Code Janitor | EARNST

What this service does

Code Janitor transforms AI-generated prototypes into production-ready systems. AI tools like Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Claude can generate functional code quickly, but that code often lacks proper error handling, security measures, tests, and documentation. It works as a demo but breaks in production. We audit the codebase, identify technical debt, fix critical issues, add tests, and document how everything works.

This is not about rewriting everything from scratch. It's surgical improvement: fixing security vulnerabilities, adding error handling, improving performance bottlenecks, writing tests for critical paths, and documenting architectural decisions. The goal is making code maintainable, debuggable, and deployable with confidence.

Who needs this?

CTOs and development teams using AI coding assistants to build quickly but facing deployment anxiety. Common scenarios: you built a working prototype with Cursor but don't trust it in production, your AI-generated codebase has no tests, you're getting runtime errors you don't understand, or you need to hand off the project but there's no documentation explaining how it works.

Typical clients: startups with AI-built MVPs approaching launch, agencies who used AI to accelerate client projects, product teams who prototyped with Claude and now need to deploy, companies with junior developers using Copilot who need senior oversight. If you're asking "is this code safe to deploy?" the answer is probably not yet, and that's exactly what we fix.

How EARNST approaches it

We start with a comprehensive audit: running the application, reading the codebase, checking dependencies, looking for security issues, identifying architectural problems. We then create a prioritized list of issues categorized by severity: critical (security vulnerabilities, data loss risks), high (bugs that will cause production failures), medium (technical debt that will slow future development), and low (nice-to-have improvements).

The refactoring process is systematic: fix critical security issues first, add error handling and logging, write tests for essential functionality, improve performance where necessary, and document key decisions. We don't chase perfection. We aim for "good enough to deploy confidently and maintain efficiently." Every change is version controlled, tested, and explained.

Project scope

A typical Code Janitor engagement takes 2 to 4 weeks depending on codebase size and quality. This includes initial audit (1 to 2 days), critical fixes (security, major bugs), test coverage for core functionality, performance optimization if needed, and documentation. Very small projects (single page apps, simple scripts) can be reviewed in 3 to 5 days. Large, complex systems may require 6 to 8 weeks.

We deliver a detailed audit report highlighting what we found and what we fixed, a refactored codebase with version control history, automated tests, security hardening documentation, and deployment guide. Ongoing support is available on a monthly retainer basis for teams who want continued oversight of AI-generated code.