diff --git a/src/interfaces.ts b/src/interfaces.ts
index 2eb90c6e..7b518cbb 100644
--- a/src/interfaces.ts
+++ b/src/interfaces.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export interface UpptimeConfig {
     introTitle?: string;
     introMessage?: string;
     navbar?: { title: string; url: string }[];
+    publish?: boolean;
   };
   skipDescriptionUpdate?: boolean;
   skipTopicsUpdate?: boolean;
diff --git a/src/site.ts b/src/site.ts
index 33be96f3..99de940e 100644
--- a/src/site.ts
+++ b/src/site.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,27 @@
 import { cd, cp, exec, mkdir } from "shelljs";
+import { getConfig } from "./helpers/config";
+import { getOctokit } from "./helpers/github";
 import { shouldContinue } from "./helpers/init-check";
 
 export const generateSite = async () => {
   if (!(await shouldContinue())) return;
+  let [owner, repo] = (process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY || "").split("/");
+  const config = await getConfig();
+  const octokit = await getOctokit();
+  const repoDetails = await octokit.repos.get({ owner, repo });
   const siteDir = "site";
   mkdir(siteDir);
   cd(siteDir);
+  /**
+   * If this is a private repository, we don't publish a status page
+   * by default, but can be overwritten with `publish: true`
+   */
+  if (repoDetails.data.private && !(config["status-website"] || {}).publish) {
+    mkdir("-p", "status-page/__sapper__/export");
+    exec("echo 404 > status-page/__sapper__/export/index.html");
+    cd("../..");
+    return;
+  }
   exec("npm init -y");
   exec("npm i @upptime/status-page");
   cp("-r", "node_modules/@upptime/status-page/*", ".");