AI in production, guaranteed.

Your demo impressed the board. We ship the version that survives security review, compliance, and real traffic - on your infrastructure. You own the code.

Roadmap in 2–4 weeks, or the fee comes back.
Now booking Q4 engagements

The demo works. Production doesn’t. We fix that.

[The problem]

A demo proves the model can do it once. Production means it holds up every time - under security review, in front of auditors, at real traffic, on real budgets. Here is what actually kills enterprise AI projects:

  • Security finds prompt injection. The project stalls for six months.
  • Compliance asks "where does the data go?" Nobody has an answer.
  • The chatbot cites documents the user should not see. One incident, project dead.
  • Token costs 4x overnight. Finance pulls the plug.
  • Nobody owns it after launch. It degrades quietly until someone turns it off.

None of these are model problems. They are engineering, security, and operations problems. That is what we do.

Get your production roadmap
[Why Metaheuristic]

Not an agency. Not a dev shop. The partner for AI that has to pass audit.

AI agencies sell demos. Dev shops sell hours. SaaS copilots sell someone else's roadmap. Metaheuristic is built for one job: taking AI systems through security review, compliance, and go-live - on your infrastructure - and keeping them running.

Sovereign by default

On-prem and air-gapped deployment. Your data never leaves your perimeter. The answer to "where does the data go?" is nowhere.

Compliant by design

Permission-aware RAG, full audit logs, EU AI Act documentation. Your auditors get artifacts, not promises.

Owned, not rented

You own the code, the prompts, the evals, the IP. Fire us any time and everything keeps running. No lock-in is the guarantee.

[Engagements]

Start small. Prove value. Scale with a guarantee.

Start here · flagship
Discovery Sprint
Your AI production roadmap in 2–4 weeks. Guaranteed.

For teams with a stalled PoC, an AI mandate and no plan, or a "do something with AI" directive from the board.

Start Your Discovery Sprint Fixed fee · quoted on the intro call · credited in full toward any build.
You get
  • · Workflow + data readiness audit
  • · ROI-ranked use-case map
  • · Target architecture blueprint
  • · Security + compliance pre-check
  • · Board-ready business case
Bonuses, included
  • + Eval-suite starter kit
  • + Model shortlist with cost projections
  • + 90-day quick-wins list
The guarantee

If you would not confidently take the roadmap to your board, we credit 100% of the fee toward any future engagement - or refund it. Your call.

Production Deployment
Take what you have. Make it survive production.
Cloud · on-prem · air-gapped
  • · Hardened inference, routing, failover
  • · Guardrails + human approvals
  • · Golden-set evals gated in CI
  • · OWASP LLM red-team before go-live
  • · Monitoring, cost control, audit logs
  • · Runbooks + full handoff
+ Bonus: 30 days post-launch monitoring · incident playbook · team training
Scope your deployment Passes evals + security review before go-live, or we keep working free.
Most popular
Implementation Partner
An embedded senior AI team - without the 9-month hiring cycle.
Agents · RAG · integrations
  • · Permission-aware RAG + agentic workflows
  • · CRM, ERP, tickets, APIs, documents
  • · Guardrails, evals, audit logs from day one
  • · Weekly shipped milestones
  • · You own code, prompts, evals, IP
+ Bonus: everything in Deployment · quarterly red-team refresh · EU AI Act doc pack
Scope a build A milestone slips on us? The next one is free.
Sovereign AI Transformation
Full sovereign capability, run like production.
Finance · healthcare · critical infrastructure
  • · Air-gapped serving, zero external data flow
  • · Multiple systems, one governance frame
  • · Fractional AI CTO + board reporting
  • · AgentOps retainer with response SLAs
  • · Compliance artifacts kept current
+ Bonus: annual red-team re-certification · new-model evaluations as they ship
Book a sovereign consultation Annual partnership · by invitation · limited concurrent partners.

Every engagement: fixed scope, fixed milestones, you own the code. The Discovery Sprint fee is always credited toward your build.

