Your AI MVP shipped.
Then production met it.
Lovable, Cursor, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0 — they all ship working-looking UIs in a weekend. None of them ship real auth, real payments, real onboarding, or real data integrity. Vibe Code Rescue is the fixed-price, fixed-timeline rebuild for founders who already learned that lesson.
4-8 weeks. Typical $25K-$50K (smaller rescues from $15K). Fixed price. No open-ended scope.
Quick Answer
A vibe code rescue is the fixed-price, fixed-timeline rebuild of an AI-generated codebase (Lovable, Cursor, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0, Base44) that broke when it hit real users. Typical engagement: 4-8 weeks, $25K-$50K, with a free 20-minute repo audit before signing. The case study engagement was $40K, six weeks, replaced a $150K agency quote for the same scope. Built and run by Justin McKelvey, fractional CTO (Austin, TX). As of June 2026.
You shipped. Then production hit it. Now you're here.
Every vibe code rescue starts with the same set of symptoms. You probably recognize most of them:
- →Auth is fake. Hardcoded users, no real sessions, no password reset, no SSO. The auth screen exists. The auth doesn't.
- →Payments are stubs. Stripe never wired correctly. Webhooks not handled. Subscriptions not actually charging. Customer signed up for a $99/mo plan three months ago — never billed.
- →Onboarding doesn't exist. Users land in an empty workspace and bounce. Activation rate under 10%.
- →Data integrity is missing. No constraints, no foreign keys, no validation. The data is held together with hope and trim().
- →Deploys are scary. Every deploy breaks something. Rolling back means restoring a database backup from yesterday.
- →The codebase is "AI-shaped." Hundreds of files. Duplicate components. Inconsistent patterns. Your new hire spends week one trying to figure out where to even add a feature.
None of this is your fault. AI coding tools optimized for the demo, not for production. The fix is a structured rebuild of the load-bearing systems — not another six months of bug-fix sprints.
The Crash Cart — the framework I run on every rescue
The Crash Cart is the diagnostic-and-rebuild framework I developed across multiple vibe code rescues. Same shape, every engagement: identify what's load-bearing, decide what to keep, rebuild what's broken, ship in a defined timeline. Read the full Crash Cart framework for the deep methodology.
The framework also names the cost you're carrying right now: Vibe Debt — the technical debt every AI-generated codebase accumulates the moment it meets real users. The Crash Cart pays it down.
A production-ready replacement, not a patch job
Real sessions, real password reset, real account recovery, real SSO if you need it. Built on production-grade auth (Devise, Auth0, Clerk, NextAuth — whichever fits your stack).
Stripe wired end-to-end. Webhook handlers that actually run. Subscriptions, one-time charges, refunds, dunning. Customer billing tested with real card data before launch.
First-run flow that gets a new user to value in under 5 minutes. Activation rate as a measurable outcome, not a vibe.
Database constraints, foreign keys, validation at the model layer. Migrations that don't lose data. Backups that actually restore.
Production deploys you don't have to be scared of. Rollback plan. Error monitoring (Sentry). Logging. Health checks. The basics, done right.
60-minute training call. Written runbook. 30 days of post-launch Slack support. Optional ongoing retainer ($1,500-$3,000/mo) if you want a long-term technical partner.
Four weeks at the floor. Eight weeks at the ceiling. No open-ended scope.
Send me your repo. I send you a Loom.
20-minute walkthrough of your codebase identifying the three biggest production risks. Written summary with concrete next steps. No strings — you get the audit whether or not you hire me.
Decide what to keep, what to rebuild, what to throw away.
Discovery call. Codebase deep-dive. Stack decisions (stay on Next.js or move to Rails 8 + Hotwire — based on your team, not my preference). Scoped statement of work with fixed price and fixed timeline.
The actual work. Real auth, real payments, real onboarding, real data integrity.
Salvage the working UI components. Rebuild the load-bearing systems underneath. Weekly demo calls. Daily Slack visibility. Customer data migration if needed.
Production deploy. Real customer migration. Training handoff.
Production deploy on your domain. Customer migration window. 60-minute training session for your team. Written runbook. 30 days of Slack support starts at launch.
Who this is for — and who it isn't
It's for you if
- ✓You shipped an MVP on Lovable, Cursor, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0, Base44, or similar AI tools
- ✓The product is live OR you're about to launch and just realized what's missing
- ✓You have early customers or paying users — there's real stakes to getting this right
- ✓You can write a $25K-$50K check from operating cash, fundraise, or revenue
- ✓You want a fixed-price, fixed-timeline outcome — not an open-ended consulting bill
It's NOT for you if
- ✗You haven't shipped yet — talk to me about a build instead, not a rescue
- ✗Your codebase is human-engineered and just needs a senior dev — that's a hire, not a rescue
- ✗You're hoping to negotiate down to $5K — the floor is real, the work is real
- ✗You want hourly billing or open-ended scope — this is productized for a reason
- ✗You want me to teach you to code — that's a different engagement (and a different person, probably)
Receipts, not promises.
The first published Vibe Code Rescue case study: a YC-backed B2B SaaS shipped its MVP on Lovable. The UI looked complete. There was no real auth, no payments, no onboarding, no data integrity. Six weeks later — and $40K instead of the $150K agency quote — they shipped a production replacement on a stack their team could maintain.
Read the full case study →Fixed price. Fixed timeline. No surprises.
