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File · WL-DEV-2026/Engineering
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Next.js 16·Payload·Railway·Neon·Performance·Migrations

Senior engineering. Under your stack.

Outsource your marketing site, headless CMS, or performance retainer to a senior bench. Built on Next.js 16, Payload, Railway, and Neon Postgres. INP under 200ms in writing. Repo lives in your GitHub org from day one. The same named senior ships every sprint.

  • 01Senior full-stack engineer, named on day one
  • 02Repo access from day one, you own the IP
  • 03INP ≤ 200ms in writing, performance budget locked
  • 04Free 16-point dev audit in four business days
Founding partner · Q4 2026 · You own the repo, always
~/wl-dev-2026/audit

$ grovant audit --site=your.site --priority=p0

→ ok · queued · slot 03 / eta 4 biz days

Free 16-point audit
Form 01 / 02

Send the site. Get the scorecard.

Send the site or repo URL. Inside four business days you get a Lighthouse run, a 16-point dev audit, a sprint plan, and a price.

Mutual NDA · You own the repo · INP ≤ 200ms in writing

bash · 80×24senior · standing by

Reply within one business day · Read by a senior engineer

Build manifest · sanitized snapshot

The scorecard that ships every week.

Core Web Vitals from a client site this quarter. 43% of mobile sites fail INP in 2026. Yours will not. Every deploy logs a Lighthouse run. Every PR runs a perf budget gate. Every regression has a name attached to it before it merges.

Build #142 · client-04 · prod

Lighthouse · mobile · 75th percentile
All four pass
  • LCPPASS

    1.8s

    Threshold ≤ 2.5s

    Largest Contentful Paint

  • INPPASS

    82ms

    Threshold ≤ 200ms

    Interaction to Next Paint

  • CLSPASS

    0.02

    Threshold ≤ 0.10

    Cumulative Layout Shift

  • TTFBPASS

    180ms

    Threshold ≤ 800ms

    Time to First Byte

Deploy log · last 4 · sanitized
Repo in your org
  • a7b3c1f
    feat(home): hero rebuild, INP regressions fixed
    main → production
    98/100
  • d92ee0a
    perf: defer non-critical scripts, -180KB JS
    main → production
    97/100
  • 5fa4b21
    feat(cms): Payload 3.84 upgrade, new admin
    feat/payload → preview
    96/100
  • 10c8d33
    fix(ssr): cache miss on /pricing, ttfb dropped
    main → production
    99/100

This is what your weekly review looks like. No PDF reports. The repo is the report.

Run my Lighthouse audit

Dev audit · sample from a Q3 onboarding

What we look at before we touch the repo.

Every engagement starts with a 16-point audit. Six rows below are pulled from a real onboarding. P0 items become sprint one. PASS items get held in place.

Audit card · client-04 · 6 of 16 findings
Exported under your lockup
  • FAIL
    Core Web Vitals · INP
    Form interaction blocks main thread 420ms on mobile. Threshold is 200ms.
  • FAIL
    Bundle size
    1.2MB shipped on /. 420KB of unused JS in the critical path.
  • WARN
    Type safety
    API routes not typed, manual JSON parsing. Zod schemas missing on five endpoints.
  • WARN
    CI/CD gates
    No preview deploys per PR, no type-check gate, no Lighthouse gate.
  • PASS
    Schema and sitemap
    Structured data clean. JSON-LD on all template pages, sitemap auto-generates.
  • PASS
    Repo hygiene
    Branch protection on main, required reviews enforced, secrets in env not git.

Sixteen rows like these land in your inbox inside four business days.

Commission the audit
The offer · in four numbers04 / 04

  • I·Performance + small builds

    $2,500

    / month retainer

  • II·Project pricing floor

    $8K+

    / marketing site

  • III·Locked in writing

    ≤200ms

    INP budget

  • IV·From brief to audit

    4

    business days

Bundle SaaS dashboard from $25K · Replatform from $12K · Performance retainer from $2,500/mo

grovant.config.ts · the engineering manifest

One file. The whole stack.

