How to Ship Your Lovable App Safely: A Security Guide for Non-Developers

You've created something real with Lovable. An app that works. Users are ready. But before you share that URL, let's make sure your creation is safe.

This guide is for non-developers. No security background required.

Phase 1: Secrets Check (10 minutes)

What are secrets? Secrets are passwords, API keys, and credentials that let your app talk to services. If exposed, attackers can:

• Send emails as you
• Access your database
• Charge your payment account
• Read your users' data

• sk_live or sk_test (Stripe keys)
• key= or api_key=
• password or secret
• Long random-looking strings

1. Copy the value
2. Go to your hosting platform (Vercel, Railway, etc.)
3. Add it as an "Environment Variable"
4. Replace the value in code with process.env.VARIABLE_NAME

Phase 2: Supabase Security (15 minutes)

If your Lovable app uses Supabase:

Check 1: Correct Key Usage

Your frontend code should use the anon key (public, safe to expose):

NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=eyJhbG...

The service_role key should NEVER be in frontend code. It's for server-side only.

Check 2: Row Level Security (RLS)

RLS prevents users from accessing each other's data. In Supabase:

1. Go to Table Editor
2. Click on each table
3. Enable "RLS" if it's off
4. Add policies (or ask Lovable to generate them)

-- Users can only read their own data
CREATE POLICY "Users read own data" ON your_table
  FOR SELECT USING (auth.uid() = user_id);
-- Users can only insert their own data
CREATE POLICY "Users insert own data" ON your_table
  FOR INSERT WITH CHECK (auth.uid() = user_id);

Check 3: Auth Settings

In Supabase Authentication settings:

• Enable email confirmation (prevents fake accounts)
• Set password requirements (minimum 8 characters)
• Configure allowed redirect URLs

Phase 3: Authentication Review (10 minutes)

Check what's protected:

Visit your app as a logged-out user. Can you access:

• Admin pages? (You shouldn't)
• Other users' data? (You shouldn't)
• Settings or account pages? (You shouldn't)

Check login security:

Try logging in with wrong passwords. Does the app:

• Show different errors for "email not found" vs "wrong password"?

• Allow unlimited login attempts?

Phase 4: Payment Safety (If Applicable)

If you're using Stripe:

Check 1: Webhook Verification

Your app should verify that payment events actually come from Stripe:

const event = stripe.webhooks.constructEvent(
  body,
  signature,
  webhookSecret
)

Ask Lovable: "Is my Stripe webhook verifying signatures?"

Check 2: Server-Side Prices

Prices should come from your server, not the client:

// BAD: Price from client
const price = req.body.price
// GOOD: Price from server
const price = PRODUCT_PRICES[req.body.productId]

Phase 5: Final Security Scan

Before going live, run an automated scan:

1. Connect your GitHub repository to ShipReady
2. Click "Scan"
3. Review findings
4. Fix critical and high issues
5. Re-scan to confirm fixes

Copy these prompts:

For SQL injection: > "Convert all database queries to use parameterized statements instead of string concatenation"

For missing auth: > "Add authentication middleware to all API routes that access user data"

For secrets: > "Move all API keys and passwords to environment variables"

For RLS: > "Generate Row Level Security policies for all Supabase tables so users can only access their own data"

Some issues need developer assistance:

• Complex authentication flows
• Custom security requirements
• Compliance needs (HIPAA, SOC 2)
• Fixing deeply embedded vulnerabilities

• Your app handles sensitive data
• You're processing payments
• You have compliance requirements
• Security scan shows many complex issues

You don't need to understand every line of code. You do need to:

1. Remove hardcoded secrets
2. Enable Row Level Security
3. Verify authentication works
4. Run a security scan

Ship it. But scan it first.