[Our guarantees]

We take the risk so you don't have to.

Enterprise AI is risky enough. Your engagement with us shouldn't be. Four guarantees, in writing, on every contract:

01 · Roadmap
Board-ready in 2–4 weeks

Your Discovery Sprint delivers a production roadmap you would take to the board - or we credit or refund the fee. Your call.

02 · Go-live
Passes evals + security

Nothing ships until it passes its eval suite and OWASP LLM security review. If it doesn't pass, we fix it at no additional cost.

03 · Ownership
100% yours, day one

Code, prompts, evals, IP - yours from day one, with a documented exit path. If we disappeared tomorrow, your systems keep running.

04 · Milestones
Slip on us, next one free

Fixed scope, fixed milestones. If a milestone slips because of us, the next one is free.

We can offer these because of how we build: evals before features, security before launch, documentation before handoff. The guarantees aren't marketing - they're the process.

Start risk-free
[Included, not upsold]

Things other firms bill for. We just include them.

OWASP LLM Top 10 red-team before launch Included
Eval suite + golden sets, yours to keep Included
30 days of post-launch monitoring Included
Team training + operating runbooks Included
EU AI Act documentation pack Included
Incident-response playbook Included

Bonus stack confirmed for engagements booked this quarter. Scope and inclusions are reviewed quarterly as demand grows.

[Landscape]

Everyone sells "AI." Here's what you actually get.

At a glanceMetaheuristicIn-house hireGeneric dev shopNo-code (Zapier/Make)Off-the-shelf copilotDIY ChatGPT
What you getProduction system, guaranteedCapacity, eventuallyA build, maybeBrittle automationsSomeone else's roadmapA prototype
Time to production2–10 weeks6–12 months, hire firstMonths, then handoffDays, then stuckInstant, and genericNever quite
Passes security reviewRed-teamed, OWASP LLM Top 10Depends who you hireRarely attempted-Black box-
Sovereign / on-premAir-gapped, by defaultPossibleRarely-Vendor cloud only-
Data permissionsPermission-aware RAG, built inDepends--Vendor-defined-
Audit trailImmutable, replayable logsDepends--Partial-
Cost controlRouting + caching (−71% typical)Ad hocAd hocPer-task feesPer seat, foreverUnmanaged
OwnershipYour code + IP, contractuallyYoursNegotiatedLocked-inVendorYours
After launchAgentOps retainer + SLAsOn the teamGoodbye at handoffYou maintainVendor SLAYou maintain
Risk if it failsOur guarantees absorb itYoursYoursYoursSwitching costYours

A demo proves the model can do it once. We build the guardrails, evals, security, and ops that make it hold up every time - and we stay on to run it.

Get the system, not the demo
planacttoolapprove
Agentic workflows
Plan · act · tool calls · human approvals
contracts/2026-q2.pdf allow ✓
finance/payroll.xlsx deny ✕
wiki/runbooks allow ✓
hr/reviews deny ✕
Cites
what you can see.
ACL-filtered retrieval
Permission-aware RAG
Citations · ACLs · freshness · evals
traces evals prompts versions routing cost latency drift alerts
Run it
like production.
LLMOps / AgentOps
Monitoring · evals · versions · routing
LLM01 · prompt injection guarded
LLM02 · insecure output guarded
LLM04 · data poisoning guarded
LLM05 · supply chain review
OWASP LLM Top 10
red-teamed
LLM security review
Injection · output handling · supply chain
offline online CI gate
Evals & quality gates
Golden sets · graders · CI gates
cost · this month
$4,120 → $1,180
−71% · caching + routing
cache route
Burn
less on tokens.
AI cost optimization
Caching · routing · context budgets
route(task) {
  if (simple)   → haiku
  if (reason)   → sonnet
  if (critical) → opus
  if (cached)   → return hit
}
Right model.
Right price.
Model routing
Per task · per cost · with fallback
trace · latency by stepp95
retrieve · reason · act
span-level traces
tokens · latency
· cost
Observability & tracing
Spans · tokens · cost · per step
Pending Approved Blocked
act · refund needs approval
issue $480 refund · order #2841
tool: stripe.refunds.create
act · email approved
send follow-up to lead
tool: crm.send_email
act · delete blocked
drop records · out of policy
guardrail: destructive
Human-in-the-loop
Approvals · safety limits · logging
Aug 2024 · entered into force
Feb 2025 · prohibited practices
Aug 2025 · GPAI obligations
Aug 2026 · broad applicability
Compliant
by design.
EU AI Act readiness
Risk class · docs · governance
agentCRMAPIsERPdocs
Across
your stack.
Tool & system integrations
CRM · ERP · tickets · docs · APIs
requestretrievereasontool_callapproveacteddeferredblocked
Audit logs & lifecycle
Every step. Every action. Replayable.
[Process]

