Reverse engineering
No documentation, no handover, no developer. We can still take over.
In abandoned projects, missing documentation is the rule, not the exception. A disciplined reverse-engineering process can rebuild the knowledge the handover should have contained.
The Handover Pack — our mandatory standard
Every takeover we complete ends with documentation, so you are never dependent on one person again — including us.
Deployment runbook
Step-by-step instructions to build, deploy and roll back the system, tested by someone who did not write them.
Environment variable list
Every variable, what it does, where it lives, and which values are secrets that need rotating.
Third-party account inventory
Every external service the system touches, which account owns it, and how billing is set up.
Known limitations
An honest list of what is fragile, what is missing, and what will need attention next — in writing.
How we take over a system nobody documented
Reverse engineering is a method, not a mystery. Five steps, each producing written output:
- 1
Map what exists
Inventory every running service, repository, domain, database and third-party account — the actual system, not the assumed one.
- 2
Trace the data flows
Follow a request end to end: where data enters, where it is stored, what reads it, and what can break it.
- 3
Probe safely in a copy
Clone the system into a staging environment and test changes there first — production is never the experiment.
- 4
Write it all down
Every finding goes into the Handover Pack as it is discovered, not reconstructed from memory at the end.
- 5
Quote from facts
Only after the map exists do we quote stabilization or maintenance work — fixed, written, and based on what was actually found.
The takeover assessment
What the assessment includes
For undocumented systems the assessment doubles as the documentation effort: the expert builds the map while reviewing the risks, so one fixed price buys you knowledge and a verdict.
- Fixed price, agreed before work starts — no hourly ambiguity.
- Delivered in 3–5 business days.
- A written verdict: what exists, what is at risk, what it costs to stabilize — including an honest 'rewrite it' if that is the truth.
There is no obligation to continue past the assessment. The report is yours either way.
Which situation are you in?
My freelancer disappeared
Stop chasing replies. Recover your accounts in 72 hours, then get a written takeover assessment.
Read the guideMy app was vibe-coded
Built fast with AI tools and now nobody can change it safely. We stabilize AI-generated systems.
Read the guideI need the emergency checklist
The 12-step, 72-hour checklist to secure your domain, hosting, code and payments — free PDF.
Read the guideCommon questions
How long does reverse engineering take?
The assessment itself takes 3–5 business days for a typical small-to-medium system. Larger systems are scoped after an initial look — you approve the scope before any billing.
Is it safe to touch a system nobody understands?
Not directly — which is why we never experiment on production. Step three of our method is cloning the system into a staging environment and proving changes there first.
Who owns the documentation you produce?
You do, fully. The Handover Pack is written for any competent developer to use — that is the point. If you ever move to another team, they start from it.
What if the tech stack is outdated?
We say so in the assessment, with the options: maintain as-is, upgrade incrementally, or rebuild the parts that cannot be maintained. You decide with the costs in front of you.
No docs is a starting point, not a dead end
Post a takeover assessment. In 3–5 business days you will have a written map of your system and a fixed quote for what comes next.