Lovable App Not Working? 7 Checks in Order

If your Lovable app is not working, check three things first: open status.lovable.dev to rule out an outage, open the browser console (or ask Lovable) to find the actual error, and look at whether your last prompt changed something you did not ask for. Most broken apps come down to one of four causes: a platform incident, a runtime error in your code, a missing environment or Supabase setting, or a generation that edited the wrong part of the app. Each one has a fix you can try in minutes, and reverting to an earlier version is always a safe fallback.

Work through the steps below in order, stop when you find your problem, and follow the link to the detailed fix.

Step 1: Is it Lovable or your app?

Before you change any code, check status.lovable.dev, Lovable’s public status page. It lists current and past incidents and the parts of the service they affect.

As an example, in one incident in May 2026, Lovable’s status page reported that some live previews were failing to load, and that affected users might see a blank preview and an “HTTP 412 Precondition Failed” error before the app loaded. If an open incident matches what you see, wait for it to be resolved instead of prompting Lovable to “fix” code that is not broken.

If the status page is clear, the problem is most likely in your project.

Step 2: Read the error

The actual error message usually tells you which of the next steps you need. There are two places to look:

Lovable’s own messages. When a build fails while Lovable is working, a Try to fix button appears on the activity card in the chat. Lovable’s docs say it scans the logs, finds the issue and attempts a fix. A limited number of these fixes are free, then they use credits.
The browser console. Open the preview in a new tab, then open the console. In Chrome that is Ctrl + Shift + J on Windows or Linux, or Cmd + Option + J on Mac. Red lines are errors. Copy the first one in full.

You can also ask Lovable to investigate. Its docs say it can inspect errors, logs and console output and test your app in a browser. Describe what you see and what you expected, for example: “The login form does nothing on mobile. Walk me through what’s happening.”

If your app uses Lovable’s built-in backend, the Logs view lets you search backend logs across functions, database, auth and storage.

Step 3: The preview is a blank white screen

A white preview is the most common symptom. Lovable’s preview docs suggest this order:

Click Refresh above the preview.
Hold Shift and click Refresh to restart the preview environment.
Do a hard browser refresh: Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows or Linux, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac.
Ask Lovable in the chat: “The preview is white, investigate and fix it.”

Lovable’s docs note that a blank preview usually comes from an error in the app itself, so if the refreshes do not help, go back to Step 2 and read the console. We cover the usual causes in detail in Lovable preview a blank white screen? Find the error.

Two messages look like breakage but are not:

“Still building?” means the preview paused after you were away. Click Keep building. Lovable says pausing changes nothing in your project and does not affect your published site.
“Starting live preview…” for several minutes means Lovable is still starting it and retries automatically. Check your internet connection before anything else.

If you see Live preview couldn’t start, Live preview lost connection or Live preview stopped responding, click Try again, then Shift plus Refresh. If “stopped responding” keeps coming back, your app is likely crashing, so ask Lovable to find the cause.

Step 4: Data does not save, or users see the wrong data

If the page loads but forms do nothing or lists stay empty, look at the database layer, not the UI: a missing table or column, a sign-in issue, or a row level security (RLS) policy that blocks the insert.

One detail from Lovable’s docs matters here: the preview and your published app share the same backend and data. Testing a “delete everything” button in the preview deletes real data.

Work through Lovable app not saving data? The Supabase checklist. If your Supabase dashboard warns that RLS is off, read Supabase RLS off? Your app may be wide open before you launch. When RLS is on and inserts start failing, you usually need a policy with a WITH CHECK clause, which our RLS policy examples post covers with SQL you can copy.

Environment values can also break things. Lovable’s Secrets docs say that values prefixed with VITE_, such as VITE_SUPABASE_URL, belong in the project’s .env file, not in Secrets, and that adding .env to .gitignore in a Lovable project will break the preview. If you edited .env or your Git settings recently, check that first.

Step 5: The last change broke something else

If the app worked an hour ago and a small change broke an unrelated page, the generation probably touched more files than you expected. Check which files the last change edited. Two guides cover this:

Lovable’s docs suggest that when an error keeps coming back, you stop retrying the same prompt. Revert to the version before the problem, then write a clearer and more specific prompt, or switch to Plan mode and review the approach before Lovable builds it.

Step 6: The preview works but the published site does not

Lovable’s docs describe the preview as your latest working version and the published site as a snapshot that only changes when you publish. So the most common reason the live site “looks different” is simply that you have not published your latest changes.

Check these in order:

Unpublished changes. A small dot on the Publish button means you have changes newer than the live version. Click Publish, then Publish changes. Accepting a draft is not the same as publishing.
Build errors. If the latest changes fail to build, the Publish dialog shows Build errors need fixing and offers Try to fix instead of the publish button.
The wrong address. Your lovable.app address uses the project’s URL subdomain, which can differ from the project name. With a custom domain, Lovable notes that DNS changes can take time to take effect.
Your browser cache. Do a hard refresh on the live site before you assume the publish failed.

Step 7: Restore a version that worked

When nothing else works, go back. Lovable saves every change as a version. Open the history, click a version to preview it without changing anything, and choose Revert to this version when you find one that works. To undo only the most recent change, use Undo latest edit under Lovable’s latest response.

Know two limits before you revert:

Reverting restores code only. Lovable’s docs say it does not roll back database data, so records or migrations created after that version stay as they are.
Credits spent on the messages you revert are not refunded.

Before your next big change, bookmark a version you know is good.

When to ask for help, and what to paste

If you have reverted and the problem is still there, ask for help. Lovable’s docs say that if you are on a paid plan and believe the issue is with Lovable itself, you can contact Lovable support.

Whether you ask support, a community or Lovable’s own chat, paste the same things:

What you expected and what happened instead, in one sentence each.
The first red error from the console, copied in full.
Which page and which click triggers it.
Whether it happens in the preview, the published site, or both.
What you changed just before it broke.
A screenshot.

For more on how Lovable works and where it fits, see our Lovable tool page.

FAQ

Why is my Lovable app not working?

Usually for one of four reasons: a Lovable incident (check status.lovable.dev), a runtime error in your app (check the browser console), a missing setting in Supabase or your environment values, or a recent generation that changed the wrong file. Work through them in that order.

Why is the Lovable preview blank?

Lovable’s docs say a blank preview usually comes from an error in the app itself. Click Refresh, then hold Shift and click Refresh to restart the preview, then hard refresh your browser. If it stays blank, read the console error or ask Lovable to investigate.

Is Lovable down right now?

Check status.lovable.dev. It lists active incidents and the affected components. If nothing is listed and only your project is broken, the cause is most likely in your project.

Why does my published Lovable site look different from the preview?

The published site is a snapshot from your last publish, while the preview shows your latest working version. Click Publish, then Publish changes. If the dialog shows build errors, fix those first.

How do I go back to a version that worked?

Open version history, preview older versions, and click Revert to this version on one that works. Reverting restores your code, not your database data.

Lovable App Not Working? Check These 7 Things in Order