Lovable Test and Live environments retired on October 5, 2026: Test databases are deleted November 4, and drafts use your live data

By Ohad Krispin, founder of VibeRaven · LinkedIn

Lovable retired its beta Test and Live environments on October 5, 2026: every project on the built-in backend now runs on one database, and the detached Test databases are deleted on November 4, 2026, after which they cannot be restored. Until then Lovable restores a detached Test database on request. Drafts replaced Test and Live, but a draft is a copy of your app's code, not of its data: every draft uses the project's real database, files and settings, so a record you add, edit or delete while testing in a draft changes the published app too. To stage now, try changes in a draft with records you create for the test, make sign-in, secrets, payments, email and backend function changes in the main version, where they reach the published app at once, and keep any data you need apart from live outside the project. Checked against Lovable's docs and changelog on 2026-10-25.

For the full test before you publish, now that the preview reads live data, see how to test a Lovable app before launch.

Key dates: September 14, October 5 and November 4, 2026

Lovable emailed the owners of affected projects on September 14, 2026 and put a notice on those projects. On October 5 it retired Test and Live: each project kept one database, and its Test database was detached but stayed restorable. On November 4 the Test databases are deleted for good. Lovable says it backed up both environments of every affected project before the retirement and keeps those backups for 30 days after detachment. Test and Live ran as a beta from February 5, 2026, and Lovable stopped offering it to new Cloud projects on March 24, 2026.

Was my data in Test or in Live?

Publishing never copied data. It carried the structure from Test to Live: the database schema, storage bucket definitions, row level security policies and edge functions. Rows, including your users' accounts, storage files and auth settings stayed in the environment where they were created. If real users signed up on the published app, their data is in Live. If your data was only in Test, Lovable says your app now runs on an empty Live database until you move the data over, and after November 4 that data is gone. If the published app read from its Test database, Lovable says it contacts you and makes the switch with you.

Get Test data back before November 4

Ask Lovable support (support@lovable.dev) to restore the detached Test database; its migration guide says it does this on request until November 4, 2026. Lovable's guide gives two ways to move Test data to Live: ask Lovable in the project chat to export the Test database to storage and download it from More, Storage, or open each table under More, Database, select Export CSV, and download the files bucket by bucket from More, Storage. Then upload the data to Live and check it there. For a full copy, More, Database, Manage, Settings, Export project data exports a database of up to 15 GB, as a file of at most 5 GB, once every 24 hours.

Do Lovable drafts replace a staging environment?

Not for data. Lovable added drafts on September 9, 2026 and calls them the closest equivalent to Test and Live. A draft is a branch of your project with its own chat, preview and edits, at its own web address; nothing in it reaches the project until you select Accept, or the published app until you publish. But Lovable says every draft uses the project's built-in backend: the same database, the same files and the same settings. Information you add, edit or delete while testing in a draft is real, and deleting the draft does not undo it. Lovable's own advice is to create your own records to test with.

What a draft cannot change

Lovable makes these backend changes only in the main version, because they reach the published app at once: deploying backend functions (you can edit the code in a draft, and it deploys after Accept), sign-in methods, secrets, file storage settings such as a public bucket, enabling AI features, payments, email sending, and enabling the built-in backend. A table or column you ask for in a draft is added to the database only when you accept the draft, so pages that use it show an error in the draft preview until then. A draft does not remove or rename a column; for that Lovable points to the SQL editor under More, Database, Manage. Drafts do not appear as branches in Git sync, and their code reaches your repository only after Accept.

How to stage a Lovable app now

For copy, layout and new pages, a draft with records you made for the test is enough. For changes to data, sign-in or payments there is no second database inside the project: asked whether you can keep both databases, Lovable's guide answers not within Lovable after October 5. Data you need to keep apart from live has to live outside the project, for example in your own Supabase project, which Lovable lets you connect in place of the built-in backend after you export, since removing the built-in backend is permanent.

Checklist

Before November 4, 2026

01Open the published app, sign in with a real account and open a list that should have rows. An app that came up empty after October 5 had its data in Test.
02If data is missing, email support@lovable.dev before November 4 and ask for the detached Test database to be restored, then move the rows and files you need to Live.
03Export a full copy from More, Database, Manage, Settings, Export project data, and keep the file outside Lovable.
04Find and delete test records left in the live database: the preview, every draft and the published app now read the same rows.
05Tell everyone who edits the project that a draft changes code, not data. Test with records you create, never with real customer rows.
06Make sign-in, secrets, payments, email and backend function changes in the main version, then publish and retest them on the published URL.

Sources

Official docs behind this checklist

Browse all launch guides · Read resources · How to make and check your next change

FAQ

FAQ for builders before launch

Does publishing copy data from Test to Live?

No. Lovable says publishing carried the structure (the schema, bucket definitions, RLS policies and edge functions), never the rows, the files or the auth settings.

Will my published app go down?

Lovable says no: the move to one database does not take the app offline.

Do drafts use credits?

Creating, updating, accepting and deleting a draft use none. A message in a draft costs the same as one in the main version.