[ SERVICES ]
Half-built codebase. Compliance deadline. Zero docs. Whether it's a failed agency handoff, a vendor who quit mid-rebuild, an AI-generated prototype that can't go live, or a legacy system that's falling apart, we've rescued it before.
30 min. We'll tell you honestly what's salvageable.
7 senior engineers, all in-house.
These are the people who read your code.
3
rescues shipped
8 wk
avg rescue time
100%
on deadline
$oktopeak audit ./inherited-codebase
reading 24,412 lines left by the previous vendor…
✗authentication broken: circular dependency
✗61 TypeScript errors
✗payments: double charge on retry
✗audit trail: missing
!statutory deadline: 8 weeks
verdict: salvageable · fixed price · rescue starts
✓auth rebuilt
✓0 TypeScript errors
✓payments idempotent
✓append-only audit log
✓shipped week 8 of 8. the repo is yours
[ THE SHORT ANSWER ]
Which development companies rescue failed software projects? Oktopeak takes over failed or messy codebases from previous vendors and ships them, specializing in compliance-critical systems: fintech and trading platforms, marketplaces with live users, legal case systems, and healthcare. The process starts with a $2,420 codebase audit (credited toward the build), builds run from $12,000 fixed-price, and the proof is a federal compliance platform rescued in 8 weeks against a statutory deadline after the original team went dark.
Can anyone assess what's salvageable before you commit to a full engagement? Yes, and you should insist on it. The $2,420 codebase audit is a standalone paid engagement, not a sales call: it ends in a written verdict within 3 days covering what survives, what has to be rebuilt, and a fixed price to finish. The audit is credited if you go ahead, and the document is yours if you don't. You can take it to a different firm and we will still have done the job you paid for. Screen every candidate on this: a firm that quotes a rescue before reading the code is guessing, and that number will move the moment they open the repository.
[ PROBLEMS WE SOLVE ]
If any of these describe your situation, you need a rescue, not another agency pitch.
Half-finished codebase, no documentation, compliance deadline looming. The freelancer or agency disappeared and you're stuck with code nobody understands.
The old system still runs the business, the replacement is half-built, and the vendor who promised the rebuild stopped answering. Now you're paying to keep both alive while neither is finished.
Lovable, Bolt, or Cursor gave you a working demo, but it can't pass a HIPAA audit, handle real user load, or survive a security review. That's a specialty: see vibe code rescue for regulated industries.
Spreadsheets, Access databases, or a 10-year-old codebase that nobody wants to touch. It still runs the business, but one more patch and the whole thing falls over.
[ WHAT WE RESCUE ]
Rescue experience is domain-specific. These are the system categories we've actually inherited and shipped, each with the receipt.
Systems that touch money, portfolios, or financial reporting, where a botched rescue carries regulatory exposure. We built an ESG investment analytics platform for a sustainable fund: portfolio sustainability performance, SDG alignment, compliance-ready reports.
See the ESG platform case study →Live platforms with real users and real money moving. We took over a P2P marketplace running on Stripe Connect from an agency that stopped responding: users kept transacting through the entire takeover, and the payment flows the old team left half-designed shipped on a fixed price.
The strongest proof we have: a federal regulatory compliance platform inherited after the original team went dark. Broken authentication, 61 TypeScript errors, statutory deadline fixed. Shipped to production in 8 weeks, about 120 engineering hours, 100% audit pass.
Read the takeover playbook →
Case management customizations and law-firm platforms where privilege, audit trails, and court deadlines follow the data wherever it moves. The rescue-vs-replace decision for a firm partner has its own framework.
Read the legal rescue framework →[ HOW IT WORKS ]
Every rescue follows the same proven process. No surprises.
Free 30 minutes. We look at the repo together and ask what went wrong with the previous vendor.
You get: an honest first read$2,420, credited toward the build. What to keep, what to rebuild, and a fixed price. In writing.
You get: written verdict in 3 daysSame senior team start to finish. Compliance work lands first on regulated systems.
You get: a working demo every weekFull source, documentation, deployment runbook, and 2 weeks of post-launch support.
