A README that works
Clone, install, run — verified on a clean machine rather than written from memory.
Handoff & docs
A codebase your next developer can actually pick up
The goal isn't to keep you on a retainer. It's to hand back something a new engineer can be productive in on day one.
In short
Handoff is the work of leaving a project understandable without us: a README that gets a new developer running locally in minutes, an architecture note explaining why the code is shaped the way it is, a documented data model, a readable commit history, and every account, domain and secret transferred into your ownership. Gen2Prod includes a handover note with every engagement — this is the deeper version, for teams bringing someone new in.
- Typical timeline
- 2–3 days, or bundled with any sprint
- You own
- Every line, every account, every secret
- Written for
- Your next developer, not for us
- Includes
- A recorded walkthrough of the codebase
You probably need this if…
- The only person who understands the app is the one who prompted it.
- Onboarding a developer means a week of reading code.
- Nobody can say what a given table or column is for.
- The commit history is forty commits called “update”.
- Half the credentials live in one person's browser.
What handoff & docs covers
An architecture note
Where things live, why they're split that way, and which decisions are load-bearing.
A documented data model
Every table and relationship explained in plain English, next to the schema it describes.
A history you can read
Meaningful commits and pull-request descriptions, so `git log` explains the app instead of obscuring it.
Accounts & secrets transferred
Every service, domain and credential moved into your ownership, with a list of what each one costs.
A recorded walkthrough
A screen-recorded tour of the codebase your next hire can watch before reading a line of it.
How we run it
- 1
Write it from cold
Docs are written by following them on a clean machine. Anything that doesn't work gets fixed rather than glossed over.
- 2
Record the why
Decisions and trade-offs written next to the code they explain — the part that's expensive to reconstruct later.
- 3
Hand over live
A walkthrough with your team, recorded, plus the account-transfer checklist signed off.
What you get back
- A README verified on a clean machine
- An architecture note and a documented data model
- A recorded codebase walkthrough
- All accounts, domains and secrets transferred to you
- A prioritised list of what to build or fix next
Tools we reach for
- Markdown docs in-repo
- Architecture decision records
- Schema diagrams
- Conventional commits
- Recorded walkthroughs
- Secret handover
Handoff & docs — questions we get asked
Do I own the code?
Completely, always — including work in progress. There's no licence, no lock-in, and no clause that makes leaving expensive.
What if we want to keep working with you?
Plenty of clients do, on a retainer. But that's a choice you make holding a codebase you could hand to anyone — see the pricing page for what ongoing support covers.
Can our in-house developer take over?
That's exactly what the handoff is for. We run the walkthrough with them, answer questions for two weeks afterwards, and write the docs at their level rather than ours.
Is documentation included in your other services?
A short handover note comes with every engagement. This is the deeper version — the walkthrough, the data model and the account transfer — for teams bringing a new developer in.
Often paired with
All servicesRefactor & cleanup
Lovable, Bolt, v0 and Cursor write code fast — and they write it flat. We reshape it into modules with clear boundaries, so the next feature takes an afternoon instead of a week.
Learn morePerformance tuning
A prototype is fast because it holds twelve rows. We profile the paths your users actually take, then fix the ones that fall over at scale.
Learn moreDatabase & queries
AI tools write queries that work. They don't write queries that work at a million rows. We find the ones that will melt first and fix them at the source.
Learn more