diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
index d5697a9fe..3dcebeb8a 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/trainer.py
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ def setup_trainer(cfg, train_dataset, eval_dataset, model, tokenizer):
     if cfg.hub_model_id:
         training_arguments_kwargs["hub_model_id"] = cfg.hub_model_id
         training_arguments_kwargs["push_to_hub"] = True
+        training_arguments_kwargs["hub_private_repo"] = True
 
     if cfg.save_safetensors:
         training_arguments_kwargs["save_safetensors"] = cfg.save_safetensors