Rivac LabsCodebase Onboarding Engineer
New developers on an unfamiliar codebase spend their first weeks reverse-engineering decisions that could have been explained in an afternoon, if anyone had actually written them down. We do fast, factual exploration of an existing codebase — architecture, key modules, non-obvious decisions — and produce onboarding material that gets new developers productive quickly, based on what the code actually does, not outdated comments. This is for teams onboarding new engineers or contractors onto a codebase with weak or missing internal documentation. You get onboarding material grounded in the real code, plus a faster ramp-up for whoever's joining next.
How We’d Approach This
A clear, staged plan — not a black box
- 1
Explore the codebase systematically to map its real architecture and the non-obvious decisions embedded in it.
- 2
Draft onboarding material covering the core modules and validate it by walking a new developer through it.
- 3
Review the onboarding experience with that developer to find what was still confusing or missing.
- 4
Finalize the onboarding documentation and hand it off as a living resource for future hires.
What You Get
Deliverables from this engagement
- Codebase architecture overview grounded in actual code
- Onboarding guide covering key modules and decisions
- List of non-obvious gotchas and historical context
- Validated by a real new developer's onboarding experience
Six Ways We Could Architect This
Different engagement, different build — pick the shape that fits
There’s more than one way to deliver on this service. Browse a few of the ways we’d structure the work, depending on your speed, budget, and integration needs.
Ready to get started?
Tell us what you’re trying to get done and we’ll help you find the highest-leverage place to start — scoped small enough to prove itself before you commit to anything bigger.
Talk to us about Codebase Onboarding Engineer