Quick start: publish your first project
If you just want to get a project live, follow these three steps. The rest of this page covers plans, access control, metadata, security checks, and updating a published app.Click Publish
Confirm the settings
[name].lovable.app), site title, description, and icon. You can edit any of these now or later. A basic security scan runs automatically while the dialog is open.Click Publish again
Who can publish projects?
By default, editors and above can publish projects on all plans. On Enterprise plans, admins and owners can restrict who is allowed to publish externally to the web. Go to Workspace settings → Privacy & security → Who can publish externally and select:- Admins & owners
- Owners only
Internal and external publishing and website access control
Publishing options and website access control depend on your plan.Free and Pro plans
Anyone with the link can visit your published app. This means you publish externally to the web. Website access cannot be restricted on these plans, so make sure you’re ready to share before publishing.Business and Enterprise plans
You can choose who can access your published app under Who can see this website in the publish dialog:- Public: Anyone with the URL can visit your published app, meaning you publish externally to the web.
- Workspace (shown with your workspace name): Only workspace members can visit the published app after signing in, meaning you publish internally to the workspace.
- Custom: You compose the exact audience: the whole workspace, groups, individual members, and people outside your workspace invited by email. See Invite people outside your workspace.
- Build and share internal apps that stay private to your workspace
- Show a private app to a client or contractor without adding them to your workspace
- Prevent accidental external publishing
- Support governance and compliance for sensitive data
Invite people outside your workspace
On the Business and Enterprise plans, you can give people outside your workspace viewer access to an internally published app, for example a client or a contractor, without adding them to your workspace and without making the site public. Project editors and above can manage the website audience.Open the audience picker
Invite by email
Publish your changes
- Invites don’t expire. Removing someone from the audience revokes their access when you apply the change, and re-inviting an address sends a fresh email.
- Workspace members can’t be invited as external viewers. Add them through the workspace, people, or group options instead.
- You can add up to 10 email invites per update, and each address can receive at most 10 invite emails per day.
- Workspace admins and owners can turn off external invites for the whole workspace with the External invites setting in Settings → Security → Privacy & security. People who were already invited keep their access.
- Workspace insights flags internally published projects that have external viewers, so admins can review who has access.
Publish from the Publish dialog
To publish, follow the steps below:Open your project and go to the Publish modal
Configure your website address
- Enter your preferred website URL or leave the input field empty for Lovable to auto-generate a URL. By default, your app is published to
[published-url].lovable.appOn Business and Enterprise plans, you can publish apps under a workspace-branded URL pattern, such asapp-name.workspace-subdomain.lovable.app. Branded app URLs create a consistent workspace-level URL structure across all published apps and are configured in Workspace settings → Branded app URLs. See Publish apps with branded URLs to set this up. - When published, you can add a custom domain (available on paid plans).
Configure website access permissions
- Public: anyone with the URL can visit the published app (public website access)
- Workspace (Business and Enterprise plans): only signed-in workspace members can visit the published app (private website access)
- Custom (Business and Enterprise plans): grant access to the whole workspace, specific people, groups, or people outside your workspace invited by email. See Invite people outside your workspace.
Configure website info (metadata for SEO and social preview)
- Icon & title: the site icon (favicon) and site title shown in browser tabs, search results, and link previews.
- Click on the icon to upload a new one.
- Click on the title text to update it.
- Description: the meta description used in search results and link previews.
- Click on the text to update it, or leave empty and Lovable will auto-generate a description.
- Social image: the social sharing image (OG image) shown when your website link is shared, for example, on social media and messaging apps.
- Click to upload an image or choose to generate one (title and description need to be filled out to generate).
Review your publish settings
- URL
- Published website visibility
- Website info (icon & title, description, social image)
Review security findings before publishing
- If the Basic scan finds issues, Lovable shows a warning with a summary of the findings. Click it to open the Security view, where you can review and fix them. Findings do not block publishing by default, but you should resolve critical issues before making your app available.
- If the Basic scan passes, you can continue publishing. You can also run the optional Deep scan for additional coverage.
Basic & Deep security scans passed message when both scans complete with no findings. In either case, you can continue publishing unless your workspace has stricter publishing controls enabled.See Security overview and Project security view for more information.Publish your project
Publish from chat
You can also ask the Lovable agent to publish for you instead of opening the Publish dialog. Try prompts like:How publishing works in Lovable
Each time you publish, Lovable deploys a snapshot of your project to a live URL. Only the current version is deployed, and future changes are not automatically published.- Changes are not automatically published and pushed live.
- To deploy new changes, click Publish → Update.
See when you have unpublished changes
When your published project has changes that are newer than the live version, a small dot appears on the Publish button. It tells you at a glance that you have updates to deploy, without opening the dialog. The dot clears once you publish. It stays hidden when there is nothing new to publish, and when you do not have permission to publish.How to unpublish your project
You can unpublish and remove your live app in two ways:- Go to Project settings → Unpublish project → Unpublish
- Click Publish → Edit settings → Unpublish (top-right corner)
- The live URL becomes inaccessible
- Your project remains in the editor
FAQ
Can I publish by asking Lovable in chat?
