Building the app is half the battle. Shipping, maintaining, and growing it is where your vibe-coded project becomes a real product.

Pre-Launch Checklist

• ☐ Test all user flows on desktop and mobile
• ☐ Add proper page titles and meta descriptions for SEO
• ☐ Set up error tracking (even basic console logging)
• ☐ Test with real data, not just sample data
• ☐ Verify authentication flows (sign up, login, password reset)
• ☐ Check loading states and empty states
• ☐ Test what happens with slow network connections
• ☐ Add a favicon and Open Graph image for social sharing

Deployment

Most AI platforms handle deployment:

• Lovable — One-click publish to a custom domain
• Bolt — Export to GitHub → deploy on Vercel
• Replit — Built-in deployment with custom domains
• Cursor — Use standard deployment (Vercel, Netlify, etc.)

Custom Domains

Every serious app needs its own domain:

1. Buy a domain from Namecheap, Cloudflare, or Google Domains
2. Configure DNS settings in your deployment platform
3. SSL certificates are usually automatic

Maintaining AI-Built Apps

When you need to make changes later:

• Keep a document of all major prompts used to build the app
• Make one change at a time and test before moving to the next
• Use version control (Git) — most platforms support this
• Back up your database regularly

Growth Features to Add Post-Launch

"Add analytics tracking to my app. Track: page views, button clicks, user signups, and feature usage. Use a simple, privacy-friendly solution."

"Add an email capture form for a waitlist / newsletter. Store emails in the database. Show a success message after signup."

"Add social sharing buttons so users can share [content type] on Twitter, LinkedIn, and via link copy."

When to Hire a Developer

Consider professional help when:

• Security is critical (handling payments, medical data, etc.)
• You need complex integrations with enterprise systems
• Performance needs to scale to thousands of concurrent users
• You've hit a wall that AI tools can't solve after multiple attempts

Congratulations on completing this course! You're now equipped to go from idea to shipped product using AI as your development partner. 🚀