Your old PHP application doesn't need another developer.

It needs somebody willing to understand it.

I rescue, maintain and modernise large legacy PHP applications that businesses have come to depend on, including systems developed continuously over 10, 15, 20 or more years.

If your application has become difficult to change, expensive to maintain, poorly documented, stuck on an old PHP version or understood by only one person, I can take ownership of it.

25 years of PHP experience. Modern AI-assisted analysis. One senior specialist from server to browser.

Discuss your systemLegacy System Assessment, from £2,500

Where are you right now?

It's broken or has been hacked. Something has failed, or you suspect a compromise. Urgent recovery and malware cleanup

You need to upgrade. Your host is dropping your PHP version, or your framework is out of support. PHP and framework upgrades

You've inherited a mess. The developer left and nobody understands the system. Legacy application takeover

Does any of this sound familiar?

• The application still works, but everybody is nervous about changing it.
• The developer who built it has left.
• A simple bug can take days or weeks to trace.
• Nobody really understands the whole system anymore.
• The PHP version or framework is no longer supported.
• Upgrading the server might break the application.
• There are few automated tests, perhaps none.
• Documentation is incomplete or nonexistent.
• Your agency wants to rewrite it, but the cost and risk are enormous.
• Security vulnerabilities have accumulated unnoticed.
• Small changes cost considerably more than they should.

Your business depends on software that has quietly become a liability. This is exactly the work I specialise in.

Understand it. Stabilise it. Improve it.

I don't arrive assuming your application needs to be rewritten.

A mature application may contain years, sometimes decades, of business knowledge: pricing rules, customer exceptions, reporting logic, integrations, operational processes, and edge cases from decisions nobody remembers making.

Throwing the code away can mean throwing that knowledge away too.

So I first establish what you actually have. I map the application, infrastructure, database, dependencies, integrations, critical workflows and risks. Then we can make rational decisions about what should be repaired, documented, secured, upgraded, refactored, replaced, or simply left alone.

Not sure whether you need a rewrite? Read rewrite vs refactor vs upgrade.

AI has changed the economics of legacy software

Legacy development used to involve huge amounts of manual archaeology: searching thousands of files, tracing unfamiliar code paths, working out which database tables a process touched, finding where obscure functions were called, and building documentation nobody had ever written.

Modern AI-assisted engineering can dramatically accelerate much of that investigative work. On systems I work with today:

• Tasks that once needed days of manual investigation can often be understood in hours.
• Bugs that could consume days or weeks can sometimes be isolated in minutes.
• Documentation can be generated, then checked against the real application, in hours rather than weeks.
• Security weaknesses can be found and fixed much faster.

That does not mean blindly letting AI change production software. AI provides speed. Twenty-five years of experience provides judgement. Every significant change is understood, reviewed and tested before it goes near your live system.

The combination makes previously uneconomic legacy work practical again. How I use AI, and how your code and data are protected

What I can help with

Legacy application takeover

Your original developer, employee or agency has gone. I establish how the application works, how it is deployed, where it lives, what it depends on and what the immediate risks are. The objective: regain technical control of your own software. More

PHP and framework upgrades

Old software isn't automatically unsafe, but running unsupported software indefinitely creates growing operational and security risk. I assess and migrate applications through PHP versions, finding compatibility problems and deprecated functionality before they become production incidents. More

Bug investigation and performance

Complex old applications make simple bugs expensive. AI-assisted code analysis plus deep PHP experience radically reduces the manual searching, and slow pages are diagnosed across the whole path, from query to server. More

Documentation

An undocumented system creates dependency on individuals. I turn an unfamiliar codebase into useful documentation: architecture, components, database relationships, integrations, scheduled processes, deployment and key business workflows. More

Security

Older applications often contain patterns that were acceptable when written but wouldn't meet modern expectations. I review authentication, authorisation, dependencies, input handling, database access, credentials, file uploads, sessions, logging, backups and server configuration. More

