If your developer abandoned your project, don’t hire someone new yet. First, get control of your code, hosting, domain and accounts. Then have someone independent tell you what you actually have. Only then decide whether to finish it or start over.
This happens more often than people admit. A freelancer takes on too much, an agency loses the person who knew your project, or someone just stops answering. You are left with an app that is half built and a lot of questions.
Here is the order to handle it in.
What should you do first when your developer stops responding?
Write everything down before you do anything else. You need a clear record of what you paid for and what you got.
Gather these in one folder:
- The contract or proposal, and any change requests
- Every invoice and payment
- Messages and emails about the project
- Every login you were ever given
- A list of what was delivered and what was promised but not delivered
Then send one final message in writing. Keep it short and calm: ask for the code, the account access and a status update by a specific date. Sometimes the developer is overwhelmed, not gone, and a clear deadline gets a reply.
How do you get control of your code, hosting and domain?
Check who owns each account. The ones in your name you can secure today. The ones in the developer’s name need a transfer.
Go through this list:
- Code repository. Where the code lives, often GitHub. You want your own account as the owner, not a guest.
- Hosting. Where the app runs. Get the account login, or a full copy of the files and database.
- Domain. Look up your domain on ICANN Lookup to see which registrar holds it. Then log in, or contact that registrar.
- Database. Your customer and business records. This is the part you cannot replace.
- Other services. Email sending, payments, maps, file storage. Each one is an account somebody owns.
- App stores. If there is a mobile app, the Apple and Google developer accounts.
For every account you control, change the password and remove the developer’s access, but only after you have copies of everything. If the code exists only on their laptop, nothing else on this list matters until you get it.
How do you find out what condition the project is in?
Hire a different developer to review it. This is a short, paid job, not a commitment to build anything.
A good review answers five questions:
- Does the code actually run?
- How much of what you were promised is really there?
- Can it be deployed to a live server without the original developer?
- Are there security problems, like passwords saved in the code?
- Is it built on tools that are still supported?
You want a written answer in plain language. If the reviewer cannot explain it simply, find another reviewer. This is exactly the audit I start every rescue project with. Here is more on how AIwhirks picks up stalled web app projects.
Should you finish the project or start over?
Finish when the code is yours, it runs and it is reasonably built. Start over when you cannot get the code, or the review shows it will not hold up.
| What the review found | Usually means |
|---|---|
| Code is yours, runs, mostly sound | Finish it |
| Code runs but has serious gaps | Fix the foundation, then finish |
| Can't get the code at all | Start over |
| Code doesn't run, or uses outdated tools | Start over, keep the design and lessons |
Starting over is not wasted money. You keep the design, the decisions and everything you learned about what the app needs to do. A second build with that clarity is usually faster than the first. If you are weighing this for an older system rather than a half-built one, read whether to rebuild or modernize old software.
AI-augmented development has also made a restart less painful than it used to be. Work that once took months can now move much faster with an experienced developer in charge. If cost is the worry, what drives the cost of a custom web app explains what moves the number.
How do you avoid this happening again?
Own everything from day one, and see progress every week. Those two habits prevent almost every version of this story.
- Every account in your name. Code, hosting, domain, database. Your developer gets access, not ownership.
- Code in your repository from the first week. Not on someone’s laptop.
- Weekly working demos. A link to a test version you can click through, not a status email.
- A contract that assigns the code to you. In writing.
- Pay as work is delivered. Tie payments to working features, not to time passing.
The web app launch checklist covers the setup that makes a project easy to hand over, whoever builds it.
Next step: get your project moving again
You have already paid for this once. The goal now is to save what is worth saving and finish without repeating the same mistakes. Tell me where the project stands and what it was supposed to do. I’ll tell you honestly whether it is worth finishing.