Lovable Quick Reference

Current as of July 18, 2026.

Keep this cheat sheet beside your project: Open Lovable.

Mode chooser

Need	Use
Ask questions, compare options, investigate, or create a plan	Plan mode
Generate, edit, fix, refactor, or verify the project	Build mode
Inspect or manually edit files	Code editor, paid plans
Point at visible UI	Preview toolbar

Older references may call Plan mode Chat mode and Build mode Agent mode.

Best prompt structure

Outcome:
What should become true for the user?

Context:
Who is the user, what exists now, and which files or references matter?

Requirements:
- Required behavior
- Required content and states

Constraints:
- What must not change
- Required patterns, security, accessibility, and scope limits

Acceptance criteria:
- Observable checks
- Tests and viewport coverage

First-project prompt

Build [product] for [audience].
The primary user action is [action].

Include [routes/components/workflow].
Use [visual direction, colors, type, density].
Include realistic content and loading, empty, error, success, and mobile states.
Use local sample data only. Do not add [out-of-scope features].
Ask focused questions if any product or design decision is ambiguous.

Plan before a risky change

Inspect the current implementation and plan [change].
Do not modify code.

Preserve:
- [invariants]

Return:
- Current-state summary
- Decisions and tradeoffs
- Affected files and data
- Security and migration risks
- Ordered implementation steps
- Tests and rollback plan

Build safely

Implement the approved plan for [feature].
Change only [scope]. Preserve [stable behavior].
Do not weaken authorization or expose secrets.
Add focused regression tests and run related checks.
Report changed files, test results, and remaining risk.

Debugging prompt

Expected: [behavior]
Actual: [behavior]
Steps: [numbered reproduction]
Role/session: [state]
Environment: [preview or production, device, route]
Started after: [change or version]

Investigate in Plan mode. Separate confirmed facts, likely causes, and unknowns.
Do not change code until the root cause and narrow fix are identified.

Verification prompts

Run the existing frontend tests and add a regression test for [behavior].

Call [edge function] directly with valid, unauthorized, malformed,
duplicate, and boundary inputs. Add edge tests for durable rules.

Use browser testing on mobile and desktop to verify [user flow].
Inspect screenshots, console errors, and network failures. Report what passed.

Preview toolbar

Shortcut	Action
S	Select one or more elements and prompt a change
T	Edit visible text inline
D	Draw an annotation and send it with a prompt

Use Add comment to pin collaborative feedback. Cmd or Ctrl-click selects multiple elements.

Knowledge and references

• Workspace knowledge: always-on standards across projects
• Project knowledge: product, domain, architecture, and brand context for one project
• Skill: task-specific reusable workflow loaded on demand
• @file: reference a project file
• Exact line reference: add from the code editor gutter
• @Project: read-only reference to an accessible project in the same workspace

Lovable Cloud checklist

• Choose the correct region before enabling Cloud
• Review Cloud tool permissions
• Plan schema, indexes, relationships, and delete behavior
• Enforce authorization with RLS and server-side checks
• Keep secrets in managed storage and privileged calls in edge functions
• Define file type, size, and storage access rules
• Inspect logs and usage
• Test with multiple users and a signed-out session

Integration chooser

Need	Integration
Deployed app calls a supported service	App connector
Each app user connects their own account	App-user connector
Lovable reads builder context from tools	Chat connector using MCP
Unsupported custom functionality	Custom API through an edge function

Pre-publish checklist

• [ ] Critical user flow passes in browser testing
• [ ] Frontend, edge, build, and type checks pass
• [ ] Basic and Deep security scans are current
• [ ] RLS is tested across roles
• [ ] No secrets appear in client code or logs
• [ ] Site title, description, icon, and social image are correct
• [ ] SEO and AI search review is complete
• [ ] A rollback version is identified
• [ ] Production is tested after publishing

Remember: edits are not live until Publish -> Update.

Current navigation

• Cloud settings: Cloud tab or Connectors -> App connectors -> Lovable Cloud
• Security: More -> Security
• SEO and AI search: More -> SEO & AI search
• Analytics: More -> Analytics
• Domains: Project Settings -> Domains or Publish -> Custom domain
• Credit usage: Settings -> Plans & credit usage
• Project monitoring: Project Settings -> Project monitoring

Official references

• Documentation index
• Plan mode
• Build mode
• Lovable Cloud
• Testing
• Publish

Open Lovable