Can we safely modernize under a regulatory deadline?

Yes, if you scope modernization to risk isolation: GitOps for auditable change control, canary releases with SLO-driven rollback, and zero-downtime DB changes. Auditors like PR trails and automated policies more than hero scripts.

Do we need a service mesh to do this?

You need traffic shaping and circuit breaking for canaries. Istio gives you that quickly on EKS, but you can also use Linkerd + `TrafficSplit` or NGINX annotations. Pick the minimal tool that lets you route 5% and roll back automatically.

What about our AI-generated code that’s already merged?

Quarantine it behind a feature flag, add tests for idempotency and retries, and roll out by tenant. We’ve done vibe code cleanup and AI code refactoring mid-launch—just don’t ship it dark without guardrails.

How fast can we implement GitOps?

We typically stand up ArgoCD with automated sync and self-heal in 3–5 days, migrate a few services, and expand from there. You don’t need a platform team to start—just a repo, a path, and a rule: no `kubectl edit` in prod.

Case-studies · Dec 8, 2025 · 10 minute read

The Payments Launch We Saved at T-6 Weeks: From Snowflake Jenkins to GitOps and a Quiet Go-Live

An anonymized fintech engagement where targeted modernization unblocked a high-stakes launch under regulatory pressure—without a rewrite.

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The Payments Launch We Saved at T-6 Weeks: From Snowflake Jenkins to GitOps and a Quiet Go-Live

Key takeaways

Implementation checklist