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TypeScript + SaaS

TypeScript Developer
for SaaS

Add AI superpowers to your SaaS. RAG systems, LLM integrations, intelligent search. Built PenQWEN domain-specific LLM. Free AI feasibility assessment.

Key Insights

01

SaaS AI features should use tiered model routing—GPT-3.5/Claude Haiku for simple classifications, GPT-4/Claude Opus for complex reasoning—reducing costs by 90% while maintaining quality where it matters.

02

RAG systems for SaaS must use hybrid search (vector similarity + BM25 keyword matching), because users search with both natural language queries and exact product terminology that pure vector search misses.

03

The biggest AI integration mistake in SaaS is not caching aggressively—identical queries to LLMs should hit cache, not API. A viral feature using GPT-4 can cost $10K/day without proper caching.

04

Multi-tenant SaaS with AI features requires strict data isolation in vector databases—each tenant's embeddings in separate namespaces to prevent information leakage across customers.

05

AI features need graceful degradation: primary model fails → retry with different parameters → fallback model → cached response → helpful error message. Users shouldn't see raw API errors.

SaaS Regulations

Compliance requirements that shape technical architecture

Common Challenges

Problems I solve for clients in this space

Challenge

Unpredictable AI costs

LLM API costs scale with usage unpredictably. A feature that works in demo can cost thousands in production when users find it valuable.

Solution

Aggressive caching for identical queries. Tiered model routing (cheap models for simple tasks). Usage caps and rate limiting per tenant. Cost monitoring and alerts.

Challenge

AI response quality consistency

LLM outputs are non-deterministic. The same prompt can produce varying quality responses, making testing and quality assurance challenging.

Solution

Structured output via function calling or JSON mode. Evaluation pipelines measuring quality on representative samples. Temperature=0 and seed parameter for reproducibility where needed.

Challenge

Context window limitations

Users expect AI to 'know' their entire workspace, but context windows are limited. Naive approaches hit token limits on complex queries.

Solution

RAG architecture retrieving only relevant context. Document chunking with intelligent boundaries. Query routing to narrow context retrieval. Conversation compression for long interactions.

Challenge

Hallucination and accuracy

LLMs confidently generate incorrect information. For SaaS features involving customer data or business decisions, hallucinations are unacceptable.

Solution

RAG grounding responses in actual customer data. Citation requirements linking claims to sources. Confidence scoring with human escalation for low confidence. Clear AI attribution in UI.

Challenge

Multi-tenant data isolation

AI features must not leak information between customers. Vector databases, caches, and model inputs must enforce tenant boundaries.

Solution

Tenant-namespaced vector collections. Cache keys include tenant ID. Input validation ensures no cross-tenant data. Query filtering by tenant before retrieval.

Recommended Stack

Optimal technology choices for TypeScript + SaaS

LLM Provider

OpenAI + Anthropic

OpenAI for GPT-4 and embeddings. Anthropic Claude as fallback and for tasks requiring longer context. Multi-provider strategy prevents vendor lock-in.

Vector Database

Pinecone or Qdrant

Pinecone for managed simplicity with namespace isolation. Qdrant for self-hosted with more control. Both support tenant isolation patterns.

Orchestration

LangChain or custom

LangChain for rapid prototyping. Custom orchestration for production control. Avoid framework lock-in for core business logic.

Caching

Redis with semantic keys

Cache LLM responses keyed by normalized input hash. TTL based on content volatility. Reduces costs and improves latency for repeated queries.

Evaluation

Custom + LangSmith/Braintrust

Automated evaluation pipeline for regression testing. Human evaluation for quality benchmarks. Continuous monitoring for production quality drift.

Why TypeScript?

AI integration in SaaS is fundamentally an infrastructure problem, not a model problem. The LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) handle the hard ML work. Your challenge is building the infrastructure that makes AI features reliable, cost-effective, and properly isolated for multi-tenant environments. The architecture pattern that works is RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). Instead of fine-tuning models on customer data—expensive, slow, and creates privacy concerns—you retrieve relevant context at query time and include it in the prompt. This means your AI features use your customers' actual data without that data entering model training. Tenant isolation is straightforward: separate vector namespaces per customer. Cost management is the make-or-break challenge for AI features in SaaS. A naive implementation that sends every user query to GPT-4 will cost hundreds of dollars daily for a few hundred users. Sustainable AI features require tiered routing (cheap models for simple tasks), aggressive caching (identical queries should hit cache), and usage controls (rate limits, per-tenant caps). These aren't optimizations—they're requirements. The multi-provider strategy isn't just about pricing negotiation. OpenAI has outages. Anthropic has different context window characteristics. Having both integrated means your AI features stay available when one provider has issues, and you can route specific tasks to whichever provider handles them better.

My Approach

AI integration projects start with identifying the highest-value use cases. Not every feature benefits from AI, and the integration overhead means you should be selective. I help prioritize based on user value, feasibility, and cost characteristics. Once we identify the right features, the architecture follows a consistent pattern. A retrieval layer indexes relevant customer data into vector storage with proper tenant isolation. A prompt engineering layer structures inputs to get consistent, useful outputs. A response processing layer validates outputs, extracts structured data, and handles errors gracefully. Caching reduces costs and improves latency throughout. The evaluation infrastructure is as important as the feature code. I set up evaluation pipelines that measure quality on representative samples, run regression tests on prompt changes, and monitor production quality over time. This catches issues before users complain—LLM quality can drift as providers update models. For production deployment, I implement the reliability patterns that AI features require: circuit breakers when providers are slow, fallback to cheaper models or cached responses, graceful degradation that shows helpful messages instead of errors, and comprehensive logging for debugging quality issues. Cost monitoring and alerting ensures you're not surprised by bills. Testing AI features is challenging because outputs are non-deterministic. I use a combination of deterministic tests (model returns valid JSON, includes required fields), statistical tests (quality scores on evaluation sets), and human review for representative samples. The test suite gives confidence that changes don't regress quality.

Expert Insights

Building PenQWEN—a domain-adapted Qwen2.5 model for security assessments—taught me that successful AI integration is about architecture and evaluation, not just model selection. The same patterns apply to SaaS AI features.

Proven Results

Reduced security assessment setup from 4 hours to 12 minutes with zero hallucinated commands
3.6GB LoRA adapters trained on 12GB curated domain data now automate 60% of routine tasks
Two-stage training: domain corpus adaptation then agentic fine-tuning for tool calling
Built evaluation pipelines that catch quality regressions before deployment

Mistakes I Help You Avoid

Fine-tuning when RAG is sufficient—RAG is cheaper, faster, and keeps customer data out of model training
Sending every query to the most expensive model—implement tiered routing based on query complexity
Missing tenant isolation in vector databases—namespace separation is table stakes for multi-tenant AI
Deploying without evaluation infrastructure—you need to measure quality before users complain

Decision Frameworks I Use

  • RAG vs fine-tuning: RAG for customer-specific context, fine-tuning only for domain-specific behaviors that can't be prompted
  • Model routing: classify query complexity, route simple tasks to cheap models, escalate only when needed
  • Cost control: per-tenant caps, aggressive caching, fallback to cached responses when budget exhausted

Investment Guidance

Typical budget ranges for TypeScript saas projects

MVP

$35,000 - $75,000

Core functionality, essential features, production-ready foundation

Full Solution

$100,000 - $250,000

Complete platform with advanced features, integrations, and scale

Factors affecting scope

  • Number of AI-powered features
  • Document corpus size for RAG
  • Expected query volume and caching potential
  • Quality requirements and evaluation needs
  • Multi-tenant isolation complexity

Frequently Asked Questions

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