Can I publish by asking Lovable in chat?
my-todos.lovable.app.Lovable asks for approval before publishing unless you have set the publish tool to auto-approve. For related actions such as changing visibility, connecting a custom domain, or unpublishing, the agent points you to the right place in the UI.Publishing from chat is treated as standard chat usage and consumes credits.Does my published site expire?
Does my published site expire?
Does publishing cost credits?
Does publishing cost credits?
What happens to my published app if I downgrade or cancel my plan?
What happens to my published app if I downgrade or cancel my plan?
- Website access settings keep working. If you restricted access to workspace members or selected people on a Business plan, the published app keeps requiring sign-in after a downgrade. The setting is enforced as stored. After a downgrade you can still change the setting to public access, which is available on all plans. Restricting access to workspace members or selected people requires a Business or Enterprise plan.
- Connected custom domains keep serving your app. Connecting a new custom domain requires a paid plan, but domains that are already connected continue to work, and you can still disconnect them. Domains bought through Lovable are billed separately from your subscription, so their registration and renewal are not affected by a plan change. See What happens to my custom domain if I downgrade or cancel my plan?
- Apps that use the built-in backend (Cloud) or AI features still need available credits to serve requests. See Credits and usage.
Does publishing expose my project and code?
Does publishing expose my project and code?
How do project access and website access work together?
How do project access and website access work together?
- Project access controls who can access the project in the editor, including source code, chat history, work in progress, and changes that have not yet been published.
- Website access controls who can visit the published app at its live URL.
- Internal team app
- Project access:
Workspace - Website access:
WorkspaceResult: Only workspace members can view and edit the project in the editor and visit the published app.
- Project access:
- Private work-in-progress, public app
- Project access:
Restricted - Website access:
PublicResult: Only you can view and edit the project in the editor, but anyone with the published URL link can visit the published app.
Keep in mind that workspace owners have full access to all projects in the workspace and can view and edit them. - Project access:
- Team-built, publicly shared app
- Project access:
Workspace - Website access:
PublicResult: Only workspace members can view and edit the project in the editor, but anyone with the published URL link can visit the published app.
- Project access:
- Private prototype shared internally
- Project access:
Restricted - Website access:
WorkspaceResult: Only you can view and edit the project in the editor, and only workspace members can visit the published app.
Keep in mind that workspace owners have full access to all projects in the workspace and can view and edit them. - Project access:
Can I restrict who can access my published app?
Can I restrict who can access my published app?
How do people outside my workspace get access to my internally published app?
How do people outside my workspace get access to my internally published app?
Why don't I see my latest changes on the live site?
Why don't I see my latest changes on the live site?
How do I change my site metadata such as favicon, site title, meta description, or OG image?
How do I change my site metadata such as favicon, site title, meta description, or OG image?
- Icon & title: the site icon (favicon) and page title shown in browser tabs, search results, and link previews. Click on the icon to upload a new one. Click on the page title text to update it.
- Description: the meta description used in search results and link previews. Click on the text to update it.
- Share image: the social sharing image (OG image) shown when your website link is shared, for example, on social media and messaging apps. Click to upload an image.
How do I change my published URL (website address)?
How do I change my published URL (website address)?
- Click Publish → Edit settings → URL, edit your subdomain, save the change, and click Done.
- Go to Project settings → URL subdomain, change the subdomain, and click Update URL subdomain.
Why can't I publish my Lovable project?
Why can't I publish my Lovable project?
- Block publishing with critical findings prevents publishing while error-level findings are unresolved. Open the Security view, fix them, and try again.
- Require security scan before first publish prevents the first publish of a project until a security scan has completed. Wait for the scan that started when you opened the publish dialog to finish, or run a scan from the Security view.
Should I run an SEO review after publishing?
Should I run an SEO review after publishing?
Can I publish my project as a native iOS or Android app to the App Store or Play Store?
Can I publish my project as a native iOS or Android app to the App Store or Play Store?
yourproject.lovable.app or your custom domain). There isn’t a built-in flow that packages and submits your project to the App Store or Google Play, but you have two good options if you want an installable, store-ready experience:- Progressive Web App (PWA): make your published app installable so users can “Add to Home Screen” and launch it like a native app, with offline support and a full-screen shell. This is the fastest path and works from any modern mobile browser.
- Capacitor wrapper: wrap your published URL in a native shell with Capacitor outside of Lovable, then submit that shell to the App Store or Play Store. This is the right path when you need access to native device APIs (camera, push notifications, biometrics, etc.) or when a store requires a “real” native binary.
Troubleshooting
When a publish fails, a Publishing failed banner appears in the Publish dialog with a message explaining what went wrong and how to resolve it. The agent is also notified about the failure, so you can ask it for help in chat.Publishing failed due to a temporary issue
Publishing failed due to a temporary issue
Publishing failed because of an error in your app
Publishing failed because of an error in your app
Publishing failed because of a configuration issue in your project
Publishing failed because of a configuration issue in your project
Publishing failed because of an external connection or secret that needs your attention
Publishing failed because of an external connection or secret that needs your attention
Publishing failed because a database change conflicts with existing data
Publishing failed because a database change conflicts with existing data
Publishing failed due to an internal error
Publishing failed due to an internal error