30-day legacy codebase modernization

Your codebase is the bottleneck. We fix it in 30 days.

AI-assisted engineering, not vibe coding. For SaaS teams on aging React, Laravel, Rails, and Phoenix stacks.

Book the Codebase X-Ray — $2,500See the case study →

Modernization sprint from $35K · X-Ray credits 100% if you proceed

What our last sprint shipped
993Files migrated
194 → 0Production vulnerabilities
0Feature regressions
1 sprint30 days, fixed scope

The real problem

It's not your team. It's the code.

Three symptoms. Same root cause.

Six files for one change.

Your team isn't slow — the architecture is. Each change requires touching six files, three workarounds, and a prayer. Shipping velocity is a function of codebase quality, not headcount.

AI is only as good as the code it reads.

When your codebase is full of anti-patterns and dead abstractions, Copilot and Cursor generate more of the same. Garbage in, garbage out.

Diligence is coming.

SOC 2, HIPAA audits, due diligence for your next raise — they're all going to look at your dependency tree, your vulnerability count, and your test coverage. You know what they'll find.

HIPAA-regulated SaaS — real numbers

One client. Two sprints. Full-stack modernization.

A mid-market healthcare platform stuck on CRA + Redux Saga + Laravel 8. They came back for the backend after we shipped the frontend.

Sprint 1 — Frontend

CRA → Vite, Redux Saga → RTK

End-of-life build toolchain replaced. Redux Saga complexity unwound. First automated test suite ever shipped for the codebase.

Read the case study →Sprint 2 — Backend

Laravel 8 → 13, PHP 7.3 → 8.5

7-service Laravel backend modernized end-to-end. Security debt cleared. CI and test baseline shipped.

Read the case study →
“Where can I deploy more money for this?”
— Founder, HIPAA SaaS client

They came back for Sprint 2. Same client. Twice. That's the proof.

What SprintZero is

A focused modernization sprint. That's it.

We take your legacy codebase and modernize it in one fixed-scope, 30-day sprint. No open-ended engagement. No discovery that leads nowhere.

  • 30-day modernization sprint, fixed scope
  • Starts with a paid Codebase X-Ray diagnostic
  • Built for legacy JS, PHP, and Rails SaaS teams
  • Hands-on technical lead — not staff augmentation
  • Ship real code changes, not a slide deck

What it's not

  • A full rewrite
  • Staff augmentation
  • "Strategy consulting"
  • Greenfield builds
  • "Help on a few PRs"

How it works

Four steps. One month.

  1. 01

    Codebase X-Ray

    We get repo access and produce an architecture risk map, dependency audit, and a prioritized modernization plan. Fixed price, takes one week.

  2. 02

    Sprint plan

    We scope the 30-day sprint: what gets modernized, what stays, what the handoff looks like. You approve before we start.

  3. 03

    Modernization sprint

    One month. We migrate frameworks, consolidate state management, eliminate dead code, reduce vulnerabilities, add tests. Ship as a single clean PR.

  4. 04

    Handover

    Live workshop, custom AI skills package, and a 30-day support window. Your team owns the new codebase and the AI workflows that built it.

The handover

Your team leaves dangerous.

Designed so you never need us again. Three deliverables, engineered to make your team self-sufficient on the new codebase.

4 hours · live + recorded

The workshop

Hands-on walkthrough of the new codebase. We teach context-window thinking, AI-assisted workflows, and the patterns we shipped. Recorded and AI-searchable — your team can ask questions of the workshop later.

Handed over

Custom AI skills package

The actual Claude, Cursor, and Copilot workflows we used during the sprint — tuned to your stack. No prompt-engineering homework. Even juniors apply them and ship.

30 days · async + catch-up

The support window

We don't disappear when the sprint ships. For 30 days your team can ping us async with questions that surface in shipping. Plus a scheduled 2-hour catch-up at week 2 to check what stuck and fix what didn't.

Stacks we know

  • Next.js
  • React
  • Vite
  • TypeScript
  • Elixir
  • Phoenix
  • Laravel
  • Rails

How this compares

How this compares to the alternatives.

