Published
The methodology, standards, and quality gates are visible on this page. A prospect can audit our operating discipline before they sign. Black-box processes hide failure; published ones compound trust.
The Methodology
FORGE is how Living Software gets shipped.
Seven specialist agents. Ten mandatory quality gates. Every decision recorded. Every handoff verified. This is the methodology behind every Routiine LLC engagement — published on this page so you can read it before you hire us.
7 specialist agents10 mandatory quality gatesEvery ADR published100% code ownership
The Three Pillars
Published. Enforced. Owned.
Enforced
Gates are not aspirational. They run on every release. A failing gate stops the release — no exceptions, no silent overrides. If a gate is wrong for a specific engagement, we amend it with an ADR; we do not bypass it.
Owned
At handoff you receive the source, the ADRs, the runbooks, and every account key. Fully transferable. You could replace Routiine with any competent team the next day. The relationship continues because the work compounds, not because you are locked in.
The Seven Agents
A coordinated team, not one developer wearing hats.
Every Routiine engagement runs the full FORGE pipeline. Each agent owns a discipline; every handoff is structured with written briefs and explicit exit criteria. Work compresses because specialists do not wait on each other.
STEP 01
Product Manager
Defines the scope in writing before any code.
PRD, user stories, RICE prioritization, success metrics. The document a prospect sees before they sign.
STEP 02
Architect
Locks the system before a single file ships.
C4 diagrams, API contracts, database schema, Architectural Decision Records. No code without an ADR.
STEP 03
Backend
APIs, data, business logic — in order.
Hono or FastAPI, PostgreSQL with Prisma or Drizzle, typed boundaries, Zod-validated everywhere.
STEP 04
Frontend
Interface, accessibility, experience.
Nuxt or Next on strict TypeScript, Tailwind for styling, a11y checklist on every component.
STEP 05
QA
Nothing ships without tests.
Vitest for unit, Playwright for end-to-end, test plan written alongside the PRD — not after.
STEP 06
Security
OWASP Top 10, every release.
Auth flows, RLS, dependency audit, secrets review. Explicit sign-off required before deploy.
STEP 07
DevOps
CI/CD, Docker, cloud — configured, documented, handed over.
GitHub Actions pipelines, Docker Compose for local, deployment to Vercel, Railway, or self-hosted infra. Runbooks included.
FORGE Across All Seven Pillars
Software is the foundation. Every pillar runs on the same discipline.
The seven agents above are the Software & Product pillar's team. Every other Routiine capability — brand, search, paid media, content, growth operations, data — runs a parallel specialist team under the same ten quality gates, same ADR discipline, same ownership transfer. One methodology, seven capability pillars.
Software & Product
7 — Product Manager · Architect · Backend · Frontend · QA · Security · DevOps
Output: Custom SaaS, apps, AI integrations
Brand & Creative
5 — Brand Strategist · Copywriter · Designer · Art Director · Video Producer
Output: Identity systems, copy, design, video, storytelling
Search & Discoverability
6 — SEO Technical · Local SEO · International SEO · AEO / LLM Optimizer · Link Builder · ASO
Output: Rank in Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, App Stores
Paid Media
5 — Media Strategist · PPC Engineer · Programmatic Buyer · Creative Ops · Attribution Analyst
Output: PPC, programmatic, retargeting, social ads, video ads
Content & Social
5 — Content Strategist · Editorial Lead · Social Producer · Community Manager · Influencer Partner Lead
Output: Essays, social content, community, influencer programs
Growth Operations
6 — RevOps Architect · Lifecycle Email · Lead Gen Engineer · PR Lead · Automation Engineer · Market Researcher
Output: Lifecycle automation, cold outbound, inbound, PR, comms
Data
4 — Data Architect · Analytics Engineer · Visualization Lead · ML Engineer
Output: Warehouse, attribution, dashboards, predictive modeling
All pillars share the ten quality gates below — a brand engagement ships with the same review, handoff, and documentation rigor as a SaaS build. See the full capability index for every service under every pillar.
The Ten Quality Gates
A gate fails, the release stops.
Every gate is non-negotiable. An amendment requires a written ADR, reviewed before the engagement starts. There are no silent overrides.
01
Build Gate
Project must compile and build without errors. Zero warnings policy where feasible.
02
Test Gate
All tests pass. Coverage threshold per domain — unit, integration, end-to-end.
03
Lint Gate
ESLint or equivalent passes clean. No ignored rules without written justification.
04
Type Gate
Strict TypeScript. Zero `any` types. Zero `@ts-ignore` without ADR reference.
05
Security Gate
Dependency audit clean. Auth flows reviewed. Secrets scan passes. OWASP Top 10 checklist signed.
06
Review Gate
Code-reviewer agent sign-off on every PR before merge. Human review on security-sensitive paths.
07
Performance Gate
Lighthouse ≥ 90 for client-facing pages. Core Web Vitals green.
08
Env Gate
Every required environment variable documented in `.env.example`. No hardcoded configuration.
09
Migration Gate
Database migrations run clean against staging. Rollback path verified.
10
Handoff Gate
README updated. ADR log current. Runbook delivered. No silent handoffs.
The Ownership Transfer
At handoff you own every line.
01
Source code
Full repository, push access on day one. Licensed to you, not to us.
02
Decision records
Every architectural decision made during the build, written down, indexed. Future maintainers know why.
03
Runbooks
Deploy, monitor, troubleshoot. Written for someone who has never seen the project.
04
Keys & access
Every cloud, DNS, analytics, and deploy credential. Transferred, not shared.
Ready to Build?
Tell us what you're building.
We reply within 24 hours. If we are a fit, a scope document lands inside five business days — architecture, timeline, and a fixed price.