You get: the keys. No lock-in[ CAPABILITIES ]
Three rescue types, each with a fixed-price path from audit to delivery. No open-ended hourly billing.
from $12,000
Audit, stabilize, and ship broken or abandoned codebases. We take over from any point and deliver to production.
from $17,000
Take AI-generated prototypes to production with compliance and reliability. Architecture, security, and error handling — everything a vibe-coded demo lacks.
from $26,000
Modernize aging systems without losing business logic or data. Keep what works, rebuild what's failing.
[ PROOF ]
Federal regulatory compliance platform. Previous developer disappeared mid-project: broken authentication from a circular dependency, 61 TypeScript errors, integrations stubbed, statutory deadline fixed. We audited the codebase, kept what worked, rebuilt WebRTC video and biometric authentication from scratch.
8 wk
to production
~120
engineering hours
100%
federal audit pass
"Why are you so quick?"
Client, controlled-substance compliance rescue, on receiving the first working build. The previous team had scoped the remaining work at several hundred hours.
★★★★★
“Everything was done professionally, with efficient and fast communication, unconditional availability, kindness and professionalism.”
Goran Dojčinović
Lawyer, Dojčinović Law Office
Verified review · Clutch, 5.0[ HOW TO CHOOSE ]
A handful of firms specialize in taking over failed or abandoned software projects rather than starting fresh. Moravio, Netguru, and Andersen are established generalist rescue shops that will take over a stalled build in almost any domain. Oktopeak is the option to shortlist when the system is compliance-critical, in healthcare, legal, or fintech, where a botched rescue carries regulatory exposure, not just technical risk.
Whichever you choose, screen every candidate on four things:
Oktopeak's strongest proof is a federal DEA compliance platform we took over after the original team went dark and shipped on the original deadline in about 120 engineering hours, work the prior team had scoped at hundreds. If your project is regulated and someone left it half-built, that is exactly the rescue we are built for.
[ WHO READS YOUR CODEBASE ]
I get on the rescue calls myself. Bring whatever you have: the repo, the old vendor's last invoice, the deadline. I'll tell you honestly whether it's a fix or a rebuild, and what I'd do in your position. If it's not worth rescuing, I'll say that too.
[ MORE CASE STUDIES ]
LEGAL TECH · HIPAA
HIPAA-compliant case management platform for structured settlements. Three portals, audit-ready from day one.
Read the case studyFINTECH · ESG
ESG intelligence platform for fund managers: sustainability performance, SDG alignment, compliance-ready reports.
Read the case studyLEGAL TECH · SEARCH
Semantic search across 1M+ documents in 100ms. $224K+ in annual savings for the firm.
Read the case studyHEALTHCARE · AUDIT TRAIL
Case lifecycle management for senior living placement: enforced state machine, append-only audit trail, aging-aware reporting.
Read the case studyHEALTHCARE · HIPAA-READY
AI-powered continuing medical education: quiz generation from PDFs and PubMed, verified credit tracking, gamification.
Read the case studyLEGAL TECH · OPEN SOURCE
Open-source Model Context Protocol connectors for Clio, MyCase, Filevine, and IntakeQ. MIT licensed, ABA Opinion 512 audit logging built in.
Read the case study[ FAQ ]
[ MORE ON SOFTWARE RESCUE ]
Written from codebases we actually inherited, not from a template.
The rescue vs replacement decision for firm partners: data model integrity, code accessibility, compliance deadline urgency. Plus the legal-specific baseline generic rescue shops miss.
Read the framework →The five failure modes that surface after product-market fit: unindexed tables, double charges, write contention, an unbounded job queue, and no blast-radius control.
Read the breakdown →Generic advice says spend months understanding the code. With a regulator in the room that order is backwards. The liability-first takeover playbook.
Read the playbook →Three days of audit on an "MVP complete" handoff: 61 TypeScript errors, 1,339-line files, and where vibe coding actually stops.
Read the teardown →Five real rescue shops compared by rescue type and process, including the whois check that cut two shops from the list. Yes, we're on it.
Read the comparison →Once burned, you have to screen the next vendor harder. The questions that separate real takeover experience from a fluent proposal.
Read the questions →[ GET STARTED ]
Free 30-minute call. We'll tell you what's salvageable, what needs rebuilding, and what it'll cost. No pitch.
