A movement for independent builders

Your time. Your tools. Your work.

Your own time.
Your own ideas.
Your right to build.

A job should not own your weekends. We're working for the right to create, publish, and sell independent work made on your own time, with your own resources.

Company secrets stay protected. Independent work stays yours.

02 / Spread the word

Bring more builders into the movement.

04 / Know where you stand

Check your state

See what protections already exist.

The problem

Good ideas don't clock out.

The next useful thing shouldn't need your boss's permission.

Builders notice problems and make things before the market knows what to ask for: apps, games, automations, tools, open-source projects, and small businesses.

Too often, broad policies make people afraid to publish anything under their own name. The result is quieter than a lawsuit: useful work never ships.

Right to Build exists because workers should not need permission to create unrelated work outside the job.

No trade secrets.
No company systems.
No paid work time.
No blanket ownership of a person's future ideas.

The Right to Build petition

Make your support count.

Add your name to show support for laws that protect independent work built off-hours, with personal resources, without company secrets.

Only the total is public. Your name and email are not displayed.

What counts

What we protect

Independent work should be easy to recognize.

This should be yours

  • Apps built outside work
  • Software tools and games
  • Open-source contributions
  • Creative projects and small businesses
  • Public portfolios and personal credit

This stays protected

  • Trade secrets and confidential information
  • Company code and private customer data
  • Work made on paid company time
  • Work assigned by the employer
  • The company's name and representation

The principle

Companies deserve protection from theft. Workers deserve protection from overreach.

Right to Build is not anti-company. It is a practical line between paid work and personal creation: protect trade secrets, customer data, assigned work, and real conflicts, while ending vague policies that make permission the default for independent building.

The proposal

Guardrails, not gag orders

A fair policy should be clear before someone builds.

Read Proposal

Safe harbor

Off-hours work made with personal resources and no company secrets should start as yours.

Define conflicts clearly

A company should not be able to veto independent work with vague claims about future markets or broad industry overlap.

No forced anonymity

Builders should not have to hide behind shell accounts, aliases, or unsigned work to avoid employer scrutiny.

Stop retaliation

Workers should not be punished for building lawful independent projects that stay outside company time, systems, and secrets.

Take action

Ask lawmakers to protect independent builders before useful work disappears.

Get movement updates

Keep up with the movement.

Get research notes, state updates, and action tools as the movement develops.