# Ship a working app in an afternoon: the Lovable build Source: https://getstartedwithai.net/tutorials/lovable-ship-app-in-afternoon Site: Get Started With AI Tagline: Build AI automations that actually run your business. Audience: solo professionals, freelancers, consultants and AI implementers in training Contact: hello@getstartedwithai.co.uk This Markdown companion is generated from the prerendered page for AI crawlers. # Ship a working app in an afternoon: the Lovable build A private client tracker, signed-in users seeing only their own records, deployed at a real URL by 5pm. That is what this 90-minute Lovable build ships. The Supabase integration is what changes the maths: the AI sets up tables, auth and security policies without you touching SQL. Solo professionals scoping a feedback collector, a course tracker or an internal CRM move from sketch to a working app inside an afternoon, on a stack a developer can take over later. The build pattern that makes it reliable is the five-step run below. ## Prep before you build (10 minutes) - A Lovable account at lovable.dev. Pro from about £20 a month is the right starting plan. - A Supabase account (free tier). Connect at signup. - A clear single-feature app idea. "A private list of my clients with notes" works. "An ERP" does not. - 90 minutes uninterrupted. ## When Lovable is the right tool - You need a small web app with users, data and auth. Examples: a private CRM, a feedback collector, a course tracker. - You want a deployed URL by the end of the day, not next week. - You are comfortable describing what you want but not writing the code. - For tools with no auth or database (a calculator, a one-page site), Bolt.new is the simpler choice. ## Pricing in April 2026 - Free: 5 daily credits up to 30 a month. Public projects only. Lovable subdomain only. - Pro from about £20 a month: 100 monthly credits plus 5 daily, up to 150 total. - Business from about £40 a month: SSO, team features. - For a 90-minute build: Pro is enough; one project usually fits in 20 to 40 credits. ## Step 1: Brief the app (10 minutes) 1. Open Lovable, click New Project. 2. Prompt: "Build a private client tracker. Users sign in with email and password and see only their own clients. Each client record has name, sector, status (active/paused/archived), notes (long text), and last contacted date. Add a button to mark client as contacted today. Use a clean dark UI with a teal accent." 3. Lovable thinks for a minute. It plans the project, sets up Supabase tables, configures auth and writes the front-end code. 4. You see a live preview in the panel. The app is already running. ## Step 2: Run the first iteration (20 minutes) The first build is 70 percent right. The afternoon is the 30 percent of refinements. - Add filters: "Add a search box that filters by client name." - Add a chart: "Add a small chart showing the count of active vs paused vs archived clients." - Improve UX: "When I click a client name, open a side drawer with the full notes. Make it feel snappy." - Each prompt is a credit. Most iterations cost 1 to 3 credits. ## Step 3: Test the auth and isolation (15 minutes) The most important step. Skip it and you risk leaking data. 1. Sign up as User A. Add three clients. 2. Sign out. Sign up as User B. Confirm User A clients are not visible. 3. Try editing a User A client URL while signed in as User B. Confirm Supabase RLS denies the request. 4. If isolation fails, prompt Lovable: "User B can see User As clients via direct URL. Fix the row-level security policy." 5. Always retest auth after any database change. ## Step 4: Polish the experience (20 minutes) - Add a logo and favicon: upload a PNG, prompt "Add this as the logo in the header and as the favicon." - Improve loading states: prompt "Add skeleton loaders while the client list is fetching." - Add empty states: "When the user has no clients, show a friendly empty state with a Add your first client button." - Improve the sign-up flow: "Add a welcome email when a new user signs up using Supabase Auth Email Templates." ## Step 5: Deploy and connect a domain (15 minutes) 1. Click Publish. Lovable deploys to a lovable.app subdomain. 2. Test the live URL on your phone and a different browser. 3. For a custom domain (Pro feature): in Settings, Custom Domains, add your domain and follow the DNS instructions. 4. Wait 5 to 10 minutes for DNS to propagate. The app is live on your domain. ## Step 6: Hand it over (10 minutes) - Write a one-page handover note: what the app does, who can sign up, where the data lives, how to add a column. - Save the prompt history. Future revisions can reuse the same vocabulary. - Note the recurring cost: Lovable Pro from about £20/mo plus Supabase free tier. Most small apps stay free on Supabase below 500MB and 50,000 monthly active users. ## What you ship A signed-in private client tracker live at a custom domain. Real React and Supabase code in the project, exportable when the client wants to take it to a developer team. About a day saved against the equivalent custom build, on a project that previously needed two contractor days at £1,200 to £2,000. ## What to build next Pair this with the Bolt.new tutorial when the next project is a sales prototype, and the Cursor for non-coders tutorial when the project graduates from Lovable to a real codebase. ## Related builds More tutorials in Vibe Coding. Each one runs in 60 to 90 minutes and ships a finished asset. ### Ship a small client tool in 90 minutes: the Cursor build for non-coders 60 to 90 minutes. Solo Pro. [Open tutorial](/tutorials/cursor-for-non-coders-90-min) ### Ship code changes in a day, not a week: the practitioner Claude Code build 60 to 90 minutes. Solo Pro / Implementer. [Open tutorial](/tutorials/claude-code-practitioner-guide) ### Demo a client-facing tool in an hour: the Bolt.new prototype build 90 minutes. Implementer. [Open tutorial](/tutorials/bolt-new-prototype-client-tools) ### Ship a useful tool on Replit in 90 minutes: the AI build for non-coders 90 minutes. Solo Pro. [Open tutorial](/tutorials/replit-ai-non-coder-build) ## Questions people ask before they start ### Can I export the code? Yes, on Pro and above. You can export the project to GitHub and continue in any IDE. Useful when the project outgrows Lovable. ### What does Supabase add to the cost? Free tier covers 500MB database and 50,000 monthly active users. Most small apps stay free. Pro Supabase is £20/mo if you need more. ### How does this compare to Bolt.new? Lovable wins when you need auth, database and shared data. Bolt.new wins for static interactive tools or single-user demos. The Supabase integration is the difference. ### Is the code production-ready? For internal tools and prototypes the code is production-ready, and for customer-facing scale you plan to migrate. Lovables output is React and Next.js with Tailwind, so a developer can take over without rewriting. ### How much should I charge to ship a Lovable build? A one-day Lovable build with auth and a database runs £1,500 to £4,500. Scope tightly: one feature, one database, one user journey.