Sections · 04 · entries · 16

grovant.config.ts
main · stable
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/**
 * Grovant senior engineering · 2026 stack
 * One repo · one deploy · IP yours from commit 01
 */
export const grovant = {
// FRONTEND
framework: "next@16", // Turbopack default, 10× faster cold starts
react: "19", // use() promises, ref-as-prop, async transitions
rendering: "ppr+server-actions", // Partial prerender, explicit cache
styling: "tailwind@v4", // design tokens, no PostCSS config drift
// CMS · admin · content
payload: "3.84", // embedded in Next, single repo + deploy
preview: true, // draft preview wired per collection
i18n: ["en", "es", "..."], // field-level localization on-demand
roles: "rbac+access-fn", // no $300/mo Contentful floor, no Sanity creep
// INFRA · hosting · data
host: "railway", // monorepo deploy, ephemeral previews per PR
database: "neon-postgres", // serverless, branchable per PR
self-host: true, // pull-and-run · no platform lock-in
media: "r2 | s3", // user choice · CDN signed-URL helpers
// QUALITY · perf · ship gates
inp_budget: "≤ 200ms", // PR-gated, regressions block merge
ts: "strict+e2e", // no any · API routes typed with zod
ci: "lh+budget+ts", // Lighthouse + bundle + type-check per PR
a11y: "wcag-2.2-aa", // axe in CI, manual pass on critical routes
} satisfies EngagementManifest;
// repo lives in your GitHub org · same senior every sprint
ts strict·utf-8·LF·spaces · 2
ln 38 · col 1
Build kinds · what the manifest producesK-01 → K-06
  • K-01

    Marketing site

    $8K+

    3–6 wks

  • K-02

    Replatform

    $12K+

    4–8 wks

  • K-03

    Headless CMS impl.

    $10K+

    3–5 wks

  • K-04

    SaaS dashboard

    $25K+

    6–10 wks

  • K-05

    Perf retainer

    $2.5K/mo

    rolling

  • K-06

    Migration project

    $15K+

    4–8 wks

Floors firm, ceilings open. Bundle development with design and you land below the unbundled total. The manifest above is the only stack you sign.

Send the brief

When the call usually comes in

Three reasons the repo gets shared with us.

  1. Reason 01

    You sold a build and need to staff the engineering.

    Your client signed the SOW. The senior full-stack you wanted to hire wants $225k loaded. We're the bench you bring in instead. Same delivery, in your GitHub org, on your invoice. Bundle development with design and you land below the unbundled total.

  2. Reason 02

    Your in-house dev is shipping every six weeks.

    They're running the platform, fielding bugs, and quietly doing the marketing site changes the founder keeps requesting. We pick up the front-of-house build work in parallel. Type-safe, INP-budgeted, ready for your team to take over the day we're no longer needed.

  3. Reason 03

    You're a founder tired of WordPress and fourteen plugins.

    INP over 500ms on mobile. PageSpeed under 50. Five plugin vulnerabilities open on Saturday morning. We replatform onto Next.js 16 with Payload embedded, ship a marketing site that loads fast, and put your repo back in your org for under $12K project.

The honest comparison

When white-label engineering is the right answer. And when it isn't.

CriterionWordPress + pluginsFreelancerBrand-name studioGrovant
  • Senior FS engineer on the buildnoyesdependsyes
  • Repo in your GitHub org day onen/adependsdependsyes
  • INP ≤ 200ms in writingrareraredependsyes
  • Type safety end to endnodependsdependsyes
  • PR-gated perf budgetnonodependsyes
  • Mutual NDA before repo accessn/araredependsyes
  • Annual cost$1 to 8k$40 to 120k$60 to 240k$30 to 50k
  • Time to first deploy shipped2 weeks2 weeks6 weeks1 week
Engineering contract · in writing
Clauses I to IV

Four clauses.
Signed before code ships.

The reasons most dev shops feel like a gamble are also the reasons we put these four clauses in the MSA before anything is signed.

  1. §I

    You own the repo, always

    The repo lives in your GitHub organization, not ours. We're added as a contributor, never as the owner. Thirty-day handover with documentation if you leave. Stack is fully open-source so any senior Next.js dev can pick it up.

  2. §II

    Mutual NDA on call one

    Signed before we touch the codebase. You don't get pitched, you don't get name-dropped. Every line of code we ship is yours, under your IP, in your version control.

  3. §III

    INP budget in writing

    Performance is contractually defined. INP under 200ms, LCP under 2.5s, bundle size under 250KB on the critical path. PR-gated. If we regress past the budget, we fix it before the next ticket.

  4. §IV

    Same senior every sprint

    Named day one. Signs every PR review, ships every release, runs every standup. No SDR layer, no rotating account managers, no junior coverage when they go on holiday.

Signature

You can leave after the first sprint. We'd rather you stay because the build is good.

Send the briefBook a 20-minute call

Release train · git log · last 28 days · sanitized

The cadence reads like git log.