Same outcome. Wildly different price tag, timeline, and risk profile.

SprintZero

Time
30 days
Cost
$35K
Risk
Fixed scope, guaranteed
Output
Modernized codebase

Outsourced shop

Time
6+ months, ongoing
Cost
$8–15K/mo
Risk
Open-ended
Output
Features on broken foundation

Full rewrite

Time
9–12 months
Cost
$300K–$500K
Risk
High failure rate
Output
Hopefully ships

Hiring senior eng

Time
3–6 months to hire
Cost
$200K+/yr loaded
Risk
Long ramp
Output
One person

Who's behind this

Founder-led. Not farmed out.

Vanessa Roberts

Vanessa Roberts

CEO — Partnerships

Four-time founder. Three successful exits. 20+ years scaling B2B SaaS companies. She runs strategy, partnerships, and the relationships that put the right work in front of the right people. When you book the call, she's who you're talking to.

Marcel Fahle

Marcel Fahle

CTO — Engineering

25+ years building and rescuing software. Operating exclusively with AI-powered workflows since mid-2024 — before most CTOs knew Cursor existed. He leads every engagement personally, not farming your project out to subcontractors. When we say shipped in 30 days, he's the one writing the code.

What you get

Concrete deliverables, not promises.

  • Architecture risk map
  • Prioritized modernization plan
  • Shipped code changes (merged PR)
  • Reduced security & dependency risk
  • Test baseline with coverage metrics
  • Documentation & handoff walkthrough

Our guarantee

Ship the agreed scope in 30 days, or we keep working — for free — until it does.

We're not measuring lines of code or PRs merged. We're measuring whether your team is shipping faster, your vulnerabilities are gone, and your codebase is one your engineers actually want to open.

If we miss the bar, the work continues at our cost.

The offer

X-Ray. Sprint. Handover.

Start with the Codebase X-Ray — a fixed-price diagnostic that tells you exactly what's broken, what's risky, and what to modernize first. You get a plan whether you hire us or not. If you proceed, the X-Ray fee credits 100% toward the sprint, and the full handover ships with it.

  1. Step 1Codebase X-Ray — one week, fixed $2,500
  2. Step 2Modernization Sprint — 30 days, fixed scope, starting at $35K
  3. Step 3Handover — workshop, custom AI skills, 30-day support window. Included
The alternative? A full rewrite: $300K–$500K, 6–12 months, and a coin flip on whether it ships. The X-Ray costs less than one week of your current team spinning on the wrong problems.

Capacity-capped at 2 sprint engagements per month.

Codebase X-Ray

Step 1
$2,500

One-time. Delivered in one week.

  • Full architecture risk map
  • Dependency & vulnerability audit
  • Prioritized modernization plan
  • Sprint scope & timeline
  • 60-minute walkthrough call
Book the Codebase X-Ray — $2,500

100% credited toward the modernization sprint

SprintZero is for you if

  • SaaS companies, 20–200 people
  • React / Redux / CRA / Laravel / Rails / Phoenix stacks
  • Real revenue tied to the product
  • Founder or technical lead who can actually buy

Not a fit if

  • Greenfield builds
  • Staff augmentation requests
  • Enterprise procurement processes
  • "Just help on a few PRs"

FAQ

Common objections, answered.

Because a real diagnostic takes real work — repo access, architecture analysis, dependency auditing. A free call is a sales pitch. The X-Ray is an engineering deliverable you can use whether you hire us or not. And it's credited 100% toward the sprint if you do.

No. This is AI-assisted engineering with 25+ years of architecture experience behind it. AI handles the mechanical transformation at scale — consistent across every file. Marcel makes every architecture decision, runs quality control, and ensures the output is code your team can actually maintain. AI is the tool. Engineering judgment is the product.

Your codebase will get audited eventually.

By your next investor, your compliance officer, or your acquirer. Better you do it first.

Book the Codebase X-Ray — $2,500See an example X-Ray →

Typically responds within 24 hours