Debug and improve your app
When your app breaks, first try Lovable's built-in fix. If that doesn't work, clearly describe the problem and switch to Plan mode to find the real cause before making more changes.
Anyone building an app with Lovable needs this when their project isn't working as expected or they want to improve it.
Do this, in order
- 1
Use the 'Try to fix' option once or twice when an error appears.
This is the quickest way to resolve common issues, and you get free fixes daily.
- 2
If the error persists, describe exactly what is broken, where it is, what you expected to happen, and what actually happened.
Clear descriptions help Lovable understand and fix the specific problem, especially if you include screenshots or error messages.
- 3
Switch to Plan mode and ask Lovable to investigate the root cause of persistent problems.
Repeated attempts to fix an issue without understanding its origin can make the code more complicated and harder to debug.
- 4
If your code has become messy from many failed fixes, restore a working version from your project's version history or use 'Revert and resend' on a past message.
Starting from a clean, working state is often faster than trying to untangle complicated or broken code.
- 5
After solving a difficult bug, ask Lovable to summarize the issue and its fix.
This helps Lovable learn from the experience and apply that knowledge to future tasks, improving its ability to help you.
Paste this into your project
I'm having trouble with my app. It's showing an error when I try to open the Projects page, and I can't make any edits. I expected to see my list of projects and be able to click on them. Can you help me figure out what's going on and fix it?
Words decoded
- Plan mode
- A special way of interacting with Lovable where it focuses on analyzing problems, explaining issues, and planning solutions without immediately changing your code.
- Root cause
- The fundamental reason why a problem or error occurs, rather than just the immediate symptom.
- Codebase audit
- A thorough check of your app's code to find areas that could be better organized, simpler, or follow best practices more closely.
- Performance check
- An analysis of your app to find out why it might be slow and identify specific ways to make it faster.
- Version history
- A record of all the changes made to your project over time, allowing you to go back to an earlier working version if needed.
- Revert and resend
- An option to undo recent changes and restart from an earlier point in your conversation with Lovable, giving you a fresh start.
- Console logs
- Messages and errors that your app generates while it's running, which can be viewed in your web browser's developer tools or on your server.
- Developer tools
- Built-in features in web browsers that allow you to inspect, debug, and analyze web pages and applications.
- Technical debt
- The extra work created by choosing an easy, quick solution now instead of a better approach that would take longer. It's like taking a shortcut that you'll have to pay back later with more effort.
Where people get stuck
- Don't keep trying to fix a problem blindly; switch to Plan mode after one or two failed attempts to understand the root cause.
- Avoid vague prompts like 'Nothing works, fix it!' as Lovable needs specific details to help effectively.
- Don't treat related problems as separate issues; ask if a recent fix could have caused a new problem elsewhere.
- Don't ignore the underlying reason for an error; a quick fix might hide the real problem without solving it.
The short version, steps, decoder and prompt on this page are written automatically from Lovable's own documentation and can lag or misread it. The official page is always the authority.