Can I give read-only access to a private repo (from a developer account)?

[FirstPrinciples-AI]

Hi everyone, apologies if this is repeating a topic discussed already. 

Can I give read-only access to my private repo, to someone who is not a collaborator at present? Can I share a url, or add someone as a read-only collaborator? I don't want to give fork/clone/download rights. 

I have a Developer account at present (not a Team/Business account, so cannot structure an organization-based acess). Here are the types of Github accounts. Thanks.

[nickcannariato]

In a private repository, repository owners can only grant write access to collaborators. Collaborators can't have read-only access to repositories owned by a user account. More information about permission levels for a repository owned by a user account can be found here:

https://help.github.com/articles/permission-levels-for-a-user-account-repository/

Having said that, I know that we've heard users request these kinds of granular permissions before, and I'll add your +1 to that existing feature request.

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FirstPrinciples-AI wrote:

I don't want to give fork/clone/download rights. 

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It's worth noting here that cloning a repository is a central operation in the collaboration model that GitHub provides. For example, the read-only access that we currently offer to GitHub Organizations still allows users to both clone and fork the repositories that they have permission to read:

https://help.github.com/articles/repository-permission-levels-for-an-organization/

With all of that in mind, I believe that it's unlikely that we'll change our permission model to disable the ability to clone a repository that someone has read access to; even if we do allow for read only access to private repositories owned by user accounts in the future. 

[sfindeisen]

Dear GH Team

Any plans to implement private repo access restriction for collaborators to read-only + pull-request? I want collaborators on my private (user) repo(s) put don't want to allow them direct push... Where is this feature on your roadmap?

Thanks
Stanisław

[nadiajoyce]

Hi @sfindeisen,

Thanks for this feedback! We're always working to improve GitHub, and we consider every suggestion we receive. I've logged your feature request in our internal feature request list. Though I can't guarantee anything or share a timeline for this, I can tell you that it's been shared with the appropriate teams for consideration.

Cheers!

[epodox]

+ 1 

Having more granular control on private repos for individual users is a must. Sure if they can read it they should be able to clone/fork but i want to disable specific users ability to push with out a propper pull request. Same with branching. Really should be able to have same functionallity as public for private, just we control the viewers.

Thank you,

Joshua Dooley

[WaleedMortaja]

Using protected branch ( especially for master) will give you some options, such as requesting members with write permission review to the changes before merging. You can also enforce the need for owner review. I did not tried protected branches with private reops before but I think it would be the same as the public repos.

[Septdir]

@WaleedMortajaThis is not exactly what you need.

+ 1 it would be nice to have possibly give a look at the private private repository.

[sam-by-name]

+1 from me.
I would like to be able to invite someone to "ONLY look" at a private repo.

[marxl]

+1

Would be extremely helpful in corporate environment.

[Kamuela-Ahuna]

+1 

I'm trying to use Github as a place to keep my work and show potential employers. Would love to still have the ability to make it private and just give people access to view.