwavx@gmail.com