Why I Made My Website Repository Public

For a long time, the source code for my website lived in a private GitHub repository. There was no big reason for that. It was mostly just the default choice when I started working on it. The site deployed fine, the content was public, and the repository stayed hidden in the background.

But after thinking about how I want the website to grow, keeping the repository private started to feel unnecessary.

The website is already public. The blog posts are public. The project pages are public. If the output is meant to be found, read, and used, then hiding the source behind it does not add much value. In my case, making the repository public makes more sense.

One reason is search engine optimization. Search engines can already crawl the website, but a public repository gives them more material around the site. Project names, README files, documentation, commit history, file structure, and links between pages all add context. That does not magically make a website rank higher, but it does make the work easier to understand and connect.

There is also the AI search side of this. More people are finding information through tools that summarize, compare, and recommend sources instead of only showing a list of links. Those tools work better when information is public, structured, and easy to inspect. A public GitHub repository gives them another place to understand what the website is about and how the different projects fit together.

I am also planning to add a docs section to the website. Each project or product should eventually have its own documentation: what it is, why it exists, how it works, and how someone can use it. Some of that documentation will be useful for visitors, but it will also be useful for search engines, AI tools, and future contributors.

That contributor part matters too. Most of my projects are personal projects today, but that might not always be the case. If one of them becomes useful to someone else, I want it to be easy to open an issue, suggest a fix, improve a page, or understand how the website is built. A public repository makes that possible without me needing to explain the setup from scratch every time.

I also like using GitHub as a lightweight CMS. Blog posts, project pages, and docs can live close to the code. Changes can go through commits and pull requests instead of a separate admin panel. That fits how I already work, and it keeps the content history visible.

This does not mean every repository should be public. Private repositories still make sense for sensitive work, client work, unfinished experiments, or anything that contains secrets. But this website is already a public thing. Making the repository public just makes the process behind it visible too.

So that is the reason for the change. I want the website to be easier to find, easier to understand, and easier to contribute to. Making the repository public is a small step, but it supports all three. You can find the repository at github.com/arvid-berndtsson/arvid.tech.