Architecture & new builds
Build on solid ground.
Turn a difficult brief into a system your team can own. Get the architecture, implementation, and operational foundations in place together.
A working system, with a clear way forward.Independent engineering studio
Senior engineering
for critical systems.
Build, scale, and stabilize the systems your business depends on. Work directly with the engineer who designs and ships the solution.
Start a conversation
Two years in production. Under $50 a month.AWS KMS code signing. Read the field note.An initial conversation. No project commitment.
Below the surfaceSurvey 09
Built for the work beneath the product.
Distributed systemsSecurity platformsCloud & data
01The work
A hard problem.
A good place to start.
For engineering teams building something new, growing beyond their architecture, or finding their way out of a difficult system.
Scaling & performance
Make room for what’s next.
When traffic grows faster than the architecture, find the constraints in your databases, pipelines, and infrastructure. Fix the bottleneck at its source.
Capacity to grow. Fewer surprises under load.System recovery & reliability
Get the system back in hand.
Untangle the system that has become difficult to change or trust. Trace the failures, simplify the moving parts, and make production understandable again.
Safer changes and a system you can reason about.02 / Below the surfaceDepth is the discipline.
Preparation over bravado. Fewer moving parts.
Always a clear path back to solid ground.
03Proven in production
The work holds up.
The details are public.
Field report / Security infrastructure
Code signing.
Built for production.
AWS KMS replaced a dedicated HSM appliance in the signing workflow. The published case study documents two years in production, thousands of signed installers, and a monthly cost below $50.
Read the implementation- In production
- 2 years
- Monthly signing cost
- < $50
Build
AWS KMS
Distribute
Reported in the December 2025 field note.
Experience where failure is expensive.
Security telemetry from millions of endpoints.Infrastructure for millions of concurrent connections.
04The method
One engineer.
A clear path to production.
The person you talk to is the person doing the work. Context stays intact from the first conversation to the final handover.
- 01
Understand the terrain.
Walk through the problem together. Read the code, trace the data, and agree on the work that will make a difference.
A shared problem and a defined scope. - 02
Build with a way back.
Work in deliberate, reviewable steps. Test the failure paths, keep changes reversible, and make progress visible to your team.
Working software, reviewed as it takes shape. - 03
Leave solid ground.
Carry the work into production with the documentation, observability, and context your team needs to operate it.
A system your team understands and owns.
05Before we go in
Good questions.
Straight answers.
What kind of work is a good fit?
Architecture, new builds, scaling, and reliability work for distributed systems, security platforms, cloud infrastructure, databases, and data pipelines. The common thread is a difficult systems problem that needs experienced engineering.
Can you work with our existing team?
Yes. The work can fit into an existing engineering team or focus on a defined system. The collaboration starts with understanding your code, constraints, and way of working.
Who will actually do the work?
The engineer you speak with designs and builds the system. cavenine is deliberately small, so the context stays with the person responsible for the implementation.
Do we need a finished specification?
No. Start with the problem, what you have already tried, and what a useful outcome looks like. Understanding the system and defining the work are part of the process.
How are scope and timing decided?
They depend on the system and the outcome you need. We discuss constraints, dependencies, and availability, then agree on the scope and working arrangements before project work begins.
What happens after I get in touch?
Your email goes directly to an engineer. Share a little about the system and where you are stuck, and we can discuss whether there is a fit. An initial conversation does not commit you to a project.
06Field notes
Notes from the work.
ctx++: Codebase Intelligence for AI Coding Agents
How ctx++ uses tree-sitter parsing, SQLite, and vector search to give AI coding agents fast, accurate access to large codebases via MCP.
Using AWS KMS as Your Code Signing HSM
How to replace expensive HSMs with AWS KMS for EV code signing certificates, saving thousands while maintaining security.
07A way forward
Tell us what’s
beneath the surface.
A system that needs to scale. A build that needs a foundation. A problem that needs a second pair of experienced eyes.
Start with the problem.
We’ll take it from there.