A prototype can be a good start
Lovable, Bolt.new, Cursor, Replit, v0, and similar tools are useful for getting a first version on screen. Many of those versions are fine as demos. Launch is a different bar: another person, on another network, with real data, should be able to finish the task you sell.
The checks below are ordinary release checks. They are not a claim that AI-written code is always unsafe. They are the places prototypes most often skip.
Walk the integrations, not just the happy screen
Click through sign-up, the main action, and any third-party step such as Stripe, email, or a map. Do it twice. The second run catches state that only works when the database is empty.
If a button calls an API, confirm the server rejects a bad body instead of crashing, and that the browser shows the failure. A spinner that never ends is a product bug even when the code 'mostly works'.
Database permissions
If the client talks to the database directly, read the policies. A user should not be able to request another user's rows by changing an id in the request.
If a server sits in front of the database, the same rule applies there: every query that uses an id from the client should also check ownership. This is a small review and it prevents a large class of launch incidents.
Secret management
Keys for Stripe, email, and the database should exist only in the host's environment settings and in a local file that is gitignored. If a key was pasted into a chat with an AI tool, rotate it.
The frontend may use a publishable key. It should not use a secret key. If you are unsure which is which, treat that as a reason to pause the launch and ask an engineer to look.
Performance and error handling
Open the app on a phone and on a slow connection. Note pages that take several seconds or that download a very large JavaScript file for a simple form. You do not need a perfect score. You need the first task to feel possible.
Cause one failure on purpose: turn off the network mid-save, or use a declined test card. The app should recover without a blank screen. Logs should show the error on the server, not only in your browser console.
Production is a separate environment
Use a production database, production keys, and a domain you control. Keep the preview project for experiments. Mixing them is how a test webhook overwrites a live record.
Write down the build command, the required environment variables, and who can deploy. If that list lives only in one person's laptop, the app is not operable yet.
When to ask for help
Bring in a developer when you cannot reproduce a bug, when you need accounts and payments you do not want to guess at, or when the next feature would require understanding code you no longer follow.
A useful first engagement is an assessment: what is solid, what is risky, and whether to repair or replace a part. That is the work Digitechs offers for AI-built apps, alongside the rest of our product engineering.