Start with a review, not a rewrite
An MVP made in Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, Replit, or a similar tool can already contain the product idea. The useful first step is to run it, click the main path, and write down what fails. A rewrite is justified only when the current structure cannot hold the next feature without constant breakage.
Ask for a short code review that names the framework, where data is stored, how a user is identified, and which files would change if you added one new screen. If nobody can answer that, the app is not ready for customers yet, even if the preview looks finished.
Separate the product path from the generated leftovers
Generated projects often keep sample routes, unused components, and two ways of doing the same thing. Keep the path a customer actually uses. Delete or ignore the rest until that path is stable.
A maintainable version has one place for each kind of decision: one auth check, one way to talk to the database, and one pattern for handling a failed request. You do not need a perfect architecture diagram. You need a structure the next change will not fight.
Authentication has to be real
Preview logins are often a client-side flag or a hardcoded user. Before launch, a protected page should refuse a request that has no valid session, and that check should happen on the server, not only in the browser.
List every action that changes data. Each one should know who is calling and whether that person is allowed to touch that record. Role checks can wait if you have a single user type, but the session check should not.
Secrets and data access
API keys belong in environment variables on the host, not in a file that was pasted into a prompt and committed. Search the repository for stripe, sk_live, service_role, and similar strings before you share the repo widely.
If the database is open to the browser, confirm the rules that decide which rows a user can read. A working demo with an open table is a common prototype shortcut. It is also the first thing to close before real customer data arrives.
Test the path you will charge for
You do not need a huge suite. You need a repeatable check of sign-up, the core action, and payment or the equivalent success state. Run it after each fix so a generated change does not quietly undo the last repair.
Add error handling on that path: a failed payment, a missing record, and a network error should show a message a person can act on, and the server should log enough to see why it failed.
Deploy it the way you will run it
A preview URL is not a production setup. Production needs the real environment variables, a database you can back up, a domain, and a build command that succeeds from a clean checkout.
After deploy, repeat the same path you tested locally. Differences usually come from missing env vars, a database URL that points at the wrong project, or a callback URL that still targets localhost.
Watch it, then decide what to maintain
Turn on basic logs and an error report for the first week. You want to know when sign-in fails or a payment webhook does not arrive. Fancy dashboards can wait.
Ongoing work is dependency updates, the next feature, and the bugs real use reveals. If you want a team to keep going after the first repair, agree that scope separately. Digitechs does this kind of follow-on engineering for founders who already have a prototype.