Your at-home guide from the SPGB Buildathon — everything you need to keep building long after the event.
The Big Idea
Before AI, you needed a developer to build an app. Now you describe it in plain English, and the AI writes all the code. You own it, test it, and make it yours.
The technology that creates it is open source, but everything behind your account login stays private. On GitHub you can keep your repository private — no one else sees your code. And honestly? Your lived experience, creativity, and expertise are what make any app genuinely good. That part is irreplaceable.
Mindset
The biggest mistake when vibe coding is starting too big. An MVP — Minimum Viable Product — is the simplest version of your idea that actually works.
If you need to get from A to B, don't start by designing the car. Build a skateboard first — it works! — then a scooter, then add pedals. A working simple app beats a broken complex one every single time.
Skateboard → Scooter → Bike → Car
Setup
Sign up for all five before you start. Free versions work for everything in this guide — no payment needed.
Inspiration
Pick one of these three pre-built options. They're tried, tested, and ready to customize — and they'll walk you through the full process end to end.
👑 Open Adobe PDF Spaces to get started →Have your own idea? Great — just apply the skateboard rule. What's the single smallest version that solves the core problem?
The Process
Follow these in order. It looks like a lot — but you only do each thing once, and the AI does the heavy lifting at every stage.
Go to Erika's Adobe PDF Space. Click Notes in the sidebar and choose your app type. Click the three dots → Copy.
Paste it into the chat window at the bottom. Fill in all the blanks — app name, tone, colors, style — then hit Enter. Adobe AI generates your customized prompt. Copy the whole thing.
🔗 Open Adobe PDF SpacesOpen the Idea to App Prompt Generator — Erika's custom GPT. Paste your Adobe output. ChatGPT will ask clarifying questions. Answer in plain language, keeping the skateboard rule in mind: stay small, stay focused.
When you're done, ask it: "I need a final prompt for a prototype." Copy the output — that's your build prompt.
If you're running low, ask for the final prompt before you hit the limit. You can also paste your Adobe prompt directly into Claude and ask it to help you refine it instead.
Go to claude.ai (free version is fine). Paste your build prompt with this prefix:
Claude writes the code and shows a clickable prototype in the right panel. Click through every screen, test everything. Chat with Claude to refine it — bundle all your changes into one message to be efficient.
When you're happy, grab two things:
Go to lovable.dev. This is where your prototype becomes a real, working, publishable app.
Use Plan Mode first — it's how you save credits:
Every time you click Accept, Lovable switches to Build Mode and spends one credit to execute the plan. After it builds, switch back to Plan Mode to have free back-and-forth conversations and plan your next round of changes. Then Accept again when you're ready. Plan Mode = free. Accept = one credit.
Click Skip whenever it prompts you. The free tier is enough to build and publish a real app today.
Testing is always free. Clicking around in the right-hand preview panel never costs a credit. Test everything before you decide what to fix and Accept.
🔗 Open LovableClick Publish in Lovable and rename the URL to match your app — it'll be yourappname.lovable.app.
Under Edit Settings → Website Info you can change the icon, title, and the preview image that shows when someone shares the link.
To install it on your phone like a real app:
It shows up on your home screen just like any other app. ✨ Text yourself the link to make it easy to find.
This is easy to forget: every time you make updates and want them to go live, you need to hit Publish again in Lovable. When you publish, your app updates instantly for all of your users. So test first, then publish when you're happy. Think of it like pushing a deploy — nothing is live until you hit that button.
Pro Tips
You get 5 Lovable credits per day. Here's how to squeeze maximum value out of every single one.
Plan Mode drafts a build plan without spending a credit. Read it, make sure it covers what you want, then Accept when you're confident.
Don't ask for one change at a time. Bundle everything — "change the button to green, add a back button on screen 2, and make the font larger" — into one plan. One Accept, many changes.
After each build, switch back to Plan Mode for free conversations. Plan your next round of changes fully before you Accept again. Plan is free. Accept costs one credit.
Run out? Just wait. Your 5 credits reset 24 hours from when you last used them. Build gradually over a few days to stay completely free.
Upgrade to the paid plan ($25/month), then immediately cancel. You keep the full month. When you downgrade, your app stays live — you just go back to 5 credits/day.
Clicking around inside the right-hand preview panel never spends credits. Test to your heart's content, then plan and build once.
Optional — When You Run Out
Ran out of Lovable credits but not done building? Here's how to keep going — and how to come back to Lovable when you're ready to publish.
Lovable (builds + hosts) → GitHub (saves a backup) → Bolt (5 more free credits) → back to Lovable to publish
In Lovable, find Sync your project to GitHub. Click Connect GitHub and authorize it. This saves all your app's code to a private GitHub repository — think of it as a cloud backup of everything you've built.
Create a free GitHub account →Go to bolt.new and sign in with your GitHub account. Choose Start from GitHub, then select your repository. Bolt imports everything from Lovable — you now have 5 more free credits to keep going.
Open Bolt →When you're done making changes in Bolt, push your updates back to GitHub. Then return to Lovable, sync the latest code, and publish from there.
Lovable hosts your app's database and user authentication. Publishing from Bolt means those systems run in two places, which causes conflicts and broken logins. Lovable is your home base. Bolt is the workshop when you need extra credits — but always come home to publish.
When Things Go Wrong
Every builder hits roadblocks. That's not failure — that's the process. Here's how to get unstuck.
Double-check your prompt. Be specific about what you want. Shorter, clearer prompts often outperform long complex ones.
Switch back to Plan Mode and describe exactly what you expected vs. what appeared. Ask Lovable to fix just that one specific thing before accepting a full rebuild.
Tell Lovable exactly what's broken and where. It often auto-fixes. If not, check the left sidebar — you can roll back to any previous version.
Stack all remaining changes into one well-planned Accept. Then either connect GitHub → Bolt to keep going, or wait for your daily reset tomorrow.
Try opening the prototype in a new browser tab. The inline preview sometimes has trouble rendering — your content is still there, it just needs more space.
Tell Claude or ChatGPT exactly what happened: "I did X and now Y is broken. What should I try?" AI is surprisingly good at debugging its own output.
Ask for help. Every builder in that room hit a wall at some point. Reach out to the community, tag Erika, or just Google it. You are not alone in this — and you're definitely not the first person to see that error message.
Keep the Momentum
The Buildathon isn't a one-time thing. More community build events are in the works — including a potential Wine & Coding night. Stay connected to be the first to know.
Bookmark this page and come back whenever you're building. Everything you need is right here.