Check where your backend lives before you build
First app: 1000 credits, around 100 hours and a surprise lock-in · Reddit r/vibecoding · u/Moist_Awareness_6965 · Apr 2026
A non-technical builder lists beginner mistakes: fixes that broke other things, burned credits, and finding that the Lovable Cloud backend couldn't simply be moved off-platform.
The honest numbers
- Says 1000 credits burned
- Says probably 100 hours
As stated by the source. Not independently verified.
Lesson
Before you build, check where your database and functions live and whether you can take them with you.
Fix prompt
Copy this into your own AI tool (Cursor, Lovable, Claude Code, Bolt…). It's general guidance written by us. Review what the AI suggests before applying it.
I built my app with Lovable and want to make sure I'm not locked in. 1) Explain where each part of my app lives: code, database, file storage, auth, serverless functions and secrets, and which of them I can export. 2) Tell me how to get the code into my own GitHub repo and keep it in sync. 3) List what would need rebuilding if I moved hosting or backend, and roughly how hard each part is for a beginner. 4) Give me a step-by-step exit plan that keeps the current app live until the new one is tested. Don't change anything until I've approved your plan. Never ask me to paste API keys, passwords or .env contents; tell me where to check them myself.
Source: Reddit r/vibecoding ↗