Slow apps
Pages that take seconds to load, janky dashboards, poor Core Web Vitals. We profile rendering, bundles and data fetching, then fix what actually matters.
- →Core Web Vitals & Lighthouse
- →Bundle & render profiling
- →Caching & CDN strategy
Taking on new projectsFast systems.
Fast systems.
Smart automation.
We find out why your app, API or database is slow and fix it. We also put AI and automation to work on the manual tasks that slow your team down. Senior engineers only, measurable results, and you own everything we build.
Not ready for a call? Ask async →GET /api/orders · trace
before2,076 ms
auth.verify
db.query orders × 48
serialize
after63 ms
auth.verify (cached)
db.query orders + join
serialize (stream)
fix: N+1 → single indexed join33× faster
Illustrative trace of a typical fix
Sound familiar?
Pages take 4+ seconds to loadDatabase CPU pinned at 90%API timeouts every time traffic spikesCloud bill growing faster than usersTeam copy-pasting between five toolsAn AI pilot that never shippedIntegrations that silently drop dataNobody knows why it's slow
What we do
Two things, done properly.
We make slow software fast, and we automate the work that shouldn't need a human. Most engagements start with one and grow into both.
Slow APIs & backends
Timeouts under load, p95 latency creeping up, cloud bills growing faster than traffic. We trace every hop and remove the bottlenecks.
- →Tracing & profiling
- →N+1s, queues & caching
- →Load testing & scaling
Slow databases
Queries that crawl, CPU pinned at 90%, locks and deadlocks. We tune Postgres, MySQL and MongoDB so your data layer stops being the ceiling.
- →Query plans & indexing
- →Schema & migration design
- →Replication, pooling & partitioning
AI consulting
Figure out where AI actually pays off, then ship it. We build LLM features, RAG and agents with evals and guardrails, not demos that never reach production.
- →Use-case & ROI assessment
- →RAG, agents & tool use
- →Evals, cost & latency tuning
Automation
Your team copy-pastes between tools, reconciles spreadsheets and chases approvals. We automate those workflows end to end, with AI where it helps.
- →Process mapping
- →AI-assisted workflows
- →Back-office & ops automation
Integrations
CRMs, ERPs, payments and third-party APIs that don't talk to each other. We build reliable syncs, webhooks and pipelines with retries and monitoring.
- →API & webhook integrations
- →Data sync & ETL pipelines
- →Legacy system bridges
How we work
Measure first. Then fix.
No guesswork and no rewrites for the sake of it. Every recommendation is backed by data from your own system.
- 0130 min · free
Discovery call
You tell us what hurts. We ask the uncomfortable questions and tell you honestly whether we can help.
- 025 business days
Diagnostic
We measure before touching anything: profiling, tracing, query plans, process mapping. You get a written report with prioritized fixes, expected impact, and the quick wins already shipped.
- 032–8 weeks
Build & fix
We ship the highest-impact changes first, in small reviewed PRs to your repo. Every change is benchmarked against the baseline.
- 04Ongoing, if you want
Handoff
Docs, dashboards, alerts and a walkthrough with your team, so the gains stick after we leave.
Engagements
Pick the shape that fits.
Every engagement is quoted up front. No surprise invoices.
Metad Diagnostic
$2,500fixed
5 business days on one app, API, database or workflow. You get a ranked plan and the first fixes shipped.
- Written report ranked by impact and effort
- Prioritized backlog in your tracker
- Quick wins shipped as PRs
- 60-min readout + 30-day re-check
Credited toward follow-on work. Money-back guarantee.
See what's includedProject Sprint
from $12kper sprint
We own a defined outcome end to end, from audit to shipped and measured.
- Clear goal, e.g. p95 < 200 ms or process automated
- Weekly demos and benchmarks
- Code in your repo, reviewed by your team
- Docs, monitoring and handoff included
Fixed price against a written scope.
Book a callFractional Team
from $4kper month
Senior performance and AI engineering on tap, without the full-time hire.
- Reserved hours every month
- Architecture & code reviews
- Ongoing AI and automation roadmap
- Priority response when things break
Fixed monthly fee for reserved hours.
Get a quoteWhy Metad Labs
Small team. Deep expertise.
- Senior engineers only
- The people on the call are the people writing the code. No hand-offs to juniors.
- Numbers, not opinions
- We baseline before we start and benchmark after every change. You see the delta.
- Your stack, your repo
- We work inside your existing tools and codebase. You own every line and every doc.
- No lock-in
- We aim to make ourselves unnecessary: documentation, runbooks and knowledge transfer included.
Tools we work with every day
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- Redis
- Elasticsearch
- Node.js
- Python
- Go
- Next.js
- React
- AWS
- GCP
- Vercel
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Kafka
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- LangChain
- n8n
- Stripe
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- OpenTelemetry
From the blog
How we think about these problems.
Practical guides from the work we do every day.
AutomationExample scenario
How to Automate Client Onboarding at a Small Firm (Example)
An example scenario for automating client onboarding at a small firm: what to automate, what to keep human, secure document collection, costs and pitfalls.
Oct 14, 2026 · 10 min read
PerformanceGuide
Website Crashes During Traffic Spike? What to Do First
Why a site goes down when traffic jumps, what to do in the first hour, and how to prepare before your next sale or launch.
Oct 8, 2026 · 8 min read
IntegrationsGuide
How to Sync QuickBooks and HubSpot Without Messy Data
What HubSpot's free QuickBooks Online sync covers, where it breaks (tax, payments, duplicates), and when a connector or custom build is worth paying for.
Oct 7, 2026 · 7 min read
How quickly can you start?
Usually within one to two weeks of the discovery call. For production emergencies we can often start in a day or two.
Do you need access to our production systems?
Read-only access to metrics, logs and a replica or staging database is usually enough for a Diagnostic. We sign your NDA before any access and follow least-privilege by default.
What if our stack isn't on your list?
Performance problems look similar across stacks: bad queries, missing caches, chatty networks, blocking work. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so on the first call.
Is AI actually right for our problem?
Sometimes it isn't. We start with the business outcome and often recommend plain automation or a simple script. When AI does fit, we ship it with evals, cost controls and fallbacks.
How do you price?
The Metad Diagnostic is a fixed $2,500, credited toward any follow-on work booked within 30 days. Sprints start from $12k and are fixed-price against a written scope. Retainers start from $4k a month for reserved hours. You get a written quote before any work begins.
Will our team be able to maintain the work?
Yes. Everything lands in your repo through normal code review, with docs and a handoff session. No proprietary frameworks, no black boxes.
Async
Not ready for a call? Ask async.
Drop us the problem in a few lines. No calendar, no pitch. Just an engineer's first take on what's going on.
- 01You send a question. As rough as you like.
- 02A senior engineer reads it. Not a bot, not sales.
- 03You get a real reply within 24h: thoughts, questions, or an honest “not a fit”.
~/metad · askreply < 24h
Tell us what's slow.
A 30-minute call, no pitch deck. You'll leave with at least one concrete thing to fix, whether or not we work together.
hello@metadlabs.com