Python Developer — Take Over Our Automation Stack (n8n + FastAPI + OpenAI) After Dev Departure

Hi -- our lead developer unexpectedly left us 3 weeks ago and we are sitting on an automation stack that nobody fully understands. We are a small e-commerce operations team (8 people, based in London) selling across Shopify, Amazon UK, and our own WooCommerce site. Our previous dev built everything over 18 months and it mostly works, but it is completely undocumented and now things are starting to break. What we have (that we know of): - n8n workflows handling order routing, inventory sync between Shopify and our warehouse system, and automated customer follow-up emails - A Python/FastAPI backend that powers a product recommendation engine using OpenAI embeddings - A Postgres database on Supabase that stores all our product data and order history - A React/Next.js internal dashboard (barely functional, was a work in progress) - Airtable bases used by our ops team for manual tracking that somehow sync with Postgres - A web scraper that pulls competitor pricing data daily into our database What is breaking right now: 1. The n8n inventory sync workflow fails about 30 percent of the time and we do not know why. Orders are getting stuck. 2. The OpenAI API key rotated and we cannot figure out where it is configured in the codebase. 3. The scraper is hitting a Cloudflare block on one of our competitor sites and returning empty data. 4. The React dashboard shows a blank screen -- we think a dependency broke but we cannot debug it. What we need from you: 1. Audit the entire codebase and give us a plain-English map of what everything does and how it connects. We have zero documentation. 2. Fix the three immediate breakages above. 3. Document the critical paths so that if this happens again, anyone can follow the steps. 4. Set up basic monitoring or alerts so we know when something breaks before our customers do. Stack: Python, FastAPI, n8n, Postgres on Supabase, React/Next.js, Airtable, OpenAI API, Shopify API, web scraping (we think Scrapy or Beautiful Soup, not sure). We have the code in a GitHub repo, the n8n instance is self-hosted on a DigitalOcean droplet, and we can give you access to everything. We just need someone who can walk into an existing codebase, figure it out fast, and stabilize it. Timeline: We need someone to start this week. The audit and fixes should take 1-2 weeks. If this goes well, we need ongoing maintenance and there is a LOT more work here -- the previous dev was in the middle of building an AI-powered product description generator and a customer support chatbot, both half-finished. Ideal candidate has taken over an existing codebase before, is comfortable working with someone else's code, and can communicate clearly with non-technical people. We do not need you to build anything new right now -- we need you to understand what exists, fix what is broken, and explain it to us. When you apply, briefly tell us: (1) have you inherited an undocumented codebase before, and how did you approach it, (2) are you comfortable with our stack, and (3) can you start this week. I am looking forward to working with you.