By Partly fixable yourself. Revert and re-prompt yourself; repeated breakage needs a human.
- How serious
- Medium
- Fix it yourself?
- Partly, some steps need a developer
- Typical cost
- €99–$990 per fix, $1,500–$15,000 for a cleanup (prices)
- Top rated for Lovable
- Afterbuild Labs · 10.0/10
When Lovable says "fixed" and the bug is still there, stop prompting and revert to the last version that worked. Lovable's own docs say to use Try to fix once or twice, then ask it to investigate without changing code, then revert and re-prompt. Every retry after the tenth free fix is billed as a normal build message.
What you see, and what it usually means
| What you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Lovable says the issue is fixed, you refresh, and nothing changed. | The AI edited a file that is not the one the page uses, or the fix is not published. |
| Each fix brings back a bug you fixed last week. | The project has duplicate components and the AI edits a different copy each time. |
| The same error returns after every Try to fix. | The error is downstream of a config or data problem the AI cannot see from the code. |
| Credits drop fast and the preview stays broken. | Build mode is priced on the work done, and you are paying for every retry. |
| The preview went blank after a fix and never came back. | A build error. The Publish dialog is blocked until it is resolved. |
Why it happens
Lovable's Try to fix button reads the build logs and attempts a fix. You get 10 free fixes shared across all your projects, each one returning 24 hours after use. After that, every click is standard build usage and costs credits like any other request. Build mode is priced on the complexity of the request, so a loop of ten retries is ten paid messages. A stopped request is still charged for the work done so far.
The loop happens because the AI only sees the code and the logs. It cannot see that a table has no access policy, that the live site uses an older snapshot, or that two components with similar names both render the same button. So it changes something plausible, reports success, and the symptom stays. Prompting harder adds more changes on top of a project it already misunderstands.
Check these first
The code lives in a Git repository you own
Connect GitHub or export the project. If the builder account is lost, the product should not be.
Dead code and duplicate components are removed
Search for components with near-identical names. Three versions of one button means three places to fix every bug.
The flows that make money have tests
Sign-up, checkout and the core action. A few end-to-end tests catch most regressions from new prompts.
Errors reach you before users do
Add error monitoring and uptime alerts. If you learn about outages from customers, this is missing.
Fix it yourself
- Stop. Open the message before the first bad fix and choose Revert to this version. Lovable's troubleshooting page lists revert and re-prompt as the step after one or two failed fixes.
- Switch to Chat or Plan mode and write: "Investigate why X happens. Do not change any code. Show me the error, the file, and the line." A Plan mode message costs 1 credit and changes nothing.
- Open the preview, press F12, and copy the first red error from the Console tab into your next message, word for word. The AI fixes the error it can see, not the one you describe.
- Ask in Chat mode: "List every component or file with a similar name that renders this screen." If there are two or three, ask it to delete the unused ones before any further fix.
- Confirm the project is connected to GitHub under Project settings → Git. A repository is your way out if the project becomes unusable.
- Set yourself a limit, for example five messages, before you ask a human. On a paid plan, Lovable's docs say to contact support if you believe the problem is with Lovable itself.
When to get a human engineer
The time to get an engineer is when the same bug has survived about five prompts, or when fixes start breaking features that used to work. A one-off check, $49 to $800 over a day to a week, is often cheaper than the credits the loop is burning, and it ends with a written cause. A single fix sits in the €99 to $990 band and takes about two days. When the whole app has become a pile of patches, cleanup runs $1,500 to $15,000 over one to eight weeks, and you should compare that with a rebuild from €12,000 before deciding.
Top-rated companies for Lovable apps
Ranked by our score: published prices, scope of work, AI tools named, timing and a low-risk first step. How we score.
- 1Afterbuild Labs10.0/10Best for: A check before launchFree first step · from $49
- 2Redlab10.0/10Best for: A full rescue by one team that keeps buildingFree first step · from $490
- 3Vibe Code Rescue (Lev Arakelyan)9.0/10Best for: A one-off check and a cleanupFrom $299
Questions
Does the Try to fix button cost credits?
The first 10 fixes are free and each one comes back 24 hours after you use it. The pool is shared with fixes from the Security view across all your projects. After that, Try to fix is billed as standard build usage.
What happens if I keep trying to fix bugs inside Lovable?
Each attempt is a paid build message and each one changes code on top of the last attempt. After a few rounds the project has fixes for symptoms that no longer exist. Revert first, then diagnose, then fix once.
Can a developer fix my Lovable app without me losing the ability to use Lovable?
Yes. Fixes made in the synced GitHub repository appear in Lovable. The developer should keep the project structure Lovable expects and tell you which Edge Functions or migrations need a deploy from the Lovable chat.
Sources: Lovable docs: Troubleshooting (Try to fix, revert, investigate); Lovable docs: Credits and usage; Lovable docs: FAQ; Lovable docs: Git sync overview.