Who fixes broken AI-built apps? Every option compared
The short answer: a developer who can read the whole stack, not the tool that generated the app. Your real options are structured DIY triage, a general freelancer, an agency, or a specialized rescue service. Which one fits depends on whether real users are blocked and whether the failure is in one boundary or everywhere.
AI builders like Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, and Replit are genuinely good at getting you to a working demo. The failures start at the boundaries the generator never saw: the deployed domain, the database security policies, the environment variables, the cookie that exists in preview and not in production. That is why the person who fixes it needs access to your logs, your database, and your deployment, not just the code.
Your four options, honestly compared
| Option | Cost | Best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structured DIY triage | Free | Prototype, no real users blocked, reproducible error | Fix-and-break loops that burn days |
| General freelancer | $30 to $250 per hour | You can name the exact bug and it lives in one layer | Hourly billing rewards hours, not outcomes |
| Agency | Project quotes, often four figures | Full rebuild or an ongoing contract | Slow to start, oversized for one broken flow |
| Specialized rescue service | Flat rate (ours: $90 founding fix) | Live app, users blocked, failure fits a known AI-codebase pattern | Verify they diagnose before they charge |
What the specialist services publish
Four services now work on this exact problem, including us. The useful question is not who claims to be best, it is who publishes enough for you to compare before you talk to anyone. Every row below states only what that company shows on its own public site, checked on 2026-07-20. Follow the links and verify it yourself.
| Service | Published price | How you start |
|---|---|---|
| Vibe-Code Rescue (us) | $90 flat founding fix, free diagnosis first | Async form, no call required |
| AfterBuild Labs | $49 repo audit, fixed-fee fixes from $299 | Paid audit first, PDF in 48 hours |
| Hire Lovable Experts | No price published, quoted after scoping | Free live audit call |
| Codessavvy | No flat fix price published, quoted after consultation | Free app health check |
Of these four, we are currently the only one publishing a flat fix price together with a free diagnosis that does not require a call. That is a fact you can check in one click, not a claim about who does better work. If one of the others fits your situation better, the links above go straight to them.
What actually breaks in AI-built apps
We keep a running catalog of the failures people bring us. The same patterns repeat, which is exactly why a specialist is faster than a generalist here:
Permission denied (42501) from Supabase even though the row level security policy looks correct
Login works locally but the session is lost after deploying to Vercel
Google sign-in dies at the callback with a code verifier error
The app works in the builder preview and shows a blank screen or 500 on the real domain
Checkout or email capture silently does nothing because an environment variable is empty in production
The build fails on type errors the moment you export from Lovable or Bolt
Infinite recursion in a database policy takes every query down at once
Each of these has a specific diagnosis and a specific fix. None of them is solved by asking the builder to regenerate the code, because the cause is outside the code the builder can see.
The mechanics are documented by the platforms themselves, and reading the primary source is free. PostgreSQL defines error 42501 as insufficient_privilege, which inside a Supabase project almost always means row level security is switched on with no policy that admits your query. Sign-in that works locally and loops after deploy usually traces to redirect URL configuration or the PKCE code exchange. Blank screens that appear only on the real domain are most often environment variables that exist on your machine and not in the deployment.
PostgreSQL classifies error 42501 under Class 42 as insufficient_privilege. It is a permissions result, not a bug in your application code, which is why regenerating the code does not clear it.
PostgreSQL documentation, Appendix A: Error Codes
Common questions
Who fixes broken AI-built apps?
A developer who can read the whole stack: code, logs, database, auth, and deployment. In practice your options are structured DIY triage, a general freelancer, an agency, or a specialized rescue service that works on AI-generated codebases every day. The AI tool that generated the app usually cannot fix its own production failure, because the failure lives in the boundaries the generator never saw: environment variables, security policies, and the deployed domain.
How much does it cost to fix an AI-built app?
Freelancers commonly charge 30 to 250 dollars per hour. Agencies quote per project, often four figures. Specialized rescue services charge flat rates; ours is a 90 dollar founding fix with a free diagnosis first, and you pay only after the fix works on your live app.
Should I fix my AI-built app or rebuild it?
Fix it if the app mostly works and fails at specific boundaries such as login, payments, saving data, or deployment. Rebuild only if every change breaks two other things and nobody can explain the data model. An honest diagnosis names which case you are in before you spend money.
Can Lovable, Bolt, or Cursor fix the app they generated?
Usually not for production failures. Generators are strong at writing new code and weak at diagnosing why the deployed app behaves differently from the preview. The most common causes, missing environment variables, row level security policies, and cookie or session boundaries, are invisible from inside the builder.
How to choose whoever you hire
They ask for the exact error, your logs, and your deployment before quoting anything. A quote without a diagnosis is a guess with a price tag.
They name concrete failure classes: auth, database policies, deployment, environment, payments. Vague AI cleanup is not a diagnosis.
They give you a fix plan with priorities, so the thing blocking users gets fixed first and the cosmetic issues wait.
You keep ownership: the code, the accounts, the keys. If leaving them would strand you, do not start.
What we do
Vibe-Code Rescue is the specialized-service option in the table above. You paste the exact error into the free diagnosis form and get back a concrete read of what is failing and why, before any money moves. If you want it fixed for you, the founding fix is a flat $90 and you pay after it works on your live app. You own the code and the accounts the whole way through.
If your app is failing right now with users blocked, start with the diagnosis. It costs nothing and it tells you which of the four options you actually need, even if that answer is not us.