What if I built it in Cursor, v0, or Bolt, not Lovable?

Same fork. I open the URL. If checkout is test mode and the host is their trial, keep going. Cursor in a repo you control is closer to a build, but a laptop demo is still a laptop demo. I need to see who can deploy when it breaks.

Can you take over the generated code instead of starting over?

Sometimes. Screens that already match the job can stay as a reference. The workflows and the host usually don't come with you. If people already pay inside it, that's a takeover of a live product. I need the live URL before I promise what survives.

Does building with AI make the developer cheaper?

It makes the screens faster. It does not name the job or own the Tuesday the payment fails. I use the tools. I don't knock the first-version number down because you have a trial link. That number is a different page.

Is this the same as leaving Bubble for custom?

No. Bubble is an app people already use. This page is a generated demo, usually with no one paying yet. If invoices already go out of Bubble, that's when to leave no-code. Don't mix the two emails.

I meant adding AI into my product, not generating the app.

Then this is the wrong page. That's when AI belongs in a product. A model on a job you already run, or a chatbot you should not ship. Send that brief, not the Lovable link.

Should you hire a developer for an AI-generated app?

They sent a Lovable URL. Checkout looked done in the screenshot. Should you hire a developer for an AI-generated app? An AI-generated app is screens you prompted in a host you don't run. You don't get a deploy when their tab dies. I clicked pay. Twelve days on the trial, test mode. I told them to keep generating.

If the email is "add AI" to a product you already run, that's when AI belongs in a product. If Bubble has been sending invoices for months, that's when to leave no-code for custom. This one is a prompted URL with nobody paying yet. The real hire is SaaS and web products, not a coat of paint on the trial. I still write a brief before I quote.

How to tell an AI-generated app from a first version

I opened the link. It looked like a product. Nobody had finished a job without the founder on the call.

Keep generating

The tab can die and nothing real breaks

You're watching someone try the job
Checkout is still test mode

Hire a developer

Tuesday has to work without their host

A stranger has paid, and the receipt has to survive
The booking has to still be there if the tab dies
You need a host you can open without their login

The cut

If you can lose the URL and keep what you learned, keep generating. If a customer would notice, hire a developer.

A first version is a named person finishing a job on a URL that stays up. Look at selected work for that, not for a generated screenshot. If strangers already pay inside the generated app, I don't quote a new build next to it. That's a takeover of a live product.

What people mean by an AI-generated app

The email says they built the MVP. Sometimes they mean a Cursor session on a laptop that 404s when they close the lid. Sometimes they mean Lovable, and the screens are real until the trial ends.

I don't sell the laptop demo as a first version. How much a first version costsis the number after you already need the hire. Don't ask me for that number until the hire is the job. A brochure with a generated hero is still a business website. Name that before anyone quotes a product.

You prompted the screens. Lovable hosts them. You ask for the app out and you get files that almost run, or a ZIP that needs their platform to mean anything. That's what the subscription bought. Fine for watching someone try the job. Stupid as the thing you put customers on.

When you should hire a developer for an AI-generated app

I hire when the job is no longer a test. Custom does not look more serious. I clock how long a first version takes from the job, not from how fast Lovable drew the screens.

Money has to move for real

Test mode is a rehearsal. Once a live charge has a receipt they can open next week, you have a product. I don't leave the charge on a trial host that can expire. If nobody has paid yet and you're still finding out whether anyone will, keep generating. The day a stranger pays, you need a person who can deploy when the charge fails.

The records have to stay theirs

A login that forgets you overnight is still a demo. The booking they came back for, the file they uploaded. If those live in a host you can't export without their login, you rented a database you can't take with you. Lovable will give you a ZIP. Opening it on my laptop is not the same as the records still being there next month. Export first, if you can. Then decide. Hiring me to pretty-up the trial is how you pay a first-version price for screens you already had.

You need a deploy you can run

A repo in GitHub is not live. Lovable can push to GitHub. That still isn't a deploy you can repeat when their project expires. The domain has to be in your name, and you have to open the host without their login. Who owns it after launchstarts here. If nobody will own Tuesday, wait. I don't hand you a ZIP of generated screens and call it shipped.

When an AI-generated app does not need a developer yet

People hire a developer because the deck looks unfinished without a repo. Or a friend said AI apps don't scale. Neither is a brief. If a stranger only has to understand what you do and send a message, you wanted a website, not a custom product.

You wanted it to look serious

Investors like GitHub. They like a person finishing a job more. Copying the trial into a repo the week it looks pretty is a second rehearsal with a nicer about page. Stay until someone uses it.

Throw it out and start a clean repo

The screens taught you the job. Keep that. A blank repo so the stack looks like a real codebase is a rewrite you didn't earn. If people already pay inside the generated app, start from the live URL. Repair what's there. Don't park Monday to feel like a real engineer.

Put customers on the trial

The trial had twelve days left and they wanted a stranger on it. When the host expires you can't answer the ticket. Hire before a paying person depends on a tab you don't control, or keep generating and don't take their money yet.

The charge was fake. They still wanted it on a real domain that week.

Send the live URL. I'll click pay before I quote a hire. Tell me what happens if their tab dies tomorrow.