An on-call team for the system you already shipped
Inheriting a codebase, on-call for an old vendor build, or just tired of fires? We run the long tail, uptime, dependency hygiene, perf regressions, security patches, under a clear SLA, with a real human inbox.
tengenx · ops console
LiveOperations console
Monitoring · Alerts · Backlog · SLAs
Monitoring
Alerting
Hygiene
Reporting
P1 response
<2h
Patch cadence
Weekly
Backup test
Monthly
99.95%
Target uptime SLA on production retainers
<2h
P1 response window during cover hours
Quarterly
Written health report, no slop, real signal
Where this fits
Built for the moments you can't postpone
We don't take work just to take work. This service exists because the problems below are the ones we keep being hired to solve, and the ones we've shipped through more than once.
- Original build team is gone and nobody owns the on-call rotation
- You're paying the previous vendor a retainer but have no visibility
- Stack is on Node 14 / PHP 7 / unsupported platform, security risk is mounting
- Site / app keeps having intermittent issues nobody can reproduce
- Need someone reachable when something breaks at 2am, and accountable for fixing it
- Want to keep shipping small features without standing up an in-house team
What we ship
Solutions, not slide decks
Each line below is a real deliverable shipped on past engagements, with an honest scope and a metric where it makes sense.
01 / Scope
Codebase audit + risk register
Two-week deep-dive: dependencies, perf, security, on-call burden, dead code. You leave with a prioritised risk register and a written stabilisation plan.
02 / Scope
24/5 monitoring & on-call
Uptime, errors, real-user perf, and synthetic checks under one console. PagerDuty rotation with a real human inbox, not a black-hole support email.
03 / Scope
Security & dependency hygiene
Renovate-driven dependency PRs, CVE patching, framework upgrades, secret rotation, and a written record of every change. No silent drift.
04 / Scope
Performance budgets
Real-user Core Web Vitals tracked weekly, perf regressions flagged at PR time, and quarterly tear-downs of the slowest pages / endpoints.
05 / Scope
Small features within retainer
Most retainers include a feature budget, small UX fixes, copy / page updates, integration tweaks, so trivial work doesn't get blocked behind a separate contract.
06 / Scope
Backup & recovery drills
Monthly restore-from-backup test, documented RTO / RPO, and a live runbook so 'the database is gone' doesn't become 'the company is gone'.
How we work
A delivery rhythm you can forecast
No mystery sprints. Each phase has a real artefact at the end of it, and you'll always know what's coming next.
- 01 Week 1–2
Audit
2-week codebase + infra audit. Risk register and 90-day stabilisation plan.
- 02 Week 3–4
Stabilise
Critical patches, monitoring stand-up, on-call rotation, runbook v1.
- 03 Month 2+
Operate
Severity-tiered SLAs, weekly hygiene PRs, monthly digest to your inbox.
- 04 Quarterly
Improve
Quarterly perf / security tear-down, technical debt sprints, runbook refresh.
- 05 On request
Hand back
Anytime, full handover doc, open codebase, no proprietary lock-in.
Engagement
Pick the shape that fits, we'll suggest the rest
We don't pretend one engagement model fits everyone. Pick the closest, and we'll right-size on the call.
Industries we ship for
Care retainer
Monitoring, dependency hygiene, security patches, and a small feature budget, for sites and apps that work but need a quiet, reliable owner.
- Uptime + error monitoring
- Weekly dependency PRs
- Small features in budget
- Monthly digest report
Indicative
From $4.5k / mo
Timeline
Rolling, 3-month minimum
SLA retainer
Everything in Care, plus PagerDuty on-call, severity-tiered response SLAs, monthly backup drills, and a quarterly written health report.
- P1 response <2h
- On-call rotation + status page
- Monthly backup drill
- Quarterly health review
Indicative
From $9k / mo
Timeline
Rolling, 6-month minimum
Audit-only
Two-week deep-dive with no commitment to retain us afterwards. You leave with a written risk register, prioritised plan, and an honest read.
- Codebase + infra audit
- Risk register
- 90-day plan
- No retention pressure
Indicative
From $5k
Timeline
1–2 weeks
Stack
The tools we reach for
We're not religious about tools, these are the ones we know deeply enough to ship and operate without surprises.
Monitoring
On-call & comms
Hygiene
Stacks we operate
Infra
Common questions
Honest answers, no sales theatre
We didn't build it with you. Can you still take it on?
Yes, that's the most common engagement. The first 1–2 weeks are an audit (dependencies, infra, on-call burden, perf, security). At the end you have a written risk register and a 90-day stabilisation plan, and you can decide whether to retain us. We've taken over codebases from agencies, freelancers, and in-house teams that wound down.
What's actually in 'monitoring'?
Uptime checks (synthetic), error tracking (Sentry / Datadog), real-user perf (Core Web Vitals + RUM), and infrastructure metrics. Alerts route to PagerDuty with severity tiers, and there's a status page if your customers need one. Every alert has a runbook entry, no waking up an engineer who doesn't know what to do.
What kinds of features can be done inside a retainer?
Small, scoped, low-risk: copy + page updates, UI tweaks, integration adjustments, small reports / dashboards. Anything bigger goes through a separate scope so the retainer doesn't quietly become an open-ended dev contract. We'll always tell you which side of the line a request sits on.
How do severity tiers work?
P1 (production down or data at risk): response within 2h during cover hours, immediate triage. P2 (major feature broken for many users): same business day. P3 (minor / non-blocking): next sprint. P4 (cosmetic / question): in the next monthly digest. SLAs are written into the contract, not assumed.
Can we leave?
Anytime, with 30 days' notice on Care or 60 on SLA. We provide a full handover doc, your repo / infra access stays yours throughout, and there's no proprietary lock-in. The point of the retainer is that the system stays healthy, not that you're trapped in it.
Ready when you are
Let's stop the fires before they start.
Tell us about the system, who owns it today, and where the pain has been. We'll come back with a 2-week audit plan and an honest read on what kind of retainer (if any) actually fits.