Preamble before I talk about Lovable
The beauty of having a blog that no one goes to is that I can lose my mind and do whatever I want without concern. No one is visiting, so I don’t have to explain why things are as wonky as they are.
So, to my audience of one, I’m writing this post (and hopefully creating an associated YouTube video) to document my attempts to create an online app using Lovable.
What is Lovable
Lovable is an app for creating apps, websites, games, and more. The beautiful thing about Lovable is you don’t have to know much or anything about coding (knowing how to program or code helps, but is not required). You don’t have to be a programmer or an engineer. Lovable is powered by Artificial Intelligence, and the AI agent “speaks” in non-technical terms.
For example, you can say or type whatever you’re trying to build, and it will “chat” with you to create what you want. It sounds too good to be true for this grandma noob!
Before I go too deep into Lovable, I must let you know that Lovable isn’t the only such app. There’s Replit, Bolt, Cursor, Windsurf, and more. Each of these apps uses AI to help the non-coder code. Some apps, such as Lovable, are more user-friendly for newbies, while apps like Cursor and Windsurf require more (sometimes much more) programming knowledge. However, they all use AI agents to help folks like me.
My First Project
After watching several YouTube videos created by folks touting how easy it is to create an app from start to finish in minutes/hours, I decided to give it a try. As mentioned above, Lovable is probably the most user-friendly for a beginner, and thus I chose it.
Let me tell you this, however: creating an app from start to finish isn’t as simple as they say. Yes, it’s much easier than hiring a software development team, but there are a host of things these YouTubers didn’t mention. I outline some of them below:
- Just like talking to a software developer, you must start with an explainable idea. Think about what you want to create and pretend you’re trying to explain it to your friend. The better you formulate your idea, the better your results will be when talking to AI.
- Lay down the infrastructure. Things like whether or not you’ll have folks signing in and providing user information that you’ll use to send them stuff (you’ll need a back end database) or they need to sign in with a password (authentication) or will be charging subscribers (payment setup), it’s best to let AI know in the beginning. Laying the proper groundwork makes things easier. It’s like building the foundation for the house before setting up the kitchen.
- Use AI (such as ChatGPT or other AI tools) to help you with prompts for Lovable. Who knows better how to speak AI than AI? So, let ChatGPT help you with prompts for Lovable.
- Don’t overwhelm Lovable. Break the requests into bite-sized chunks. If you give it 10 instructions in one prompt, you’re asking for trouble. It’s like telling your kid to make his bed, water the plants, take out the trash, walk the dog, check the mailbox, mow the lawn, and take the meat out of the freezer for dinner. I don’t have to tell you how that would turn out.
- Be patient. Sometimes, instructions to correct errors take several chats to fix.
- Run security checks. I know, as a newbie, how do you know what things to check and how to correct them if you do find an issue? Leave it all up to AI. Before publishing your app, click the “Review Security (free)” button. Even more than that, I’ve learned to go into the back end (which’s equipped with its own AI) and ask it to run a security check as well.
When I first watched the YouTubers, I attacked Lovable with the intent of having a functioning app by the end of the day. Boy, was I wrong. Every time I submitted a chat or request to the AI, it cost a credit or partial credit.
With Lovable, you’re given five free credits a day. Having chewed through the five daily credits, I decided to purchase the cheapest monthly plan. The most affordable plan is $25 per month, which includes 100 credits. So, with the five daily credits plus the 100 credits, in a 30-day month, you can use 250 credits. That sounds like a lot, but a newbie like me blew through the 100 credits in less than a week. That caused me to slow things down and use the five daily credits for the rest of the month to fix things.
Slow and Steady
Having devoured the 100 credits so quickly taught me a few lessons. The slower pace of five credits a day forced me to think, plan, and become better organized. That’s a lesson I probably wouldn’t have learned so quickly if I had an unlimited amount of credits.
Also, I learned that sometimes it takes the full five free credits to fix programming issues. So, the process of building an app is not as quick as some YouTubers make it seem to be. Perhaps if I were more knowledgeable about coding and programming, that wouldn’t be the case, but I’m not, and that is the case.
A Learning Experience
All in all, I’m not complaining. I’m learning and I’m making progress. My app is costing me significantly less than it would have if I had hired programmers. My app is not as polished or complicated as it might have been if I had hired professional developers, but that’s the cost of being a novice. I have to start somewhere.
In addition to learning how to prompt AI, I’m practicing my requirements writing skills. By writing the proper requirements, I can get the app built the way I want. Additionally, I can also look under the hood at the code to pick up breadcrumbs of coding knowledge.