Your AI-built product works. It does not feel finished.
The Coherence Pass is MaxQ’s fixed-scope repair for AI-built and vibe-coded products: one engagement, from $5,000, that takes a product from demo-ready to production ready in two to twelve weeks. The code gets cleaned. So do the design, the voice, and the decisions, because your users never see the codebase.
What it is
A rescue that goes past the code.
MaxQ defines the coherence pass as a fixed-scope rescue for AI-built products: one engagement that covers the codebase, the design system, the voice, and the product decisions. Vibe code cleanup is the ticket in the door. It is not the whole job.
Here is what code-only cleanup misses. An AI-built product does not just accumulate technical debt. It accumulates coherence debt: five button styles, three tones of voice, flows that contradict each other, marketing that promises what the onboarding does not deliver. You can refactor every line and still have a product that feels like it was made by strangers.
MaxQ runs strategy, design, and engineering as one team, so the pass lands as one thing: a product you can put in front of customers, investors, and your own team without apologizing for it.
The symptoms
Your product feels like it was made by strangers if...
- 01
Every screen invented its own button style.
- 02
The tone swings from playful to corporate in two clicks.
- 03
Error messages read like three different people wrote them. Three different prompts did.
- 04
The marketing site promises a product the onboarding does not deliver.
- 05
New features now take longer than the original MVP did.
- 06
Every demo includes the phrase “ignore that screen.”
- 07
Nobody can explain why the settings page looks like that.
- 08
There is one file from week one that everybody is afraid to touch.
Three or more? Run the diagnostic. It is free, takes five minutes, and returns a field report on where the product is leaking coherence.
Run free diagnosticThe approach
Audit. Triage. Execute.
MaxQ scopes the pass to a deliverable, not an hourly bill, and works in fast sprints because your momentum is the thing being rescued. Every engagement runs the same three moves.
Audit
MaxQ reads everything: the code, the patterns, the copy, the flows, and the gap between what the product promises and what it does. You get the findings in writing, ranked by what each one is costing you.
Triage
Keep, consolidate, delete. MaxQ sequences the fix so the highest-leverage repairs land first, and tells you plainly what is not worth fixing at all.
Execute
MaxQ ships the pass: refactored code, one design system, one voice, and documentation, so the next feature extends the product instead of forking it.
What you get
A product that reads as one thing.
What this covers
A production-ready codebase
Refactored, documented, deployable. The parts worth keeping kept, the duplicated logic collapsed, the file from week one no longer scary.
One design system
Five button styles become one. Patterns consolidated and applied to every screen, so the product reads like one hand made it.
One voice
Interface copy, error messages, empty states, and marketing aligned to a single tone. The product stops arguing with its own landing page.
A sequenced roadmap
What to build next, what to stop building, and why, in writing. The pass ends with direction, not just repairs.
What it costs
Fixed scope. Real numbers.
No hourly billing, no discovery retainer, no surprise change orders. MaxQ scopes the pass after the audit, puts the price in writing, and holds it.
Starting point
$5,000
A focused sprint on the highest-leverage repairs. The smallest honest engagement, not a teaser.
Most engagements
$15K to $40K
Where a full coherence pass usually lands, scoped to deliverables and put in writing before work begins.
Timeline
2 to 12 weeks
Set by how much of the product needs the pass. Scoped honestly up front, then held.
Why MaxQ
Rescue work is not new here.
MaxQ partners were rescuing failing projects before AI made it fashionable. They have built and sold startups, shipped Fortune 500 platforms, and delivered government systems people actually use.
That matters because a rescue is mostly judgment calls: what to keep, what to cut, what the product is actually for. AI can generate the fixes. Deciding which fixes matter is the part you are hiring.
FAQ
Coherence pass questions
The things people ask before they hand MaxQ an AI-built product.
A coherence pass is MaxQ's fixed-scope rescue engagement for AI-built products. One pass covers four things: the codebase, the design system, the voice, and the product decisions, so a product shipped at AI speed starts feeling like one intentional thing. In practice the audit comes first and takes about a week: MaxQ reads the code, the screens, the copy, and the gap between what the marketing promises and what the onboarding delivers, then ranks every finding by what it costs. The fix follows in sequence, the repairs that pay off most first. Engagements start at $5,000 for a focused sprint, most land between $15K and $40K, and the price is put in writing before work begins. Code cleanup is part of the pass. Code cleanup is never the whole job.
Yes. MaxQ audits the app first: the code, the design, the copy, and the promises the marketing makes. When the foundation is worth keeping, MaxQ refactors and consolidates. When it is not, MaxQ says so and scopes the smallest rebuild that gets the product to production ready.
A coherence pass is priced as a fixed number, scoped in writing after a short audit and before the work begins. Engagements start at $5,000 for a focused sprint on the repairs that pay off most. Most land between $15K and $40K, which usually buys the full pass: refactored code, one design system, one voice, and a sequenced roadmap. Timelines run two to twelve weeks, set by how much of the product needs the work. For example, an MVP with five button styles and three tones of voice but a sound data model sits near the low end. One with duplicated logic across forty screens sits near the high end. No hourly billing, no discovery retainer, no change orders arriving by surprise.
Vibe coding technical debt is the cost that accumulates when a product is built prompt by prompt without anyone holding the whole. MaxQ sees two kinds in AI-built products. The first is code debt: duplicated logic, missing tests, security gaps, patterns that multiply with every prompt. The second is coherence debt: five button styles, three tones of voice, error messages written by three different prompts, flows that contradict each other. Code-only cleanup fixes the first kind and ships the second kind straight back to the founder. For example, a refactored codebase with a landing page still promising features the onboarding never delivers is clean code and an incoherent product. The Coherence Pass is scoped to pay down both.
A dev shop refactors the code and stops. MaxQ runs strategy, design, and engineering as one team, so the pass also covers what users actually experience: the interface, the copy, the flows, and what gets built next. A clean codebase that still feels like it was made by strangers is not a rescue.
MaxQ answers the rescue-or-rebuild question in the audit, in writing, before any larger engagement is priced. Most AI-built products need less rebuilding than their founders fear. The audit separates the product into three piles: what to keep, what to consolidate, and what to delete. In practice the data model and the core flows usually survive, and the duplicated components, the drifting copy, and the untested edges are what go. When a full rebuild is the honest answer, MaxQ says so first and scopes the smallest rebuild worth doing, from $5,000. A founder leaves the audit knowing which case applies and what the fix costs, whether or not MaxQ does the work.
Built fast. Now make it feel made on purpose.
Run the diagnostic. It is free, takes five minutes, and returns a real read on where your product is leaking coherence. Or send us the app and we will tell you what the pass would cover.