How do I get my AI-built app live (Lovable, Bolt, Base44, AI Studio)?

Also searched as: How to make Base44 app live · How to deploy app from Google AI Studio · Bolt.new app development · Lovable app

Updated 3 October 2026

Short answer

You have two routes. The quick one is the builder's own publish or deploy button, which gets you a live address in minutes, on the builder's platform. The controlled one is to export the code to GitHub and host it yourself, so you own every part and can hire anyone to work on it. Either way, the app needs the same things before real users arrive: its settings and keys in the right place, a proper database, and security checked.

What's the problem

The app works inside the builder's preview. You want a real address, real users, maybe payments, and you don't know whether to stay on the builder, move it somewhere else, or what you'd lose by moving.

Why it happens

  • The preview isn't production. Builders run your app in a convenient development setup. Real hosting needs settings, keys and a database that the preview quietly provided.
  • Some of the app may live on the builder. Depending on the tool, the database, logins or file storage may be the builder's own services. Moving the code doesn't move those automatically.
  • Keys follow the app. Google AI Studio's deployed apps use your API key for every user's AI calls. If you download the app to run elsewhere, you have to set that key up in your new hosting yourself.
  • Exports are a snapshot of what the AI wrote. Once you leave, nobody re-generates the code for you. You're maintaining it like any other codebase.

How to fix it

  1. Get the code into a repository you own first. Lovable and Bolt can sync your project to GitHub. Do it even if you stay on the builder. It's your backup and your exit.
  2. List what the app depends on: database, logins, file storage, AI and payment keys, email. Note which belong to the builder.
  3. Decide where it runs. Staying on the builder is fine for a first launch. Moving gives you control, standard hosting, and freedom to hire any developer.
  4. If you move, host the frontend and backend (see how do I get my app live), set every environment variable, and move or reconnect the database and file storage.
  5. Put secret keys server-side and set spending limits on paid APIs, since every user's activity may run on your key.
  6. Check security before launch. See is my AI-built app secure.
  7. Connect your domain and turn on HTTPS.

When to call Preventionlabs

If the builder's publish button does what you need and security checks out, use it. Call us when you want off the builder and into infrastructure you own, when the exported code doesn't run outside the builder, or when the app has outgrown what the AI can fix. A resurrection gets it running in your own hosting account with the user flows you list working end to end, protected to MVP level, on infrastructure that scales through configuration, then hands it back with plain-language docs.

Submit your project for a free assessment

Free assessment. $10,000 AUD flat to get it live, only if we take it on and you go ahead.

Sources

  1. Lovable: Sync your Lovable project with GitHubplatform docsIf you want your own copy, plan to collaborate with developers, or move your project elsewhere, you can export and sync your project to GitHub:
  2. Bolt: GitHub for version controlplatform docsConnect a GitHub repository to back up your Bolt project, sync commits automatically, and work across branches.
  3. Google AI for Developers: Build apps in Google AI Studioplatform docsThe deployed app will use your API key for all users' Gemini API calls.
  4. Google AI for Developers: Build apps in Google AI Studioplatform docsIf you download your app as a ZIP file to run it elsewhere, you will need to set up the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable in your hosting environment.

Related

How do I deploy my Replit app? Use Replit's Publish button and pick a deployment type, or export the code and host it elsewhere. Settings stored as Replit Secrets have to move with it. Is my AI-built app secure? Don't assume so. Research found people using AI assistants wrote less secure code and were more confident in it. Check access control, keys and data first. How do I get my app live? Hosting that fits how the app is built, its settings, a database, your domain and HTTPS. The order to do it in, and where projects usually get stuck. The AI wrote my app and now it doesn't work. What do I do? Stop asking it to fix everything at once. Go back to the last version that worked, find the first real error, and change one thing at a time, checking each.
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