Skip to content
— AI Implementation · Pillar one —

AI that works on Tuesday morning.

Operational AI built for override, not against it. We frame the pain, pick the right place for the LLM, and ship in weeks not quarters.

Book an AI audit →or — read our manifesto
— 01 / Selected AI work —

Four cases. Real numbers. Real architecture.

US WHOLESALER · 2025 · ANONYMIZED

Vendor onboarding, weeks to hours.

GPT-4o pipeline mapping inconsistent supplier files into a 120-column Acumatica master. Humans approve only the edge cases.
GPT-4o · Python 3.11 · Pandas · Pydantic · n8n · PostgreSQL · Acumatica
Read the vendor-AI case →
60–75%effort reduction
per vendor onboarded
Weeks → hours cycle
120-column Acumatica master
80% automation target
284h scoped engagement
RETAIL SHELF · NATIONAL CHAIN · 2025 · ANONYMIZED

Per-store, per-shelf recommendations in seven days.

A national retail chain owner said: "Tell me what to put on each shelf, in each store, in the country." We translated that into a concrete optimisation surface — sell-through, freshness, category interaction — wrapped in an approvable dashboard so store managers stay in charge and override behaviour becomes data.
GPT-class LLM · Python · KPI ingestion · approvable dashboard
Read the retail-shelf case →
7 daysvague brief →
working PoC
Per-shelf, per-store
Human-in-loop design
Override-as-data feedback
Generalises to any SKU
NAVON · MULTI-MODAL COMPLIANCE · 2025—NOW

60+ policy categories. Text, images, async video. One LLM call.

A regulated US user community needed real-time compliance scoring across text, images, and async video. We chose not to train a separate classifier. Instead: an LLM-as-policy-engine pattern — master prompt plus DB-stored per-user preferences. Single call returns answer plus structured compliance JSON across 60+ categories.
GPT-class LLM · Node.js · PostgreSQL · REST + Swagger · WebSocket
Read the Navon case →
60+policy categories
scored per call
Two delivery teams
One interface contract
Parallel sprint cadence
Lead architect
SKARB.AI · KCG PRODUCT · 2025—NOW

Production GraphRAG family archive. Shipped solo in ten weeks.

Built for ourselves so we know what shipping production AI actually takes. GraphRAG-style hybrid retrieval, voyage-3-large 1024d multilingual embeddings, pgvector + HNSW, smart routing, encrypted memory, eval harness that killed BM25+RRF and parked Cohere reranker.
GPT-4.1 / 4.1-mini · voyage-3-large · pgvector · Supabase · React · Capacitor
Read the Skarb.ai case →
10 weeksstart to shipped
web + iOS + Stripe
53 screens · 23 tables
15 edge functions
2,714 tests
EN / RU / PL trilingual
— 02 / How we approach it —

Four principles. Earned the hard way.

01

Frame the pain

Translating a vague brief into a concrete optimisation surface is the hardest part of the job. We do it before we touch a model.
Discovery is its own deliverable
02

Pick the right place

Choose where the LLM earns its place — and just as importantly, where to keep it out. Most AI failures start with the wrong location.
Hybrid > pure LLM, every time
03

Build for override

Humans stay in charge. That's not a limitation, it's the design. The override is data the system learns from.
The only design that survives reality
04

Ship in days

Working PoC in one week. Production engagement in weeks. Quarters are for theatre. We learn from contact with reality, fast.
Velocity is a quality signal
— 03 / How we think about it —

Essays from the operators' floor. Written by Max, not a content team.

ESSAY · 14·05·2026 · BY MAX KRUKOVSKY

Why most AI consulting fails inside real businesses.

Most AI consultants have never been inside a real business. They've been inside AI. That, in one line, is why their work breaks the day it meets your Tuesday morning…
Read the manifesto →
01
12 min read
1,800 words
Updated 14·05·2026
ESSAY · 02·07·2026 · BY MAX KRUKOVSKY

Make it rule-based, and call the LLM as rarely as possible.

The most expensive mistake in an AI project is using the LLM for everything. The architecture that actually works is the opposite instinct…
Read the essay →
02
4 min read
700 words
Updated 02·07·2026
Technical
ESSAY · 13·07·2026 · BY MAX KRUKOVSKY

Most companies that say they are AI just wrap ChatGPT, and you can do the same thing yourself.

Very many companies that say we are AI just build a wrapper around ChatGPT and call it AI. There is no magic, and that changes how you should buy…
Read the essay →
03
3 min read
600 words
Updated 13·07·2026
Buyer's guide
ESSAY · 26·07·2026 · BY MAX KRUKOVSKY

Why you want a model-agnostic gateway, not one provider's chat.

Tie yourself to one provider and you get one provider's models. The ability to route any task to any model is the lever on both capability and cost…
Read the essay →
04
4 min read
800 words
Updated 26·07·2026
Technical
ESSAY · 14·09·2026 · BY MAX KRUKOVSKY

Productionising RAG, honestly.

An eval discipline that killed BM25+RRF and parked a Cohere reranker. What survived, what didn't, and the unglamorous engineering between a demo and a product…
Read the essay →
08
7 min read
1,711 words
Updated 14·09·2026
Technical