1
Repository control
Who controls the complete source repository?
Verify: Confirm that your team has administrator access to the repository account, full history, branches, and collaborator settings.
Useful Mint
Free decision tool
AI App Builder Code Ownership Checklist
Check whether your app can still be built, deployed, restored, and maintained if the builder changes its limits or stops fitting your team.
Scope
Six ownership checks
Time
About three minutes
Input
Controlled choices only
2
Reproducible local build
Can a clean checkout run without the builder?
Verify: Use a clean folder or machine, follow only the documented setup, and verify the development and production build commands.
3
Dependency visibility
Can you identify everything the app needs to operate?
Verify: Inventory runtime packages, environment-variable names, generated services, background jobs, and external APIs without recording secret values.
4
Independent deployment
Can you ship the current commit to infrastructure you choose?
Verify: Deploy the same commit to a second target and verify secrets, domains, scheduled jobs, webhooks, and rollback behavior.
5
Data portability
Can you export and restore the app's operational data?
Verify: Export records and uploaded files, restore them into a clean target, and compare relationships, metadata, and file access.
6
Ongoing source synchronization
Can builder changes and manual code changes coexist safely?
Verify: Change the same disposable branch in both workflows, then inspect merge behavior, overwritten files, history, and conflict recovery.
Complete all six checks to see a result band and the smallest evidence gaps to close next.
Verification path
A practical ownership claim survives four drills.
Plan labels and export buttons are useful clues. Operational evidence is stronger: repeat the work outside the environment that generated the app.
01
Clone
Use a clean checkout from an account your team controls.
02
Build
Run development and production commands without the builder UI.
03
Deploy
Ship the same commit to a second infrastructure target.
04
Restore
Export and restore records, relationships, metadata, and files.
Score bands
The score routes the next proof, not the platform decision.
10-12
Strong ownership
Maintain the evidence with periodic drills.
6-9
Conditional ownership
Close the riskiest gaps before the app becomes harder to move.
0-5
High dependency
Create and test a continuity plan before the next launch milestone.
Common questions
Code access is only the first check.
Does source-code export mean I own the app?
Not by itself. A useful ownership claim also needs a reproducible build, visible dependencies, an independent deployment path, portable data, and a safe ongoing repository workflow.
Is a low score a reason to abandon the builder?
No. Platform dependence can be an acceptable tradeoff while validating a product. The score tells you which continuity risks to prove before the app becomes expensive to move.
What data does this checklist collect?
There is no account, project name, free-text field, cookie, or saved browser state. Useful Mint records anonymous controlled option IDs and result bands so repeated ownership problems can guide future research and tools.