Audit in. System out.

01 · Audit
Know where the money is

We map workflows and data readiness, then rank every opportunity by ROI and risk. You get a defensible answer to "why this use case first."

02 · Blueprint
See it before you fund it

Architecture plan plus a working prototype before the production build. Proof, not promises, before the big spend.

03 · Build
Shipped in weekly increments

Permission-aware RAG or agentic workflows with guardrails and integrations. Working software every week, never a black box.

04 · Evaluate
Proven before it ships

Golden-set evals and an OWASP LLM red-team gate the release. Evidence for security and compliance sign-off.

05 · Deploy
Live, with a paper trail

Human approvals, safety limits, and immutable audit logs. Ownership transfers to you. Go-live your auditors approve of.

06 · Operate
It stays good

Monitoring, evals, version management, routing, and cost control under SLA. AI that still works - and is still on budget - in month 18.

Agentic workflows· Permission-aware RAG· LLMOps / AgentOps· EU AI Act ready· OWASP LLM Top 10· Cost optimization· Evals + guardrails· Agentic workflows· Permission-aware RAG· LLMOps / AgentOps· EU AI Act ready· OWASP LLM Top 10·
[How it runs]

An agent that asks before it acts.

This is the difference between a demo and a system. Watch what happens when an agent touches real money:

support-agent · trace
user› "Customer #2841 was double-charged. Fix it."

retrieve› permission-aware RAG · 3 sources
  - orders/2841.json        allow ✓
  - policy/refunds.md       allow ✓
  - finance/ledger.xlsx     deny ✕ (out of scope)

reason› duplicate charge confirmed · within policy
tool› stripe.refunds.create({ amount: 480_00 })

⏸ guardrail: refund > $200 needs human approval
✓ approved by jordan@acme · 41s

› refund issued · customer notified · logged
$ 
[Audit log]
{ "action": "refund",
  "amount": 48000,
  "approved_by": "jordan",
  "sources": 2,
  "status": "completed" }
signed · immutable · replayable
[Eval scorecard]
groundedness0.98 tool accuracy0.96 refusalsok
gated in CI before deploy

Every retrieval permission-checked. Every action guardrailed. Every step logged, signed, and replayable. This is what "production-ready" actually means - and it's what your security team will ask for.

[Results]

Before and after, in numbers.

Cost optimization
−71%
$4,120 → $1,180 / mo

Caching + model routing. Same quality, same latency, a third of the spend.

Time to production
2–10 weeks
demo → production

Fixed scope and milestones, with evals and a security review gating every release.

Ownership
100%
code · prompts · evals · IP

Yours from day one, contractually. If we disappeared tomorrow, your systems keep running.

Your competitors are stuck in PoC purgatory. You don't have to be.

One Discovery Sprint. 2–4 weeks. You walk away with a board-ready roadmap, an architecture blueprint, and a security pre-check - guaranteed, or the fee comes back. The fee credits toward your build. The only risk is staying stuck.

Booking now · limited slots per quarter · sovereign deploy · you own the code