8 commits · 2 prod tags · 0 reverts

~/client-04 · git log --graph --oneline -n 8
$ git log --graph --oneline --decorate
  1. a7b3c1f(HEAD, main)release:monthly perf review ships under your lockup
    Account lead·day 28·prod
  2. f04ee21(tag: v1.4.0)release:production deploy · LH 98 · INP 82ms (avg)
    Senior eng·day 26·prod
  3. 5cb9d80(origin/sprint-02)chore(ci):perf budget + Lighthouse gates enabled on PRs
    Senior eng·day 21
  4. d92ee0a(origin/main)feat:sprint 02 brief approved, scope locked in owner doc
    Practice lead·day 15
  5. 10c8d33(origin/sprint-01)fix:P0 fixes shipped to preview · INP 420ms → 140ms
    Senior eng·day 09
  6. 8c3a210(origin/audit)feat:type errors logged · INP baseline · sprint 01 scoped
    Senior eng·day 05
  7. 0b1d4af(origin/audit)chore:16-point audit shipped · baseline Lighthouse captured
    Practice lead·day 04
  8. init0000(init)init:repo access shared · mutual NDA signed · onboarding open
    Practice lead·day 01
→ first production deploy inside two weeks · audit lands in four business days
prod healthy·same senior every sprint
head · main

No status decks. The repo is the report. Lighthouse audit lands in four business days.

Start the audit
Engineering questions

What people ask before handing over the repo.

Plain answers about repo ownership, performance budgets, type safety, self-hosting, and how a white-label engineering program actually runs.

  • Our team is proficient in React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Node.js, Python, PHP, WordPress, Shopify, Flutter, React Native, Swift, Kotlin, Laravel, and more. We match the tech stack to your client's specific requirements.

  • Absolutely. We regularly work with existing projects, whether it's adding features to a custom app, redesigning a WordPress site, or optimizing an e-commerce store. We conduct a code review first and provide an honest assessment.

  • Yes. We offer ongoing maintenance and support packages that you can white label to your clients. This includes bug fixes, security updates, performance monitoring, and minor feature additions on a monthly retainer.

  • Every project goes through multi-stage QA: automated testing, manual browser and device testing, accessibility checks, performance audits, and security reviews. We deliver production-quality code.

  • Yes. We have extensive experience building SaaS platforms including user authentication, subscription management, multi-tenancy, dashboards, API development, and cloud infrastructure. These typically follow agile sprints.

  • We deliver complete source code, documentation, deployment guides, and admin credentials. We conduct a walkthrough with your team and provide a support period to ensure a smooth transition.

Don't see your question?Send a quick message →
Reply · within 1 business day

Still have a question we didn't cover? Ask it in the brief. A senior engineer reads every submission inside one business day.

Send the briefBook a call

What happens after you send

Three steps. Four business days.

You send the site. The Lighthouse run and the audit land four business days later. Here is exactly what runs in between.

  1. 01Within 24 hours

    A senior replies

    Not a coordinator, not an SDR. The senior engineer who would run your sprint replies from a real email, confirms scope, and sends the mutual NDA.

  2. 02Days 2 to 3

    We run the 16-point audit

    After the NDA is signed and read-only repo access is shared, we audit the codebase. Lighthouse, INP, bundle, type safety, CI/CD, accessibility, schema. No call required to start.

  3. 03Day 04

    Plan and price land

    You get the scorecard, the audit document, a sprint plan, the named senior engineer, and a transparent price. Retainer or project, your call.

No follow-up sequence. No drip campaign. If the audit doesn't land in four business days, we eat the first sprint.

Start step 01
File · WL-DEV-2026/Closing brief
Page 09 of 09

One step

Send the site.
We'll send back a scorecard.

Inside four business days, you get a Lighthouse run, a 16-point dev audit, a sprint plan, the named senior engineer, and a transparent price. Retainer or project, your call.

  • 01Free Lighthouse + 16-point audit in 4 biz days
  • 02Senior engineer named on day one
  • 03Repo in your GitHub org, full IP
  • 04INP ≤ 200ms locked in writing

Rather talk first?

Book a 20-minute call with a senior
~/wl-dev-2026/audit

$ grovant audit --site=your.site

Free Lighthouse audit
Form 02 / 02

Send the site. Scorecard comes back in four.

Five fields. One business day to a senior reply. No follow-up sequence.

Mutual NDA · You own the repo · INP ≤ 200ms in writing

File sealed · Read by a senior engineer

Free Lighthouse · 4 biz days

Senior engineering under your stack

Run audit