Engineering Retainer
acty.dev's engineering retainer is ongoing engineering support scoped after a task review, offered as a monthly retainer or a scoped support package, with no fixed public price and no fixed public included-hours promise.
Our engineering retainer is ongoing engineering support scoped after a task review, offered as a monthly retainer or a scoped support package. It covers bug fixes, small improvements, release support, workflow and tool maintenance, documentation, and implementation support, with new features, major integrations, and new systems scoped separately. There is no fixed public price, no fixed included hours, no guaranteed SLA, and no 24/7 promise; we work async-first and agree response expectations per engagement.
The problem we solve
After a build ships, a team still needs capacity for fixes, small improvements, release support, and maintenance, but does not want to hire for it and has no scoped, predictable way to keep an engineer available for ongoing implementation work.
How we work
- Task review. We review the ongoing work you need covered, the repository or systems involved, and how you prefer to communicate, before any retainer is agreed.
- Define the package. We define a monthly retainer or a scoped support package after the task review, with the included work agreed up front and larger work scoped separately.
- Async delivery. We work async-first through email for commercial communication and GitHub issues, a project board, or a shared task tracker for technical work when repo access exists.
- Handoff and reporting. We deliver shipped repo changes where applicable with review notes, a changelog or status summary, documentation updates, and a next-task backlog.
What you bring / what you get
Inputs
- The ongoing work you need covered after a build ships
- Repository or system access where applicable
- How you prefer to communicate and prioritize work
Outputs
- A monthly retainer or scoped support package agreed after a task review
- Shipped repo changes where applicable
- Review notes, a changelog or status summary, documentation updates, and a next-task backlog
Definition of done. An agreed monthly retainer or scoped support package with a clear scope of included work and an async working agreement, delivering shipped changes with review notes, a changelog or status summary, documentation updates, and a next-task backlog, without a fixed public price, fixed included hours, a guaranteed SLA, or a 24/7 promise.
Fit and anti-fit
Good fit
- Teams that shipped a build and need ongoing fixes, releases, and maintenance
- Buyers who want async engineering capacity without hiring
Not a fit
- Requests for a guaranteed SLA, 24/7, or emergency incident response
- Requests for a fixed public price or committed hours before a task review
Questions
- What is included in the retainer?
- Bug fixes, small improvements, release support, workflow and tool maintenance, documentation, and implementation support. New product features, major integrations, and new systems are scoped separately.
- How is the retainer priced?
- There is no fixed public price and no fixed public included-hours promise. It is a monthly retainer or a scoped support package, defined after a task review once the ongoing work is understood.
- Do you offer an SLA or 24/7 support?
- No guaranteed SLA, no 24/7, and no emergency incident-response promise in the first release. We work async-first and agree response expectations per engagement.
- How do we communicate and hand off work?
- Email for commercial and admin communication, and GitHub issues, a project board, or a shared task tracker for technical work when repo access exists, with shipped changes, review notes, a status summary, and a next-task backlog.
Pricing. There is no fixed public price and no fixed public included-hours promise. The retainer is a monthly retainer or a scoped support package, defined after a task review. Small scoped tasks can start from a few hundred dollars, while larger implementation work and retainers are scoped after that review. (Scoped after a task review.)
