Prequel is launching a new developer-focused service aimed at democratizing software error detection—an area typically dominated by large cloud providers. Co-founded by Lyndon Brown and Tony Meehan, both former NSA engineers, Prequel introduces a community-driven observability approach centered on Common Reliability Enumerations (CREs). CREs categorize recurring production issues, helping engineers detect, understand, and communicate problems without reinventing solutions or working in isolation. Their open-source tools, cre and prereq, allow teams to build and share detectors that catch bugs and anti-patterns in real time—without exposing sensitive data, thanks to edge processing using WebAssembly.

The urgency behind Prequel’s mission stems from the rapid pace of AI-driven development, increased third-party code usage, and rising infrastructure costs. Traditional observability tools may surface symptoms, but Prequel aims to provide precise problem definitions and actionable insights. While observability giants like Datadog and Splunk dominate the market, Brown and Meehan argue that engineers still feel overwhelmed by data and underpowered in diagnostics—something they believe CREs can finally change.

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