Senior PHP help for the code you already run.
Much of the PHP that matters was not written this year. PHP News connects you with the team at Tighten to help you upgrade an old version, understand an unfamiliar codebase, push through a stalled decision, or build new work properly the first time.
A PHP News service, delivered by Tighten. A few sentences about the problem is enough to open the conversation.
"It still runs" is not the same as "It is healthy."
Some times, the hardest part is figuring out whether your application just has one bug, or is showing a minor sign of a major issue. We can help.
You inherited a PHP codebase - framework, homegrown or none at all - and nobody left can explain it.
An architecture, scaling or performance decision has been open for months and nobody wants to own it.
You are stranded on an old PHP version, and every attempt at the upgrade has stalled part way.
An AI-assisted prototype does everything the demo needed and nothing production will need.
You want senior PHP judgement in the room without opening another full-time role to get it.
There is work you cannot afford to get wrong and no one free to take it on.
Scope follows the problem.
These are six shapes an engagement tends to take, and most clients end up using more than one over time.
Code review & technical assessment
An honest read of the code you actually run: architecture, test coverage, security, performance, dependency and PHP version exposure, and how the team ships. You get findings in priority order.
Get a read on the codebaseTechnical advising
Put an experienced PHP engineer in the room for the calls that keep getting deferred - architecture, upgrade sequencing, infrastructure, hiring and engineering practice.
Borrow senior judgementBuild or extend an application
Design and build something new, or finally finish the feature that keeps slipping off the roadmap, with a team that has shipped PHP products before.
Get it builtUpgrades & modernization
Move off an end-of-life PHP release, work through deprecations and breaking changes version by version, get tests underneath the risky parts, and leave behind a codebase that can be upgraded again next time.
Plan the upgradeAI prototype to production
Keep what the prototype proved and add what it skipped: real architecture, security, tests, observability, and a deployment story that does not depend on one person being awake.
Make it production-readyExperienced team capacity
Add a PHP team that already works together, technical leadership and project management included, rather than recruiting one contractor at a time.
Add a teamA decade in PHP, not a line on a capabilities list.
For most agencies PHP is one entry among dozens. Tighten has spent more than 15 years inside PHP codebases - writing new ones, reading old ones, and carrying applications across version boundaries - while helping shape the community around the language.
A team that already exists
The people on your project worked together long before your contract was signed.
From recommendation to delivery
Whoever tells you what to do can also be the one who does it.
Senior from the first call
Nobody routes you through a salesperson on the way to someone technical.
Trusted by PHP News
Recommending the wrong partner would cost us more than the referral is worth.
Four steps, and you can stop after any of them.
The first call is a technical conversation, not a qualification script. Sometimes it ends with an engagement and sometimes it ends with an answer you can act on yourself.
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1
Send the messy version
Describe the application, the team and what is going wrong. Rough notes beat a polished brief.
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2
Talk to an engineer
A conversation with someone who can follow both the code and the business reason behind it.
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3
Hear the smallest useful option
The recommendation is sized to the problem, which is often less than you came expecting to buy.
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4
Start, if it fits
When it is a fit, Tighten staffs the engagement and work begins. When it is not, the recommendation is still yours.
Describe the situation.
There is no wording that earns you a better answer. Say what the application is, what is going wrong, and what has already been tried. Half a page is plenty.
After you send this
A technical leader at Tighten reads it and comes back with questions or a direct link to book a call. Sending it commits you to nothing - no engagement, no budget, no obligation to go further.
The awkward ones, answered.
Mostly these come down to one worry: that asking a question turns into a contract. It does not. The smallest version of this is a review, and it ends when the findings are delivered.
Who actually does the work?
Tighten does. PHP News runs this service and passes inquiries to Tighten, its delivery partner. Every hour of consulting and development is theirs.
We are on an old PHP version. Where do we start?
Anywhere but a full re-write (unless that's completely unavoidable). Our first goal is to get you secure.
Our application does not use a modern framework. Is that a problem?
No. A great deal of long-lived PHP runs on an in-house framework or on none at all. The work starts from the code that exists, not from the stack it would have used if it were written today.
Can we get an audit as a standalone deliverable?
Yes. An assessment is a deliverable, not a foot in the door. You get the findings and a prioritized plan, and your own team implements it.
How does this fit around an internal team?
Whichever way suits: advising your engineers, owning a single workstream end to end, or working alongside them for a defined stretch.
Is there a minimum engagement?
Smaller pieces of work are possible when the scope is clear. A review, or a few days of focused advising, is a common way to begin without committing to more.
Can you help with something built mostly by AI?
Yes. The gap is rarely the features - it is everything around them. Tighten can assess what the prototype is really doing and build the tests, security, observability and deployment underneath it.