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How to do a software rewrite
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About this service
Build scalable, maintainable software with our experienced engineering teams. We deliver high-quality code and best practices that help your product succeed.
Go to serviceSoftware engineering
Staff engineers who join your team to improve how you build
We write production code in your codebase: modernising legacy, unblocking progress and raising the bar while we're at it.
Brownfield experts
Lead by example
Plan our exit from day one
We don't just improve your software, we care about the team as well
We work on software that already has users, history, and opinions. The kind where every change can break something, and “just rewrite it” is not an option. Our staff engineers join your team to unlock progress again.
We love legacy
Most of our work happens in brownfield and legacy systems. Code that has been around and accumulated debt, but still needs to perform. Cleaning up what matters while shipping real features gives us the thrills.
Leading staff engineers
Our engineers lead by doing. They write code, improve systems and refine processes. Since 2008, we have been cleaning up codebases. We join with a clear plan to leave and when we are done, the waters are calmer, the team is stronger, and progress is predictable again.
We build with AI, every day
AI is part of how our engineers work: coding agents on real tasks, AI review that catches the boring mistakes, documentation that gives the tools context. We bring that workflow into your team and shape it around your standards, guardrails included. How we think about it is in our guide to implementing AI in an engineering team.
Review that keeps up with AI
When AI writes code faster than your team can review it, the bottleneck moves from implementation to specification, review and QA. We redesign that pipeline so quality keeps up with the volume, and when AI belongs in your product itself, our AI engineering service builds it properly.
Our engineering playing field
We take on projects that make your product more robust. When the tech outgrows the team, we step in.
Backend engineering
Our developers join your team, take on tickets and lead by example. They dive into infrastructure, refactor APIs, improve performance, build CI/CD pipelines and make your backend something your team can rely on.
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Ready to talk?
Ready to build a backend your product can rely on?
Frontend engineering
We modernise legacy frontends, clean up design systems, and fix performance and accessibility. We bridge design and engineering so what ships matches what was imagined, and users actually love using it.
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Ready to talk?
Want a frontend that users love and your team can maintain?
AI projects
We help teams make smart use of data and AI. Not for the hype, but for real impact. Whether it is setting up pipelines, integrating generative AI, or applying machine learning where it makes sense.
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Ready to talk?
Looking to put AI to work in your product?
Mobile projects
We build and improve mobile applications with the same quality-first approach we bring to web. Native or cross-platform, we focus on performance, reliability, and a great user experience.
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Ready to talk?
Ready to ship a mobile app your users keep coming back to?
Our approach
“We join with a clear plan to leave. When we are done, the waters are calmer, the team is stronger, and progress is predictable again.”
Why companies call us in
You don't call us when everything's going great. You call us when things kind of work, but don't feel right anymore. When progress feels heavier than it should.
“We keep rewriting instead of improving.”
“We want to add AI to our product but don’t know where to start.”
“Madewithlove not only helped us scale our output, but also our strategy, processes and culture. Not by imposing, but by reinforcing the foundations that were already there.”
Michelle Dassen, Head of Product at Flexmail
“Everyone says AI makes teams faster. Ours got slower.”
“We’re scaling faster than our processes.”
“If you can tell VCs, ‘we are working with madewithlove’ they already know it will be quality because they have also used madewithlove to do, for example, audits.”
Thomas Vanhumbeeck, Cofounder & CEO at FixForm
“We’re stuck on an old framework version and can’t upgrade.”
“Our app crashes on older devices and we’re losing users.”
Happy clients
We've embedded staff engineers with dozens of SaaS teams to improve live software, mentor developers, and make progress sustainable.
MinersAI
From AI prototype to a scalable mineral intelligence platform
We helped MinersAI build their SaaS platform from the ground up, providing frontend engineering, CTO-in-residence leadership, and AI & data expertise to take them from a research-first team to a platform used by some of the largest government organisations and mining companies worldwide.
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We help our clients succeed
You will not see companies like Amazon among our past clients. You will, however, see the names that will soon rock the SaaS world because we helped them predict risks and avoid failure.
“Madewithlove is a team of highly talented and highly skilled developers. Their deep knowledge of the latest technologies and broad involvement in our growth has been an undeniable asset.”
Raphael Bochner
Co-Founder and CEO, SweepBright
“Together with madewithlove, we created a high standard of quality which includes consistent, readable, well-documented, and tested code which we would like to keep for years.”
Sven Houtmeyers
Technical Lead (CTO), Publiq
“After auditing our product, madewithlove made the bold recommendation to rebuild our platform from scratch. This allowed us to bring much-needed security upgrades and modern architectures to our previous software tool that was very outdated. They also provided structure and…” Read more
Jef Daniels
CEO, Impact Us Today
FROM 190+ SAAS AUDITS
51% mishandle credentials in the codebase
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Need engineering muscle?
Whether you need staff engineers to strengthen your team, help untangling a legacy codebase, or a fresh perspective on your architecture. We're ready to dig in.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about working with our staff engineers.
We don't take over but we join. Our engineers embed directly into your team, pairing with your developers, reviewing architecture, and introducing better practices. The goal isn't to replace anyone. It's to leave your team stronger than we found them.
Very direct. If something is broken, unclear, or slowing the team down, we say it out loud. Always respectfully, never theatrically. Clear problems are easier to fix than polite misunderstandings.
No. We are pragmatic rather than dogmatic. We do not impose frameworks for the sake of consistency or fashion. We work with your existing stack, constraints, and team.
Mostly SaaS startups and scale-ups that have found product-market fit but struggle to scale their product or team. We often step in when internal teams are stretched thin or early technical decisions start slowing things down.
We do both, but our sweet spot is brownfield development. Improving and evolving existing software. Whether it is modernising a legacy codebase or untangling a complex monolith, we bring structure and calm to environments where the pressure is highest.
Almost never. Most teams do not need a big rewrite. They need fewer fires, better predictability, and clearer ownership. We focus on stabilising what matters first, then improving quality where it actually pays off.
We are technology-agnostic, but most of our projects use modern web stacks such as React, Vue, Laravel, Symfony, and Node.js. We also handle infrastructure, cloud environments, and data and AI integrations.
Yes, daily. Our engineers use coding agents and AI review on real products, and we help your team do the same: a shared workflow with guardrails and review discipline, rather than scattered individual experiments. When AI belongs in the product itself, we build it with the same engineering standards as everything else.
Most engagements last between 6 and 18 months. We stay as long as we add real value. Long enough to fix structural issues, mentor your team, and make progress sustainable.
We begin with an honest conversation about your challenges, technical, organisational, or both. From there, we may do a short audit or technical due diligence to clarify the situation and define next steps. Once aligned, we embed and start improving things immediately.