Introducing Defang Forge: Helping Companies Build for the AI-Native Era

The cloud changed where software runs.

AI is changing how software is built, deployed, and operated.

For many organizations, this is the most significant shift in software development in more than a decade. Engineering teams are adopting AI coding assistants, experimenting with agents, evaluating new models, and rethinking how applications move from idea to production. At the same time, they are being asked to do all of this while maintaining security, controlling cost, protecting data, and avoiding lock-in.

The opportunity is enormous. So is the complexity.

Today, we are excited to introduce Defang Forge, a new engineering practice from Defang that helps organizations design, build, and deploy AI-native software.

From Cloud adoption to AI-native development

Over the past several years, Defang has focused on making cloud deployment dramatically simpler. Our platform helps developers take applications from code to cloud without needing to become experts in infrastructure, DevOps, or every cloud-specific service along the way.

That mission is becoming even more important in the AI era.

AI is not just another feature to add to an application. It changes the way teams design systems, write code, choose infrastructure, manage data, evaluate models, and operate software in production. Increasingly, companies are not only deploying applications used by people—they are deploying systems used by people and AI agents working together.

This creates new questions for every engineering organization:

Which cloud should we use?

Which models should we build on?

How do we avoid locking ourselves into one vendor?

How do we safely deploy agentic workflows into production?

How do we modernize our engineering processes without slowing the business down?

How do we help our teams adopt AI while preserving our own data, IP, and customer trust?

These are not abstract strategy questions. They are practical engineering questions. And they need practical answers.

Why Defang Forge

Many companies know they need to adapt to the AI-native era, but they do not have the time, capacity, or in-house expertise to navigate every decision alone.

Large enterprises can turn to global consulting firms and multi-year transformation programs. But that model does not work for everyone.

Mid-sized companies, startups, software teams, agencies, and technology-driven businesses need something different. They need experienced engineers who can work alongside their teams, help them make the right architectural decisions, build production-ready systems, and leave them stronger than before.

That is what Defang Forge is designed to provide.

We help customers move from experimentation to production with AI-enabled and agentic applications, while continuing to support the core cloud modernization and deployment work that makes those systems reliable, secure, and scalable.

What Defang Forge can help with

Defang Forge is focused on hands-on, engineering-led engagements, including:

AI-native application architecture

We help teams design applications that use AI models, agents, and automation safely and effectively, with the right balance of flexibility, observability, and control.

Agentic workflow design and deployment

We help customers identify high-value workflows, design agentic systems around them, and deploy those systems into real production environments.

Cloud modernization

We help teams modernize applications and deployment pipelines so they can move faster without taking on unnecessary operational complexity.

Model and cloud strategy

We help customers choose the right infrastructure and model approach for their needs, without assuming that one cloud, one model provider, or one architecture is right for everyone.

Production deployment

We help customers get applications and AI-enabled systems running in their own cloud accounts, with the security, governance, and operational patterns required for production use.

Team enablement

We work with engineering teams so they can continue building, deploying, and operating systems after the engagement is complete.

The Defang Forge principles

Defang Forge is not a traditional consulting offering.

We are not here to sell slide decks, multi-year transformation programs, or dependency on another vendor. We are here to build alongside customers and help them move faster with confidence.

Our approach is based on three principles.

Independent

Your architecture should serve your business, not your vendors.

Defang is cloud and model agnostic. We do not believe customers should be forced into a single cloud or model ecosystem because of the partner they choose. The AI landscape is moving too quickly for that.

Some workloads belong on AWS. Others may be better suited to Azure, Google Cloud, private infrastructure, or a hybrid approach. Some applications may use OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source models, specialized models, or several of these at once.

Our job is to help customers make the right decisions for their business, their data, their regulatory environment, and their technical constraints.

The future of AI will be heterogeneous. Defang Forge helps customers build for that future.

Collaborative

We build with your team, not around it.

Many organizations do not need a large outside team to take over their roadmap. They need experienced engineers who can work alongside them, accelerate delivery, and transfer knowledge as they go.

Defang Forge is designed for practical engineering teams that want to build capability, not dependency.

We start with your code, your cloud accounts, your development workflows, and your business goals. We help your team make progress quickly while ensuring they understand, own, and can operate what gets built.

Our goal is simple: leave your team stronger than when we arrived.

Production-grade

AI prototypes are easy to build.

Production systems are harder.

A demo can be built in a day. A reliable AI-enabled application needs deployment, monitoring, security, cost control, model evaluation, data governance, rollback strategies, and a clear understanding of how humans and agents interact.

Defang Forge is focused on production-grade outcomes: systems that run in your cloud, integrate with your existing infrastructure, and can be operated long after the engagement ends.

We measure success by software running in production, not strategy documents sitting on a shelf.

Forging the next generation of software

We believe the next decade of software will be defined by collaboration between people and AI agents.

The companies that succeed will not simply adopt new models. They will rethink how they build, deploy, secure, and operate software.

They will need infrastructure that is flexible.

They will need architectures that preserve choice.

They will need teams that can move quickly without losing control.

And they will need partners who understand that the goal is not AI for its own sake—it is better software, better workflows, and better business outcomes.

Defang exists to make that transition easier.

With Defang Forge, we are extending that mission beyond the platform itself. We are helping customers forge their next generation of software in a way that is independent, collaborative, and production-grade.

If your organization is thinking about how to navigate the AI-native era, we would love to work with you.