Servers, hosting and DevOps

Legacy problems cross the boundary between application and server. I work across PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, Linux, Apache/nginx, DNS, SSL/TLS, deployment, backups, monitoring, cron jobs, queues and hosting migration. You don't need three suppliers arguing about whose problem it is. More

Ongoing legacy application care

Continuing technical ownership: maintenance, monitoring, updates and development for systems that need a responsible adult in the room. More

Technical debt: fix what costs you money

Technical debt isn't automatically bad code. Often it is the accumulated result of fifteen years of perfectly reasonable business decisions.

I identify the debt that is actually costing you money or creating risk, rather than rewriting things simply because they look old.

A 25-year-old application isn't automatically a bad application. If it has supported a profitable business for twenty years, something about it clearly works. The useful questions are:

• What still provides value?
• What represents genuine risk?
• What makes development unnecessarily expensive?
• What knowledge exists only inside the code?
• What needs upgrading immediately, and what can safely wait?
• What should eventually be replaced?

Data protection and security

Legacy applications often hold some of the most important information in the business: customer records, orders, financial information, employee data, membership data and commercially sensitive correspondence.

Under UK GDPR, organisations must use appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure personal data. Relevant technical factors include vulnerability management, supported software, access controls, encryption, backups, logging, secure authentication and regular security testing.

A legacy assessment identifies the technical risks affecting systems that hold personal data and gives you a practical remediation plan. It also helps with Cyber Essentials, cyber insurance and customer security questionnaires.

I provide technical engineering and security remediation, not legal advice or outsourced Data Protection Officer services. Data protection and security

One person who can see the whole system

I've worked with PHP and web technology for around 25 years, well beyond writing PHP functions: application and frontend development, databases, servers, deployment, security, analytics, SEO and business operations.

That matters because legacy problems don't respect technical boundaries. A failed checkout might begin in JavaScript, pass through twenty-year-old PHP, depend on a database query, and finally fail because an external API changed. I can follow the problem through the entire stack.

And because I work directly with clients, the person you explain the problem to is the person investigating it. About me · How I work

Who I work with

Businesses: if you rely on an old bespoke PHP application, I can become the technical owner you no longer have internally: a defined modernisation project, ongoing care, or simply getting the system under control before deciding what happens next.

Digital and web agencies: inherited a client application your team would rather not touch? I can investigate, document, stabilise, upgrade or maintain difficult legacy PHP while your developers do the work they're best at. Available white-label or by referral, on agreed terms. Agency partnerships

Published pricing

Full details, what affects price and what's included: Pricing

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to rewrite my old PHP application?

Usually not. A rewrite is expensive and risky because it can lose years of embedded business logic. Most applications can be stabilised, secured and upgraded in stages. I'll tell you honestly if replacement is the right answer.

Can you work on an application with no documentation and no tests?

Yes, that's the normal starting point. I establish how the system behaves, document it, and add tests around critical behaviour before changing anything significant.

Is it safe to use AI on my code?

AI speeds up analysis, but it never replaces review. Every significant change is understood, tested and staged. I'll explain exactly how your code and data are handled before work begins. Read more

What happens when my PHP version is out of support?

It stops receiving security fixes, and hosts eventually drop it, often on their schedule rather than yours. It can also count against you under security questionnaires and cyber insurance. PHP upgrades

Where are you based, and do you work remotely?

Near Bristol and Bath. Most legacy work is naturally remote, so I work with businesses across the UK and with organisations in France and Spain. On-site discovery can be arranged where useful.

Start by understanding what you've got

You don't need to commit to rebuilding your application. You don't need perfectly organised source code or complete documentation. You don't even need to know exactly what's wrong.

If an old PHP application has become important, expensive, risky or simply difficult to understand, that's enough to start a conversation.

Tell me what you've inherited.

Book a free conversationLegacy System Assessment, from £2,500