# Release Gate: you build it, we run it

> For software built in-house that now has to be kept alive. You keep writing the changes; we hold the keys and store accounts in your name, review every pull request, and publish through review.

- URL: https://envisageapps.com.au/release-gate/
- Type: page

## Why app maintenance lands on whoever built it

The person who understands the requirement now ships it, with Claude Code, in an afternoon. That loop is the most valuable thing in the building, and it should stay yours.

What should not stay yours is everything around it: the API keys only you can find, the store account in your own name, the certificate that expires, the test data still sitting in the production database, and an operating system that moves every September whether or not anyone is watching. None of that is building, and all of it lands on whoever built it.

Envisage Apps' [Release Gate](/lexicon/#release-gate) splits the two. You keep the fastest loop in the building; someone else runs the release.

## How a change reaches your users

### 1. You raise the pull request

From Claude Code, with a plain-language note on what changed and why. You keep writing the changes.

### 2. A senior engineer reads it

We ask the one or two questions that matter, then merge it or send it back with what to alter. Nothing reaches users unread.

### 3. We publish it

Through App Store and Google Play review, inside your own developer account. Never ours: Apple guideline 4.2.6 rejects the alternative.

### 4. We take the call

When it breaks, or when you are firefighting on another front, you hand it off. We take it off your desk and report back.

## What we hold, and whose name it is in

Yours, all of it. We manage these and never own them, and you can revoke our access in an afternoon.

### Keys and certificates

API keys, signing certificates and provisioning profiles, held properly instead of in one person's notes or one person's laptop.

### Store accounts

Apple and Google developer accounts in the business's name, not a personal login. If it lives on someone's personal account today, moving it is part of the hand-over.

### The repository

In your organisation, with its history. Every change we merge is one you raised or one you can read.

### The calendar

September's iOS release, Play's target API deadlines, SDK and dependency notices. Watched, with advise-or-fix on each, so the deadline is not the first you hear of it.

## Entered through the audit

What it costs

Release Gate starts with a Launch Gate Audit. It tells us what we would be running, the hand-over of keys and accounts happens inside the same five days, and the proposal that follows sets the hours.

### Launch Gate Audit

We assess your software against the real barriers to launch, then separate the findings.

**$3,500–$5,500** AUD fixed · 5 business days

_Fee credited against remediation within 60 days_

- Launch blockers — what must be fixed before you can ship
- After launch — what can safely wait
- A senior engineer validates every finding

[Book a Launch Gate Audit](https://cal.com/nchallen/book)

### Release Gate

You build it. We run it. Keys, accounts and releases managed in your name, and a senior engineer reads every change before it ships.

**from $3,000** AUD per month · tiered by hours

_Scoped in the proposal that follows the audit_

- Custody of keys, certificates, store accounts and the repository — all in your name, revocable by you
- You raise pull requests from Claude Code; a senior engineer reviews every change before it merges
- Publishing through review inside your own developer account
- SDK, operating-system and dependency notices watched, with advise-or-fix on each
- Hand-off when you are firefighting elsewhere; we take it off your desk and report back

[Ask about Release Gate](/contact-app-developer/)

Hours and turnaround are set in writing in the proposal. Work that changes what the product does is quoted separately, as it always has been.

_If the store rejects a release we merged, we keep working at no additional cost — or we tell you in writing why it can't pass. We do not guarantee approval; an approval guarantee is a representation nobody can control._

## Not live yet?

Start earlier. The free [Launch Gate Check](/launch-gate-check/) names the App Store, Google Play, security and Australian regulatory gates in your app's path in a couple of minutes, with the guideline number for each. The [Launch Gate Audit](/launch-gate-audit/) tells you whether you pass them. Release Gate is what keeps you passing once you have.

## Questions about Release Gate

### I built it myself and it works. What would I be paying for?

Release Gate charges for the parts that are not building: keys held properly, a senior engineer reading each change before it reaches users, store accounts and certificates in your name rather than a personal login, and someone watching when the operating system moves in September. It is priced monthly so it can be turned off.

### Can I keep making changes myself under Release Gate?

Under Release Gate you keep writing the changes. You raise a pull request from Claude Code with a plain-language note on what changed and why; we review it, ask the one or two questions that matter, and either merge and publish or send it back with what to alter.

### Who owns what under Release Gate?

Under Release Gate the client owns everything: the developer accounts, the repository, the keys and the data are in your name, and you can revoke our access in an afternoon. We manage them and never own them, and Apple guideline 4.2.6 would reject the alternative anyway.

### What happens if we stop?

Release Gate is priced monthly so it can be turned off. Everything is already in your name, so stopping means revoking our access, which takes an afternoon. Nothing has to be handed back because nothing was ever handed over.

## Keep building. Stop carrying it.

Tell us what it is, where it runs and whose name it is in, and we'll tell you what Release Gate would cost and what the audit would need to look at first.

- Everything stays in your name, revocable by you
- A senior engineer reads every change before it ships
- Monthly, tiered by hours, and it can be turned off

Audit $3,500–$5,500 AUD fixed, five business days. Release Gate from $3,000 AUD a month.

[Ask about Release Gate](/contact-app-developer/)

[Not live yet? Run the free Launch Gate Check](/launch-gate-check/)