When a dev agency goes dark — what to do next.
Responses slow to 48 hours. Then 72. Then a week. The Slack channel goes quiet. The agency has gone dark — and you're holding 60% of a codebase and 100% of the invoice. Here's how to handle it.
The warning signs that appear two weeks before radio silence.
Ghosting rarely happens overnight. There's almost always a period of degraded behaviour that founders dismiss as "they're just busy." Recognising it early buys you time.
- Meeting cancellations with thin excuses. One is normal. Two in a row is a signal. Three means something has changed inside the agency.
- Commits slowing or stopping. You can see this in real time if you have GitHub access. Three days without a commit when you're mid-sprint is a red flag.
- Deliverable delays without a revised timeline. Good agencies tell you when something slips. Agencies in trouble just go quiet and hope you don't notice.
- Your PM stops responding but developers still reply. This means there's a leadership issue — the project may have been deprioritised or the PM has left.
- Invoices that arrive but deliverables don't. The billing system runs on autopilot. The delivery system doesn't.
Immediate steps when they go silent.
- Download a full copy of the repo right now. GitHub: Code → Download ZIP. Do this before anything else.
- Export all project documentation, designs, and Figma files. Cloud-based assets can be revoked.
- Document the last deliverable date, last invoice paid, and last communication timestamp.
- Forward all project-related emails to a dedicated folder with timestamps intact.
- Send a written notice by email to the agency director (not just your PM). Subject line: "Project status — formal request." Keep it factual and timestamped.
- State your last paid milestone, what was promised, and what you received.
- Give a 5-business-day deadline for a written response with a revised delivery timeline.
- CC yourself and a colleague to maintain a paper trail.
- Contact a technology lawyer for a contract review. Most will do a 30-min paid consultation to assess your options. Cost: $150–$400. Worth it.
- Dispute the most recent charge with your bank if delivery was not met and the agency is unresponsive.
- Begin briefing a replacement agency immediately. The sooner you start, the less the total project cost balloons.
How to brief a replacement agency on a half-built project.
Picking up a half-finished codebase is harder than starting from scratch — which means it's more expensive. Expect to pay a 20–40% premium above standard rates for rescue work. The agency taking it on is inheriting unknown decisions.
When briefing a rescue agency, give them: the full repo, a list of completed vs. incomplete features, your original spec or requirements doc (if it exists), and access to any design files. The more context you provide, the faster they can quote accurately.
Most importantly: don't hide the ugly parts. Rescue agencies are used to messy codebases. Describing it honestly upfront prevents scope surprises and protects the relationship from day one.
How to prevent this before it starts.
- Milestone-based payments only. Never pay more than 30% upfront. Each payment tied to a delivered, tested deliverable.
- Repo access from day one. You own the code. Your repo, your credentials. Non-negotiable in the contract.
- Weekly written status updates by default. Verbal check-ins disappear. Written updates create accountability and a paper trail.
- Force majeure and abandonment clauses. Your contract should define what constitutes project abandonment and what recourse you have.
- Vet the agency before you sign. References, live products, team you'll actually work with — not just the sales deck.