4-8 weeks · Fixed price · Fixed timeline
Scope-dependent. The free repo audit tells you which end of the range you're looking at before you commit a dollar.
Smaller scope? Lighter rescues (single-page app, no migration, basic auth + payments) start at $15K. Bigger scope? Complex SaaS with deep integrations runs $60K-$100K. The free audit tells you which bucket you're in — no commitment, no pressure.
Most rescues land in the typical band. The audit is the qualifier — send your repo and I'll tell you honestly what it'll take.
Start with the free repo audit.
Send me the repo (private GitHub link, ZIP, whatever). I send back a 20-minute Loom walkthrough of the three biggest production risks plus written next steps. You decide what to do next.
Get the free repo auditNo pitch. No strings. You get the diagnostic whether or not you hire me.
Things people ask before signing
- What is a vibe code rescue?
- A vibe code rescue is the fixed-price, fixed-timeline rebuild of an AI-generated codebase (Lovable, Cursor, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0, Base44) that broke when it hit real users. Typical engagement runs 4-8 weeks, $25K-$50K, and ships a production-ready replacement with real authentication, payments, onboarding, data integrity, and deploy safety. Includes a free 20-minute repo audit before signing.
- How much does a vibe code rescue cost?
- Typical engagements run $25K-$50K, fixed-price, fixed-timeline. Cost depends on scope: how much of the original UI we keep, how many real integrations need building (auth, payments, email, file storage), and whether customer data needs migration. We quote against fixed timelines so founders know exactly what they're getting before signing. The case study engagement was $40K (vs. a $150K agency quote for the same scope).
- How long does a typical vibe code rescue take?
- Most rescues run 4 to 8 weeks from kickoff to production launch. Phase 1 is triage and architecture decisions (week 1). Phase 2 is the core rebuild (weeks 2-6). Phase 3 is migration, testing, and launch (weeks 7-8). Fixed timeline is part of the engagement — no open-ended scope creep.
- What's included in the free repo audit?
- A 20-minute Loom walkthrough of your codebase identifying the three biggest production risks, plus a written summary with concrete next steps. Looks at: authentication implementation, payment and subscription flows, data model integrity, deploy and rollback safety, error handling and observability, and the scale ceiling of the current architecture. Founders get the audit whether or not they hire afterward — it's a no-strings diagnostic.
- Which AI coding tools can you rescue?
- All of them — Lovable, Cursor, Claude Code, Replit Agent, Bolt, v0, Base44, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT-generated code, plus any human + AI hybrid stack. The original tool doesn't matter. What matters is whether the codebase has the structural pieces a real product needs (auth, payments, data integrity, deploys). If it doesn't, we rebuild those layers.
- Will I lose my AI-generated work in a rescue?
- No. We salvage everything that's working — UI components, copy, design decisions, data models — and rebuild only the load-bearing systems that AI tools commonly skip or stub. Most rescues keep 40-70% of the original UI work and rebuild the foundation underneath.
- Do you rebuild on Rails, Next.js, or what?
- Depends on the team. If you have JavaScript engineers, we usually stay on Next.js or rebuild on a more durable Node/TypeScript stack. If you're a non-technical founder or want a stack designed for solo and small-team ownership, we rebuild on Rails 8 + Hotwire (the stack I run my own products on). The stack choice follows the team, not the other way around.
- Why fixed price instead of hourly?
- Because founders need to know what they're spending and when they're shipping. Hourly engineering on a vibe code rescue creates a perverse incentive — the more broken the codebase, the more billable hours. Fixed price aligns incentives: we both want this done well, on time, on budget.
- What if my rescue is bigger than $50K?
- We scope it honestly. Some rescues are bigger — a 50-page complex SaaS with deep integrations and an existing customer base might run $60K-$100K. Some are smaller — a 5-page marketing site with auth might run $15K-$20K. The free repo audit tells you which one you're looking at before you commit.
- Can you teach my team to maintain it after launch?
- Yes. Every engagement includes a 60-minute handoff session, a written runbook, and 30 days of post-launch Slack support. If you want longer-term support, we offer a $1,500-$3,000/month maintenance retainer.
- Why is this productized instead of consulting?
- Because the work is repeatable. Every vibe code rescue follows the same Crash Cart methodology: triage what's load-bearing, decide what to keep, rebuild what's broken, ship in a defined timeline. Productizing it means you get a faster start, a fixed price, and a known shape — instead of an open-ended consulting engagement that bills by the hour and scopes forever.
- Do you take equity instead of cash?
- No. Cash only. Vibe Code Rescue is a fixed-deliverable service, not an advisory engagement. Equity makes sense for ongoing advisory or fractional CTO work (where I'm betting on the long-term outcome with you), not for a 4-8 week delivery.
Related reading
The $40K Rescue (vs $150K quote)
YC B2B SaaS. Broken Lovable MVP. Six weeks to production.
The Crash Cart Method
The diagnostic-and-rebuild framework I run on every rescue.
Vibe Debt
The cost every AI-generated codebase carries the moment it meets real users.
Is vibe coding actually bad?
When it works, when it doesn't, what the failure modes look like.
Vibe Coding Security Checklist
20-point self-audit before you decide to rescue. Free.
All Ways to Work With Me
Strategy calls, AI Readiness, builds, fractional CTO, rescue.
Send the repo. Get the audit.
Twenty minutes of Loom + a written summary. You learn what's actually wrong with your codebase. Then we decide if a rescue makes sense — and if not, I'll tell you that too.
Book a 30-minute call