19 Years of Experience Across 31 Languages

Software Consulting & Code Audits

Get honest, expert answers about your codebase. Architecture reviews, security audits, and technical advisory from a team that has delivered 300+ software projects.

An Honest Outside Perspective on Your Software

You need to know the truth about your codebase. Is the architecture going to scale when your user base doubles? Are there security vulnerabilities hiding in your authentication layer? Is your team following best practices, or have shortcuts accumulated into technical debt that will cost you later? These are questions that an internal team often cannot answer objectively — they are too close to the code, too invested in past decisions, and too busy shipping features to step back and evaluate the whole picture. An experienced outside perspective cuts through assumptions and gives you a clear, honest assessment of where your software stands.

Lightning Kite has been building and evaluating software since 2006. With more than 115 mobile projects and 204 web projects completed, working with organizations ranging from McDonald's, Blizzard, and PetSmart to early-stage startups, our team brings deep technical breadth and real-world context to every engagement. We work across 31 programming languages, which means we understand the idioms, patterns, and pitfalls specific to your stack — not just generic checklists. Our team works together in our Logan, Utah office, and we practice radical transparency in everything we do, including streaming our office live during business hours.

We offer two engagement models depending on your needs. The first is a formal code audit: a structured review of your codebase that produces a written report covering security, architecture, performance, code quality, test coverage, dependency health, and deployment practices, with findings organized by priority and specific recommendations for each issue. The second is an ongoing technical advisory relationship where we serve as your external technical leadership — providing architecture guidance, technology selection advice, code review processes, and regular check-ins on your development practices. Many clients start with an audit and then transition into an ongoing advisory engagement.

Why Choose Lightning Kite for Software Consulting

19 Years, 31 Languages

Our breadth of experience across 31 programming languages and hundreds of projects means we assess your codebase in context, not just check boxes on a generic checklist. We understand the idioms and best practices specific to your technology stack and can identify issues that automated tools miss.

Honest Assessments

We practice radical transparency — we even stream our office live during business hours. When we audit your code, we tell you the truth about what we find, even if it means less work for us. You get an unvarnished picture of your software's health, not a sales pitch for more services.

From Audit to Action

Unlike consultancies that hand you a report and walk away, we can fix what we find. Choose a standalone audit where your team handles the remediation, or a full audit-plus-fix engagement where we resolve the issues ourselves. Either way, you get a clear path from diagnosis to improvement.

Ready to Get Clarity on Your Codebase?

Our Consulting Process

1

Discovery

We learn your business, users, and goals. Together we define the scope, requirements, and a roadmap that aligns with your budget and timeline.

2

Design

Our team creates wireframes and visual designs that map every user interaction. You review and approve before a single line of code is written.

3

Agile Sprints

Development happens in two-week sprints with working demos at the end of each one. You see real progress and give feedback continuously.

4

QA & Testing

Dedicated QA testing runs alongside development. We catch issues early so you launch with confidence, not surprises.

5

Deployment

We handle app store submissions, server provisioning, and go-live logistics. Your software ships on time and ready for real users.

6

Ongoing Support

After launch we stay on as your long-term partner. Monitoring, updates, new features, and scaling happen when you need them.

What We Audit

Security

We examine your application for vulnerabilities against the OWASP Top 10, review authentication and authorization flows, assess data protection and encryption practices, audit secrets management, and scan dependencies for known CVEs. You get a prioritized list of security findings with specific remediation steps for each one.

Architecture

We evaluate your system's scalability, maintainability, and separation of concerns. Our review covers dependency management, module boundaries, technical debt accumulation, test coverage and testing strategy, and how well your architecture supports future growth. We identify structural issues before they become expensive to fix.

Performance

We identify bottlenecks in your application — slow database queries, missing indexes, inefficient algorithms, inadequate caching, and resource-intensive operations that degrade the user experience. Our analysis includes load handling assessment and recommendations for improving response times and throughput under real-world conditions.

Technical Depth in Software Consulting

The Audit Process

Every code audit begins with a free initial consultation where we learn about your codebase, your team's concerns, and what you need from the engagement. We then scope the audit based on the size and complexity of your codebase and provide a detailed estimate before any commitment.

