Project visibility
Public vs private projects — what each means, who can see what, and which plan unlocks private.
Every project has a visibility setting: public or private. Visibility controls who can open the project in the editor and whether it shows up in the Layout community gallery.
Why it matters
Visibility is often confused with publishing. They are different:
- Visibility controls who can read your project in the editor — the code, the chat, the versions.
- Publishing controls whether the built app is served at a
layout-app.comsubdomain.
A private project can still be published. A public project does not have to be.
The two values
Public
Anyone with the editor link can open the project read-only. Public projects are eligible to appear in the community gallery, grouped by category. Other builders can view them.
New projects are created public by default on the free plan. On paid plans, new projects default to private.
Private
Only you can open the project. Private projects never show up in the community gallery. Forks are not possible from outside your account.
Private projects require an active subscription. On the free plan, the private option appears in the visibility dropdown greyed out with Subscription required next to it. Upgrading from Billing unlocks it.
Where to change it
From the Projects page, each project card has a visibility toggle in its menu. Flipping it updates the project right away. The toggle respects your plan — free users can flip a project to public but not to private.
For new projects, the landing prompt box has a visibility dropdown next to the input. Pick the value you want before you submit the first prompt.
Visibility and publishing together
The four combinations:
| Visibility | Published | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Public | No | Editor is viewable by anyone with the link. No live URL. |
| Public | Yes | Editor and live URL both public. Eligible for community gallery. |
| Private | No | Only you can view anything. |
| Private | Yes | Editor is private. The published URL is public. |
The published URL is always public when it exists — visibility does not gate the live site. Visibility gates the editor.
Rules of thumb
- Default to public when you are learning, experimenting, or want to share work-in-progress. The public editor is great for feedback.
- Switch to private for client work, anything with unreleased copy, or apps handling sensitive data — if you have a subscription.
- Publishing is the lever for "is the app live?" Visibility is the lever for "can someone read how I built it?"