Host your project’s code on Launchpad

You can host your project’s source code on Launchpad using Git. If you’re new to Git, take a look at this Git tutorial first.

When you push a Git repository to Launchpad, it is associated with a project registered in Launchpad. Other people can then clone it, make changes, and push their own branches back to Launchpad.

This guide shows you how to:

  • tell the world your project uses Launchpad to host its source code,

  • push your first Git repository to Launchpad,

  • hand the repository over to a team so that several people can push code to it.

Note

Launchpad is free of charge for open source projects. To host proprietary code on Launchpad, see proprietary hosting.

Enable code hosting for your project

First, add your project to Launchpad.

Once you’ve done that, visit your project’s overview page. There, you’ll find a Configuration progress section in the right-hand column. Click Code and either select an existing repository or set up a new one.

Push a Git repository to your project

You can push and pull code from Launchpad directly from the terminal. If you haven’t already, add your SSH key to Launchpad first.

To push your repository to Launchpad, open your terminal, navigate to your local Git repository, add the Launchpad remote, and push:

git remote add origin git+ssh://username@git.launchpad.net/~username/project-name
git push -u origin branch-name

  • username: your Launchpad ID, which is the portion of your profile page URL that begins with the tilde (~)

  • project-name: the Launchpad ID of your project; this is the final part of your project overview page’s URL, e.g. launchpadlib in https://launchpad.net/launchpadlib/

  • branch-name: the name of the branch you want to push, such as main

See your repository in Launchpad

Once the push completes, Launchpad will scan the repository and:

  • list it on both your own code overview page and your project’s code page,

  • allow other people to clone the repository and create their own branches,

  • make the full commit history available under the Code tab.

Let several people push to the repository

If you want to allow more than one person to push to the repository, you’ll need to create a team and make that team the repository’s owner.

Go to your project’s overview page (https://launchpad.net/project-name). Under Project information, click the edit icon next to Maintainer. In the form that opens, set Maintainer to the team you created and save.

Next steps

You’re now hosting your project’s code on Launchpad. Anyone can clone your repository, make changes, and push their own clone’s branch for listing on your project’s code page. Other people can also propose merging their branches into your default branch or any other branch in your repository.

Read the full guide to working with merge proposals.