Real builds, real numbers. Client names withheld when NDAs require it.
120 vehicles, shared hosting, four-second morning logins. Dispatchers knew the screens — we didn't replace them. Twelve weeks of backend work: query fixes, indexes, cached aggregates behind the same routes. Critical path hit 600ms. Client name under NDA.
We profiled the 6:00–7:00 AM window and found N+1 queries, missing indexes, and synchronous dashboard aggregation. New API endpoints went behind existing routes — strangler-fig style — so dispatchers saw no UI change.
P95 morning load went from 4.1s to 600ms. Zero retraining. Full source, runbooks, and monitoring handed over. Longer write-up on the blog.
We didn't build our link shortener as a portfolio piece — we built it because every option we tried broke in some small way once we relied on it weekly for real campaigns and client handoffs. It's the only case study here where we were both the engineering team and the client.
Redirects and analytics were split into separate paths on purpose: the redirect handler does a lookup and a 301 and nothing else, while click events are logged asynchronously afterward. That way a spike in analytics traffic — or a slow report query — can never slow down the link someone just clicked. Slugs, expiry, and workspace permissions all sit behind the same REST API we expose to clients who want to script link creation instead of using the dashboard.
It's in daily production use inside Procellari for campaign links, client handoffs, and printed QR codes — not a demo, and not retired after the first launch. Full detail on the portfolio page and the blog write-up.
Most of our client engagements are under NDA and can't be named publicly. If you want specifics on a project similar to yours, ask directly — we'll share what we can within the terms we've agreed to.