Google organizations versus personal accounts

With few exceptions, open source projects released on GitHub must be housed in one of the official Google organizations -- not your personal account.

The primary organization for Google is github.com/google. Some product areas and larger projects (particularly those with recognizable brands) have separate organizations (go/github/orgs). These organizations are often co-managed by OSPO and the relevant product or Developer Relations team, who may have additional guidelines or expectations for projects housed there.

Projects that can be hosted in a personal GitHub account:

  • Side projects that have nothing to do with your job
  • Unofficial, experimental samples or demos
  • Slides or sample code for a talk at a non-Google event

Projects that should be hosted in an official Google org (go/github/orgs) GitHub repository:

  • Slides and samples for talks at Google-hosted events (I/O, Next, etc)
  • Sample code that is linked from official docs or blogs
  • Google codelabs, workshops, and their supporting code

IMPORTANT: All repositories in Google orgs must enforce CLAs for contributions.

To release into your personal account, follow go/releasing as usual and specify an appropriate GitHub URL in your launch entry. Once your launch to a personal GitHub repo has been approved, you may create additional repositories and organizations to house the project without proceeding through the go/releasing or go/new-github-org processes, but they must not have any Google affiliation or branding.

IMPORTANT: All projects, regardless of what account they're hosted in, must follow the go/releasing process and include proper licensing.