How to build a real product with Lovable

1. 1

   Spend about 15 minutes thinking about your product, who it's for, why they'll use it, and the main action a user should take.

   This helps you clarify your idea before you start building, ensuring you focus on what's most important.

2. 2

   Write a story in Lovable's chat describing your app idea, focusing on one user, one action, and one outcome, using a warm and professional tone.

   A story gives Lovable context about the user, their goal, and the desired feel, leading to a better first version of your app.

3. 3

   Switch to 'Plan mode' in Lovable and ask it to break your big idea into smaller, clickable features.

   This helps you manage complexity and build your app in manageable pieces, ensuring each step results in something you can test.

4. 4

   Ask Lovable to generate a 'knowledge file' for your project based on what you've discussed so far.

   The knowledge file acts as a central brief, helping Lovable remember key details about your product, users, and design preferences.

5. 5

   Start building your app 'frontend-first' using sample data, focusing on getting the screens and user flows right.

   This allows for faster iteration on the user experience before getting bogged down with database details.

6. 6

   Describe the desired 'feel' of your app (e.g., 'calm', 'professional') in your prompts and use real content from day one.

   Setting the design direction early ensures consistency, and real content helps identify design problems immediately.

7. 7

   Make one small change per prompt, verify it in the preview, and then move on.

   This 'small loops' approach prevents big, untraceable changes and makes it easier to fix issues.

8. 8

   Use specific prompts that name the location, exact behavior, and boundaries of what you want to change.

   Specific prompts lead to more accurate results and help Lovable understand your intentions better.

9. 9

   Bookmark the version of your project after every working feature.

   This creates 'known-good' states, allowing you to easily revert if an experiment goes wrong.

10. 10

    If you need to store information permanently or share it between users, enable Lovable's built-in backend and describe what data to store.

    This allows your app to save data beyond a single session and supports features like user accounts.

11. 11

    Test your app like a real user: check every page, click every button, refresh after saving data, and test with different user roles and on mobile.

    Thorough testing helps catch bugs and ensures your app works as expected for all users before it goes live.

12. 12

    Run a security scan and then click 'Publish' in the top right of Lovable.

    This makes your app live on the web, allowing others to access and use it.

13. 13

    Add analytics, an owner dashboard, or a feedback mechanism to understand how users are interacting with your live app.

    This helps you gather real-world data and feedback to guide future improvements and growth.

14. 14

    Regularly review your app, especially empty states and flows, and repeat the two-user access check after any data or role changes.

    This helps maintain the quality of your app over time and ensures security and functionality remain intact.

I want to build a booking app for a photography studio. Before you build anything, ask me the five questions you would need answered to build this well. Don't write code yet.

Frontend-first

Building the parts of your app that users see and interact with first, using fake information, before connecting it to a database that stores real information.

Backend

The 'behind-the-scenes' part of your app that handles data storage, user accounts, and other functions that users don't directly see but are essential for the app to work.

Sample data

Placeholder or example information used in your app during development, instead of real user data, to help you build and test.

Knowledge file

A document within Lovable that acts as a central brief for your project, containing key details about your app's purpose, users, features, and design preferences, which Lovable always refers to.

Plan mode

A special mode in Lovable's chat where it helps you break down big ideas, asks clarifying questions, and proposes a structured plan before any code is written.

Build mode

The mode in Lovable's chat where it executes the plans and writes the code for your app.

Version history

A record of all the changes made to your app, allowing you to go back to previous working versions if something goes wrong.

Remix

Creating a clean copy of your existing project, allowing you to start fresh with everything you've learned, while keeping the original project intact.

• Trying to describe your entire app in the very first prompt, which can lead to complex and hard-to-manage changes.
• Ignoring the 'feel' or design direction in early prompts, leading to a generic-looking app that requires extensive rework later.
• Making many changes in a single prompt, which can result in unexpected outcomes that are difficult to fix.
• Retrying the same fix for a bug multiple times without changing tactics, instead of investigating the root cause.
• Not testing your app thoroughly from a user's perspective, especially for empty states, error handling, and different user roles.
• Not using real content early on, which can hide design problems and make it harder for Lovable to generate appropriate layouts.
• Forgetting to bookmark working versions of your project, making it difficult to revert if an experiment goes wrong.