Stabilize
Stop the 2am fires. Characterization tests around the risky code, error tracking, and monitoring so you see problems before your customers do.
Tests · observability
Traffic's up, and the version built to move fast is starting to break. We turn a working MVP into a production system: tested, observable, and ready for real load, without a rewrite that throws away what already earns revenue.

2 wk
Audit and roadmap
6-8 wk
Typical hardening sprint
10x
The load we design for
100%
Code and infra stay yours
What this is
Taking a validated but fragile first version and making it survive real users. Not a rewrite: the goal is to keep what already earns revenue and fix the parts that break at scale. That means test coverage, observability, a hardened database, and a security posture that passes a customer's questionnaire. It's for founders whose MVP found traction faster than it was built to handle.
Stop the 2am fires. Characterization tests around the risky code, error tracking, and monitoring so you see problems before your customers do.
Tests · observability
Handle the load you're already getting. We profile the real bottleneck, usually the database and not the servers, then fix it.
Performance · load
Pass the security review. Close the gaps enterprise buyers ask about, and stand up the compliance groundwork they require.
Security · compliance
The hardening plan
01
A two-week read of the codebase, database, and infrastructure. You get a prioritized risk map and a fixed-price roadmap.
02
Characterization tests around the risky paths, error tracking, and monitoring. We make the system safe to change before we change it.
03
Profile the real bottleneck and fix it. Indexes, caching, and query budgets, refactored with the strangler pattern so nothing goes dark.
04
Security review, dependency and secret cleanup, and observability wired end to end. Compliance groundwork if enterprise customers need it.
05
Runbooks, documentation, and a system your team can operate. Then you take it from here, or we stay embedded.
Surgery, not a rewrite
Built to survive real load
See problems before your customers do
Pass the security review
A system your team can operate
Surgery, not a rewrite
Built to survive real load
See problems before your customers do
Pass the security review
A system your team can operate
How hardening engagements begin
01
The answer is surgery, not a rewrite. We wrap the risky code in characterization tests that capture what it does today, then refactor behind them with the strangler pattern. The app keeps running the whole time, and each change is provably safe.
Typically ships
02
We start forensic, not hands-on. First we recover access and credentials, map what's deployed where, and document the system as it actually runs. Only once there's a clear picture do we touch anything, so the rescue doesn't become a second outage.
Typically ships
03
It's almost always the database before the servers. We reproduce the load with k6, find the slow queries with pg_stat_statements, and fix the real cause with indexes and caching. Throwing bigger servers at a bad query just makes the bill grow.
Typically ships
04
We work backwards from the actual questionnaire. It tells us exactly which controls to build, so effort goes where the deal is, not into box-checking. Tools like Vanta or Drata track the evidence, and the groundwork carries forward to full compliance later.
Typically ships
An honest filter
You have a working MVP with real users. There's something worth hardening, and downtime now costs you.
You're hitting reliability or load walls. It slows down at peak, breaks under traffic, or wakes someone up at night.
You're facing diligence or a security review. Investors or enterprise buyers are asking questions you can't answer yet.
You don't have a product yet. Start by proving the idea. See MVP Development
You have no users to justify the work. Hardening an unproven idea is premature. Validate first.
You want a full from-scratch rebuild. That's a different engagement. See Custom Software
Proven infrastructure, testing, and observability tools. The ones that tell you the truth about what's breaking and why.
PostgreSQL
Redis
Sentry
Docker
Pricing
Start with the audit. The roadmap it produces gives you a fixed price for the rest, so you buy the fix knowing exactly what it fixes.
Production Audit
$8k
/ projectThe assessment. A prioritized risk map and a fixed-price roadmap for the hardening work.
Hardening Sprint
$40k
/ projectThe remediation. Stabilize, scale, and harden the system to the roadmap from your audit.
Embedded
Talk
For teams that want us alongside them past the sprint, owning reliability as you grow.
No surprises
Codebase, database, and infrastructure audit
Test coverage on the risky paths
Error tracking and monitoring setup
Performance profiling and fixes
Documentation, runbooks, and 30-day support
Third-party tool subscriptions (Datadog, Vanta)
Net-new feature development
The formal compliance audit (the auditor's fee)
Ongoing hosting after handoff
A separate native mobile app
These are the words that keep us going even an extra mile!
The questions clients ask every time. Answered in full so you can make a confident decision.
It starts with an $8k audit that produces a fixed price for the rest. A typical hardening sprint runs from $40,000 over six to eight weeks, and scope depends on what the audit finds: test coverage, performance work, and security groundwork are the usual drivers. You buy the fix knowing exactly what it fixes, rather than signing up for open-ended work.
For founders scaling up
The production-readiness checklist we run in every audit. Score your own system before anything breaks.
One email, the PDF attached. No drip sequence, no sales follow-up.
TODO - Genuine PDF resource to be authored before going live
PDF - 8 pages
The MVP Hardening Checklist · 2026
Where it sits
Related Build services for custom software buyers.