Production Readiness Guide

Is your AI-built app
actually ready for real users?

Apps built with Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Cursor, and similar tools ship fast. That's the point. But fast-shipped apps share a predictable set of gaps — and most of those gaps are invisible until a real user triggers them. This guide covers the most common ones.

The honest answer

Probably not, if you haven't specifically checked. That's not an insult — it's structural. AI code generators optimize for making things work in the happy path. They scaffold a login flow that logs in. They create a database schema that stores data. They wire up a payment form that charges a card.

What they don't do well: configure the security boundaries, think about what happens when something fails, or worry about what happens when your third user opens the app at the same time as your first two.

The risks aren't theoretical. They are specific, common, and fixable — if you know they're there.

The most common gaps

Ordered by how often we find them in free audits, not by severity.

Row-Level Security not configured

CriticalLovableBoltReplit

Supabase enables RLS per table, but it defaults to off. AI-generated code often creates the tables and skips the policies. The result: any authenticated user can read every row in your database.

API keys exposed in client bundles

CriticalCursorv0Lovable

If a secret key is referenced in a React component or anywhere in your frontend code, it ships to the browser. Every visitor can extract it from devtools. This includes Stripe keys, OpenAI keys, and internal service credentials.

No rate limiting on auth endpoints

HighAll

Password reset, magic link, and sign-up endpoints with no rate limit are trivially brute-forced or used to spam your users. Most AI-generated auth scaffolding does not include rate limiting by default.

Public storage buckets

HighLovableBoltSupabase-based apps

Supabase storage buckets are public by default. User-uploaded files — profile photos, documents, receipts — are accessible to anyone with the URL unless the bucket is explicitly set to private with signed URLs.

Missing database indexes

MediumAll

AI code generators create tables and queries but rarely create indexes. A query that returns instantly with 100 rows will time out at 10,000. You will not see this problem until you have real users.

Stripe webhooks without signature verification

HighCursorv0

If your payment webhook does not verify the Stripe-Signature header, anyone can POST fake payment events to your endpoint and unlock paid features or corrupt your order data.

No error boundaries or fallback states

MediumAll

A single unhandled promise rejection can crash the entire React tree, showing a blank screen to your user. AI-generated apps rarely include error boundaries at the route level.

Quick self-check

Work through this before you share your app publicly. Items marked critical are the ones we see cause actual incidents.

Supabase RLS enabled on every table that contains user datacritical

No secret keys referenced in frontend codecritical

Stripe webhook endpoint verifies Stripe-Signature headercritical

Storage buckets are private; user files served via signed URLscritical

Auth endpoints (login, password reset, sign-up) have rate limitingcritical

Database indexes exist on foreign keys and frequently queried columns

Error boundaries at route level — users see an error page, not a blank screen

Environment variables used for all secrets, not hardcoded stringscritical

CORS configured to reject requests from unknown origins

User-facing inputs are sanitized before database writes

What to do if you're not sure

The most reliable approach is to have someone who didn't build the app look at it with a specific checklist and real tools — not just a mental model of what “should” be there.

That's what the free audit is. Submit your deployed URL and a few qualifying questions. Shane reviews the app with AI-assisted scanning and human judgment, then sends back a written report with specific findings — not generic advice.

If everything looks fine, you'll know it looks fine. If something is wrong, you'll know exactly what and why.

Get your free audit

Five questions. Written report within 48 hours. Personally reviewed by Shane Jordan. Free, no obligation.

Request Free Audit →