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Since he is your co-founder (and you accepted him as such), shouldn't you trust him with the source code? Since he is also a front-end developer, shouldn't he already have access to the code base? :) If you can't trust your co-founder with the code base, then I wouldn't even think of co-founding the business with him. Maybe you should re-evaluate that first.
I second your opinion.
You shouldn't have found a cofounder if you're not willing to do this.
You tell him 'here's how you access the source code.' After all, it's his company too. You shouldn't have found a cofounder if you're not willing to do this.
And 3 months down the line I later realize, some friend of his, is running a similar startup??
Why don't you openly discuss the issue with him? As your co-founder he deserves your trust and you deserve his understanding. Chances are he actually reads HN.
> Since the business has not picked up, all the worth that my startup has is the source code.
I believe this worth is zero. Unless you have built a solution to a cutting-edge, patentable Computer Science problem (for example a face recognition algorithm that beats all competition), the source code itself has no value.
General web/mobile/desktop app source code is too specific for the particular purpose to be useful for other apps - and a competent team could rewrite the common parts faster than it takes to understand and adjust existing code. You will not find anyone willing to pay for the source code unless you are also selling patents, the team or user base along with it.
You tell him 'here's how you access the source code.' After all, it's his company too. You shouldn't have found a cofounder if you're not willing to do this.
What if he tells me the next week - "my dear friend, I have some other priorities in life, I won't be able to focus on building the startup anymore??" And 3 months down the line I later realize, some friend of his, is running a similar startup??
In any case, having access to your source code will not be an advantage in competing. Building new products is hard because you are at the time also figuring out and changing what to build.
If your idea is any good and has proven moderately successful, there will be competitors. Competitors who are not your co-founder and have never spoken to either of you, but just see your product and decide that it would be cool to have it in their city, country or business niche. And they will spend only 1/10 of your efforts on development and end up with a more maintainable codebase, because they have an example of what to build right from the start.
A co-founder is not just some random person with complementing skills. It's more like a marriage. And while marriages often start out good and, yes, can turn bad, it's quite unusual to not trust your newlywed wife with the keys to the cupboard.
I'm not trying to be negative here, but it seems that you're afraid your co-founder is learning too much about backend development, so he can steal your codebase and his front-end design, and steal your entire business and become an instant millionaire. Or he could actually be genuine, and willing to take the risk and reward together with you. Out of these two, which option seems more likely to you?
You say it yourself: you have no customers yet. You can't just steal a codebase and copy/paste an entire business to success. Per your words: 'once I get customers'. You don't have customers yet, ergo you have nothing. Stealing your codebase wouldn't make any difference.
You have to ask yourself if this person is really the person you want to start a company with, and work closely with for years to come. If he is: give him access. If he isn't: do both of you a favor and part ways. Nothing good will come out of this if you make him earn your trust whilst being co-founder at the same time.