The audit itself combines automated scanning with deep manual review. Automated tools catch known vulnerability patterns and code quality issues efficiently, but they miss context-dependent problems that only an experienced developer can identify — architectural decisions that will not scale, business logic that handles edge cases incorrectly, or testing strategies that provide coverage numbers without providing real confidence. Our team reviews the code the same way a senior engineer joining your team would: reading through the codebase, understanding the design decisions, and evaluating whether the implementation supports your business goals.

The deliverable is a written report organized by priority level — critical issues that need immediate attention, significant concerns that should be addressed soon, and recommendations for long-term improvement. Each finding includes a description of the issue, why it matters, and specific steps to resolve it.

Security Assessment

Our security assessment covers the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and goes further into areas specific to your application. We review input validation and sanitization across all entry points, authentication and session management implementation, authorization logic and access control boundaries, secrets management practices including how API keys, credentials, and tokens are stored and rotated, and dependency health including known CVEs in your third-party packages. For applications that handle sensitive data, we evaluate encryption at rest and in transit, data retention practices, and compliance with relevant standards.

Architecture Review

Architecture problems are the most expensive issues to fix later, which is why we evaluate them carefully. Our review examines separation of concerns — whether your business logic, data access, and presentation layers have clear boundaries or whether they have become entangled over time. We assess dependency management and coupling between modules, evaluate your testing strategy and whether your test coverage actually catches regressions, review your deployment pipeline and infrastructure configuration, and identify technical debt that is actively slowing down your team. The goal is to give you a clear picture of your system's structural health and a roadmap for addressing the issues that matter most.

Ongoing Technical Advisory

Beyond one-time audits, we offer ongoing consulting relationships for teams that want sustained external technical leadership. In an advisory engagement, we conduct regular code reviews and architecture check-ins, provide guidance on technology selection and migration decisions, help establish and refine your team's development practices and coding standards, and serve as a sounding board for technical decisions. This model works well for teams that are growing and want experienced guidance without the overhead of hiring senior technical leadership full-time. Our long-term client relationships — including partnerships spanning 5 and 9+ years — demonstrate that we build lasting, productive advisory relationships.

From Consulting to Development

Software consulting engagements frequently evolve into development partnerships. After an audit reveals issues that need fixing, or an advisory relationship identifies features that need building, clients often ask us to handle the implementation. With 115+ mobile projects and 204+ web projects delivered for organizations including McDonald's, Blizzard, PetSmart, Merck, Blackstone Products, the State of New York, and Olympus, we have the development capacity to act on our own recommendations. We maintain two open-source frameworks — KiteUI and Lightning Server — that reflect our commitment to transparent, high-quality engineering. Whether you need a one-time audit, ongoing advisory, or a full development engagement, the consulting relationship gives both sides a low-risk way to establish trust before committing to a larger project.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a code audit include?

Our code audits cover security vulnerabilities, architecture assessment, performance analysis, code quality, test coverage, dependency health, and deployment practices. You receive a written report with findings organized by priority level and specific recommendations for each issue.

How much does a code audit cost?

The cost depends on the size and complexity of the codebase being audited. We scope each engagement individually after a free initial consultation where we assess your codebase and your specific concerns. We provide a detailed estimate before any commitment.

What languages and frameworks can you audit?

We work across 31 programming languages and can audit codebases in most modern stacks including Kotlin, Java, Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, and more. Our breadth of experience means we understand the idioms and best practices specific to each ecosystem.

Do you also fix the issues you find?

Yes. We offer both standalone audits where you receive a report and handle fixes internally, and full audit-plus-fix engagements where we identify and resolve the issues ourselves. Many clients start with an audit and then engage us for the remediation work.

Can you provide ongoing technical advisory?

Yes. Beyond one-time audits, we offer ongoing consulting relationships where we serve as your technical advisory team. This can include architecture guidance, technology selection, code review processes, and regular check-ins on your development practices.

How is consulting billed?

Consulting engagements are scoped per project. We provide a detailed estimate after our free initial consultation. For ongoing advisory relationships, we bill at an hourly rate so you have flexibility to scale the engagement up or down as your needs change.

Get a Free Initial Consultation

Tell us about your codebase and your concerns. We will assess your situation and provide an honest recommendation on next steps — no commitment required.