Digital Archaeology for enterprise legacy modernization.
We read your legacy code (COBOL, Java, mainframe) and extract the business rules buried inside it. Everything runs on your infrastructure. Nothing touches a cloud API. You get PR-ready specs, characterization tests, and DORA-compliant audit trails — without hallucinated code.
The Modernization Paradox.
Superficial syntax translators produce what engineers call “JOBOL” — COBOL logic rewritten in Java syntax. It compiles. It cannot be maintained.
We don't translate syntax. We extract intent. The business logic comes out clean, separated from the language it was trapped in — before any new code gets written.
Of legacy modernization rewrites fail to meet original goals (Standish Group).
Long-running databases from the Standish Group show that 80% of legacy modernization projects run over budget or fail entirely. The core issue is lost institutional knowledge — you cannot safely rewrite what your team no longer understands.
Four phases.
One system graph that stays current.
Not a one-shot consulting report. A continuous SaaS platform that hooks into your repository and keeps your system documentation current on every commit.
Trace
We map execution paths across your entire codebase using static analysis and control-flow graph construction. This reveals hidden dependencies, dead code, and critical risk nodes before modernization begins.
Extract
We isolate embedded business rules through AST parsing — not superficial syntax translation. The result is clean, language-agnostic domain logic decoupled from its legacy host.
Generate
We produce PR-ready specifications, detailed Before/After Diffs, and automated Characterization Tests — including native Gherkin scenarios — to verify functional parity before a single line ships.
Sync
CI-hooks update the system graph on every commit. Documentation, dependency maps, and risk assessments stay current — not stale artifacts from a one-time consulting run.
Concrete Outputs. Not Slide Decks.
Every extraction cycle produces artifacts that your engineering team can review, merge, and ship — not abstract consulting deliverables that expire on arrival.
PR-Ready Specifications
Structured domain models committed directly to your repositories as merge-ready pull requests with full context and rationale.
Before/After Diffs
Detailed change previews showing exactly how legacy logic maps to modernized equivalents — reviewable in any standard diff tool.
Characterization Tests
Automated test suites — including native Gherkin scenarios — generated to verify functional parity between legacy and modernized systems.
CI/CD Integration
CI-hooks keep the Living Graph synchronized on every commit. Documentation, risk maps, and dependency analysis update automatically.
Engineering Principles.
Enterprise teams can't afford tools that guess. Our platform doesn't guess. Every output is deterministic, traceable, and verifiable against the source system.
Deterministic Output
Static analysis. Deterministic extraction. We parse your system exactly as it executes — every business rule traces back to its source line. No probabilistic guessing.
Architecture-First
Generating code is trivial. Understanding intent is hard. We recover the underlying architecture before a single line of modern code gets written.
Zero Hallucination Guarantee
Language models fine-tuned on your codebase, running on your hardware — not cloud LLMs predicting what code “might look like.” Every output gets verified against the source system through automated characterization tests.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Apolast?
A platform that reads legacy code, extracts the business rules, and produces specs your team can actually ship. Runs on your servers. No cloud dependencies.
How does it avoid hallucinating code?
We don't use general-purpose cloud LLMs to guess what your code does. Apolast uses deterministic static analysis — AST parsing, control-flow graphs, data-flow tracking. Then it generates characterization tests to verify the output matches the original system's exact behavior. If it can't verify it, it doesn't ship it.
Does it work in air-gapped environments?
Yes. Everything runs on-premise. No external API calls, no data leaving your network. Built for DORA and NIS2 regulated industries.
What do I actually get out of it?
PR-ready specifications, Gherkin test scenarios, dependency graphs (SBOM), and architecture blueprints — committed to your repo as merge-ready pull requests. The system graph hooks into your CI/CD pipeline and updates on every commit, so documentation never goes stale.