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Windsurf developer help · Now Devin Desktop

Fix your Windsurf-built app.

Windsurf's Cascade agent wrote much of it, and since then the editor has a new name and a new agent. A senior engineer reads the repository, makes it safe to change, and leaves it ready for whichever agent you use next.

Photography is illustrative.

Code
Your own Git repository, on your machine
Editor
Windsurf, renamed Devin Desktop on 2 June 2026; Cascade replaced by the Devin Local agent in September 2026
Deploys
App Deploys to Netlify (beta) is not available with the Devin Local agent
Project memory
Rules in .devin/rules or .windsurf/rules, and AGENTS.md

Who this is for

For founders and teams with an app written in Windsurf, now that the tool has changed under them.

Windsurf became Devin Desktop on 2 June 2026, with the editor and its features carried over. In September 2026 its Cascade agent was removed, leaving Devin Local as the only built-in local agent. Your code did not move: it is in your repository, in whatever stack you built it. What changed is the agent working on it, and some of what the old one relied on.

That makes this a good moment for an engineer to look. Code written by one agent across many sessions, then handed to a different agent, tends to have several ways of doing the same thing, few tests and knowledge that lived only in the old agent's memories. We turn it back into one design that any developer or agent can work on.

Failure modes

The ways Windsurf-built apps go wrong.

These are what we look for first in a repository written mostly with Windsurf's agent. Several come from the move to Devin Desktop; none of them needs a rewrite.

  1. Memories that did not come with you

    What you see
    The new agent does not know the conventions the old one followed, and repeats mistakes that were settled months ago.
    What is actually wrong
    Cascade's memories were stored on your machine, not committed to the repository, and the documentation says the Devin Local agent does not keep memories between sessions. Decisions that lived only there are gone, or exist on one laptop.
    How we fix it
    We recover the decisions from the code and from you, write them into rules files and an AGENTS.md in the repository, and back the important ones with tests.

  2. Rules in three places, some cut short

    What you see
    The agent follows some project rules and not others.
    What is actually wrong
    Rules can sit in .devin/rules, in .windsurf/rules and in a legacy .windsurfrules file, all still read. Each workspace rule file has a 12,000-character limit, and the global rules file 6,000.
    How we fix it
    One short, consistent set of rules in one place, with the trigger for each rule set deliberately, and the rest moved into linting and tests.

  3. A deploy you cannot repeat

    What you see
    The app went live from inside the editor, and now nobody is sure how to ship the next version.
    What is actually wrong
    Windsurf's App Deploys sent apps to Netlify as a beta feature. It is not available with the Devin Local agent, and its old entry point was removed in September 2026.
    How we fix it
    Hosting in an account you own, a deploy pipeline that builds and tests every change, environment variables written down for each environment, and a way to roll back.

  4. Several ways of doing everything

    What you see
    Two sign-in helpers, data loaded differently on each page, and small changes that touch many files.
    What is actually wrong
    Each session saw part of the code, and the code was then written by two different agents with different habits.
    How we fix it
    We map the architecture, choose one pattern for each concern, consolidate onto it with tests in place, and record it in the rules.

  5. Reverts that cannot be taken back

    What you see
    You reverted the agent's changes, lost good work along with the bad, or found the database still in the broken state.
    What is actually wrong
    The Cascade documentation warns that its reverts are irreversible. And no editor revert can undo a migration that already ran or a deploy that already went out.
    How we fix it
    Small commits on branches, database changes as reviewed migrations run from CI, and development credentials that cannot touch production.

  6. Secrets in the repository

    What you see
    An .env file or an API key is committed, or sits in the Git history.
    What is actually wrong
    Ignore files keep paths out of the agent's view, and gitignored files are not indexed, but a key already committed stays in Git history after it is deleted.
    How we fix it
    Rotate every exposed key, move secrets to your host's secret store, and add secret scanning to CI.

Before you hire anyone

What to try yourself first in Windsurf.

