Show HN: Share private GitHub repos by auto-generated URL and paywall

[hermanthepug]

Morning HN. I had an issue recently where I wanted to share some private Github repositories with a larger audience than usual (25k+) on Youtube and was simply considering making my code public. Came up with an idea to build a middleman service that handles user access/management, generate share links and even paywall individual repos.

Thought I might as well share here in case there's another dev out there who might be interested in sharing a private repo. Keen to get any feedback as I'm currently building

[KomoD]

Looks like this is just a waitlist, consider reading the rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

> Off topic: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists, and other reading material. Those can't be tried out, so can't be Show HNs. Make a regular submission instead.

[harisranch]

I like the idea although I don’t see this product having leverage. It’s a GitHub feature away from being replaced. What would happen to this product if GitHub decides to add repo monetization?

[hermanthepug]

Nice q. While that's valid, there's also a need to allow 1000s+ of people to view a repository without knowing who these people are ahead of time (eg. content creator). This is where link generation is valuable + user management.

There's also a need to share multiple private repositories in a bundle using one single link - again to an unknown number of people.

Add this together with monetization, payment landing pages, disabling cloning (currently not possible within Github) and analytics.

[harisranch]

Gotcha. My thoughts are that if you can make sure this is beyond just being able to share repositories and maybe even the go-to tool for all things coding/repository monetization/management related then that would make this a broader scalable product that solves many use cases (which gives you a better advantage). But I understand that repository monetization is only the start and you'll continue to iterate over with further feedback.

On another note, I was brainstorming this idea and thought about influencers and how they enjoy sharing their tips/hacks/recipes with their audience. What if you have another section in your app for monetization of such information? We already have a tool that sells courses from indie influencers but how about smaller info? Provides more avenues for creator monetization and I could envision an acquisition by an influencer management platform i.e. Stan For Creators. Just some food for thought.

[hermanthepug]

These are some great ideas! Thanks!

[KomoD]

If I don't charge money, why would I keep the repo private.

Like your example in the video "Let's just say I'm a big-time content creator who does 10 YouTube tutorials a week, showing how to develop apps and I want to share the code with you but I'd also love to be in control of that code inside a private repo"

If I'm making YouTube tutorials and I want to share the code, why would I keep the repo private...?

And regarding "prevent cloning", how does that work?

If someone can see the code, nothing stops them from taking it?

[hermanthepug]

It's for cases where you'd ideally keep the repo private - eg. source code for an app you're working on.

Cloning can be prevented as we're not simply sharing the github repository directly to the client. We're exposing a version of the repository (to which the user could painstakingly go file by file and copy all the contents), but there'd be no git clone option. However, this could be enabled if wanted by the owner.

If you're a content creator and wanting to share the code, you may want to monetise access to the code. Many creators do this by uploading the repo to Dropbox and adding a share link inside their Patreon or membership platform.

[MihailoBozic]

How are you going to allow people to monetize their code?

[hermanthepug]

In a similar way to Docusign, you grant READ access to Repobear inside the dashboard, set a price and generate a share URL. User purchases the link and is returned access to the repository. Access isn't through Github directly, we act as the middleman and pass the repo contents to the client. Repo owner also has option to toggle cloning or not to the viewer :)

[bcopa]

Congrats on the launch – love the idea!!!

[hermanthepug]

Thanks dude!