// service · technical rescue
Technical rescue.
In, out, better than we found it.
When the previous team disappeared, the codebase is on fire, and you need senior engineers in the building by Tuesday — not a 12-week scoping deck.
rot8 technical rescue is short-form senior engineering for software projects that have stalled, broken, or been abandoned. We diagnose what's recoverable, stabilize the parts that ship, document the parts that don't, and hand the codebase back to your team in a state they can actually extend. From €15,000.
- From €15k
- 1–4 weeks
- Senior engineers only
// the shapes
Five common rescue shapes.
- Stalled MVP from a prior agency. Team is gone, codebase exists, you can't ship the next feature without breaking three others.
- Critical migration that's six months late. Database engine swap, monolith → modular, on-prem → cloud, framework upgrade. The migration spec exists; the execution doesn't.
- Co-founder prototype that needs to be productized. Code that worked for the demo but won't survive paying customers. We refactor in place rather than rewrite, where possible.
- Failed offshore engagement. Code that compiles but isn't recoverable as architected. We make the honest call: rebuild parts, salvage parts, document what's permanently lost.
- Acqui-hire integration. You bought a startup. Their codebase needs to land in yours. We do the integration without breaking either.
If your situation isn't one of these but the shape feels right, tell us. Roughly half of rescues we run start with “I'm not sure what to call this.”
// how a rescue runs
Three phases. The first one stops the bleeding.
| Phase | Duration | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic | 1 week | A senior engineer reads the codebase, talks to anyone who built it, writes the honest report: what’s salvageable, what’s not, what the next 30 days should look like. Cost: €4,000. Credits to engagement if you proceed. |
| Stabilize | 2–4 weeks | Stop the bleeding. Fix the things blocking your team from shipping. Document the architecture as it exists today. |
| Hand-off or extend | varies | Either we leave with a clean handoff (most common), or we transition into Embed and run engineering for you while you hire. |
We write a written diagnostic — readable by a non-technical founder — at the end of week one. You can stop after the diagnostic. Many do, and use the report to scope an in-house plan. That's a fine outcome.
// what you get
Senior engineer reading your codebase by Wednesday.
- A senior engineer reading your codebase by Wednesday of week one.
- A diagnostic report that explains the state of the system in plain language, with named risks and recovery paths ranked by cost and impact.
- A stabilization plan with weekly milestones — not “12-week roadmap” theater.
- Documentation that didn’t exist before — README, runbook, ADRs for any structural decision we make.
- A clean exit ramp — we leave the codebase in a state your team or a future hire can immediately extend.
// what we don’t do
Honest scoping is part of the engagement.
- “Rebuild from scratch” disguised as rescue. If the right answer is rebuild, we'll say so on day one and pitch a Custom software development engagement. We don't bill rescue rates for greenfield work.
- Permanent maintenance retainers. Rescue is short-form. Long-form senior support is Embed.
- Forensic post-mortems for legal disputes. We're engineers, not expert witnesses.
- Engagements where the prior team is still in place and politically active. Rescue requires clear authority. If the politics are unresolved, we'll wait until they are.
// pricing
Diagnostic from €4k. Stabilization from €15k.
| Shape | From | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic only | €4,000 | 1 week |
| Diagnostic + stabilization | €15,000 | 3–4 weeks |
| Diagnostic + stabilization + transition to Embed | €15k + Embed monthly | 6+ months total |
The diagnostic credits in full toward any engagement that follows. See Pricing for engagement shapes.
// quick answers
Rescue, common questions.
How fast can rot8 start a rescue?
Application to engineer-on-codebase: typically 5–10 business days. We respond to applications within 48 hours, do a 30-minute scoping call within a week, and start the diagnostic the following Monday if there’s mutual fit. For genuine emergencies (critical infra outage, regulator deadline) we can sometimes start within 72 hours.What if the codebase isn't recoverable?
We say so in the diagnostic, in writing, at the end of week one. Then we scope a rebuild as a separate engagement (typically Custom software development or a phased migration). Roughly one in four rescues we diagnose ends in a “salvage what’s worth saving, rebuild the rest” recommendation.Will rot8 keep maintaining the system after the rescue?
Sometimes. If you want long-form senior coverage post-rescue, we transition into Embed. If you want a clean handoff to your in-house team, we do that — most rescues end this way. We don’t sell ongoing maintenance retainers as a default; the rescue is supposed to leave the system in a state someone else can run.How much does a rescue cost?
Diagnostic alone: €4,000 for a one-week assessment with a written report. Diagnostic plus 2–4 weeks of stabilization work: from €15,000. Larger rescues with longer stabilization phases or post-rescue Embed transitions are quoted separately. The diagnostic fee credits in full toward any follow-on engagement.
// next step
Three projects this quarter. Two remain.
Apply with the four-step form. We respond inside 48 hours, every time, with a real reply from a named founder.