  1. Commit now, before the next prompt. Agent reverts are not a backup. A commit is something you can always return to.
  2. Put what matters in the repository. Write the project's conventions into .devin/rules (or .windsurf/rules) and an AGENTS.md, keep each file under the 12,000-character limit, and reconcile any old .windsurfrules file so the agent is not reading two versions.
  3. Plan before it edits. Use the read-only Plan mode to have the agent explain a problem and propose a fix before it changes any code.
  4. Set permissions deliberately. Use allow, ask and deny rules so commands that touch production, or files that hold secrets, are denied or have to ask.
  5. Find out where it is hosted. If the app was deployed from the editor, find the hosting account it lives in and make sure it is in your name, before you need to ship a fix.
  6. Scan the history for secrets. Run a secret scanner over the full Git history and rotate anything it finds.

How we work

How we work on a Windsurf app.

Your Windsurf app is already in your repository, so there is nothing to export. We work there in branches and pull requests, with continuous integration that checks every change, from us, from you or from an agent.

Where the app was deployed from the editor, we set up hosting in your own account with a pipeline you control, and write down how it works.

  1. A free 20-minute call

    You show us the Windsurf app and tell us what is going wrong. We say what we expect to find, and whether a paid check is worth it yet.

  2. Quick Security Check or App Readiness Review

    A senior engineer reads the code and tests the running app: data access, keys, sign-in, payments, deployment.

    You get Every finding in writing with its severity and fix; the review adds a keep, change or replace call for each part and a fixed quote.

  3. Fixed-price fixes

    Security & Data Hardening from $7,500, or Production Launch from $15,000, in your repository, with a test beside each fix.

  4. Handover

    Production kept apart from development, a deploy you can roll back, and notes so you, the tool or any developer can carry on.

Prices

Where to start, and what it costs.

  1. App triage call

    Free

    20 minutes

  2. Quick Security Check

    $495

    Delivered in 48 hours. The fee is credited toward the App Readiness Review.

  3. App Readiness Review

    $1,500 flat

    5 business days. The fee is credited toward any fix booked within 30 days.

Fixes are priced after the check or review, at one fixed price before anything starts. The full price list and how fees are credited.

Proof

Who does the work.

A US software engineering firm. The founding team has taken a product off an AI app builder before (built, not yet in paid use) and runs a production telehealth platform on Supabase. We are an independent firm, not a Windsurf partner or agency. Across the systems the team built and runs:

  • 20,900+ automated tests across the systems the founding team built and runs
  • 16,800+ CI runs automated builds and test runs on GitHub Actions
  • 940+ merged pull requests across the same codebases

Counted from the repositories and CI history of the systems the founding team built and runs, 22 Sep 2026; each figure rounded down. How we counted

Questions buyers ask

Windsurf questions, answered.

Is Windsurf still around?

Windsurf was renamed Devin Desktop on 2 June 2026, with the editor, features and pricing carried over, and its Cascade agent was later replaced by Devin Local. Your code is unaffected: it is in your repository, and we work on it there.

Can I keep using Devin Desktop after you fix it?

Yes. We leave rules files describing the architecture, and tests and CI that catch an agent change that breaks something before it reaches production.

My app was deployed from Windsurf. Can you move it?

Yes. We set it up in a hosting account you own, with a pipeline that builds and tests each change and a way to roll back, and hand you the notes.

Will you rewrite it?

Rarely. The review marks each part keep, change or replace, with the reason, before any work is priced.

Are you affiliated with Windsurf or Cognition?

No. Oracis is an independent US software engineering firm. We fix and finish apps built with Windsurf, alongside apps built with Cursor, Claude Code, Lovable and other tools.

What does it cost to fix a Windsurf app?

The first call is free. The Quick Security Check is $495 and its fee is credited toward the App Readiness Review, which is $1,500 flat and credited toward any fix booked within 30 days. Security & Data Hardening is from $7,500 and Production Launch from $15,000, each at one fixed price set after the review. We never bill hourly on work nobody has sized. The full price list.

Send us the Windsurf app.

The repository, where the app is hosted today, and when the next version needs to ship.

Get your app checked