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Guide·Prototype stage
A prototype is ready to launch when it runs on accounts you own, keeps its data somewhere you control, takes payments and logins safely, can be found at your own domain, and has been used by a few real people before the public sees it.
The list below is the one we score every Free Build Audit against. Answer yes or no; each no has a first fix.
Yours
1
Is the code in a repository in your name?If the repository is someone else’s, so is the app.
2
Are the hosting, database and domain accounts in your name, with you as the owner?Whoever owns the accounts can switch the app off.
3
If it was built on Lovable, Bolt, Replit or Bubble: do you know what happens if you stop paying for the tool?Some builders stop serving the app when the plan lapses.
Data
4
Is there a database you can open and read, separate from the builder’s preview?The preview’s data is not always the live data.
5
Is there a backup, and have you restored from it once?A backup you have never restored is a guess.
6
Is customer data kept only where it needs to be?Every extra copy is one more place it can leak.
Money and login
7
Can a real card pay, and does the receipt arrive?Test mode passing does not mean live payments work.
8
Can a user reset their password without you?Otherwise every locked-out user becomes an email to you.
9
Can an admin see and do what only an admin should?Users should never reach what only you should see.
Live
10
Does it load at your own domain, with https?People and Google trust your own address.
11
Does email from the app arrive, and not in spam?Sign-up and receipt emails are how users come back.
12
For a mobile app: are the App Store and Google Play developer accounts in your name?The listing belongs to whoever owns the developer account.
Safe and solid
13
Have the parts that touch money and customer data been looked at by someone other than the tool that wrote them?Generated code is rarely checked where it matters most.
14
Does it still work when the AI tool’s suggestions are turned off?The app has to run on its own code.
Used
15
Have three people who are not you used it and told you what they hit?You cannot see your own app as a new user does.
16
Do you know what people did last week in it (analytics)?Without it you are guessing what to fix next.
0 of 16 yes
Answer all 16 to see where you stand.