From an AI-built prototype to a product ready for real users

What problems does WIP solve for software creators?

• The app works on your computer, but you don't know how to put it online safely.
• You're not sure whether the AI-generated code exposes passwords or keys.
• There's no tested backup, and a failure could erase your first customers' data.
• Hosting and API bills can grow without warning once users arrive.
• When something breaks, you find out from your users.

Can AI-built software go to production?

Yes, as long as it goes through the same checks as any other software: secrets kept out of the code, data access rules, tested backups, repeatable deployment, and monitoring. The tool used to build it isn’t the problem; what hasn’t been checked is.

Assistants like Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, and platforms like Lovable and Bolt, speed up building a lot. They build what you ask for, and almost nobody asks for “set up backups with restore testing” or “check whether the database key is exposed in the browser.” That’s why it pays to look closely at the parts that don’t show up on screen:

• Keys and passwords left in the code or sent to the browser.
• Database access rules that let one user read another user’s data.
• Development settings still active in production, such as detailed error messages.
• Dependencies installed without review, some with known vulnerabilities.
• Missing backups, or backups that have never been restored.

None of this, on its own, means redoing the project. These are fixes that a diagnosis finds and a well-executed launch resolves.

The From Code to Production checklist lists every item along with how to check it, and you can use it on your own before deciding whether you need help.

What changes when the first users arrive?

When real users arrive, your software starts storing other people’s data, is expected to work when they need it, and generates costs every month. Mistakes are no longer just yours: they become a problem for the people who trusted your product.

In practice, three things change at once.

Responsibility for data

Names, emails, payments, documents: from the first sign-up, you’re responsible for what you store. Brazil’s data protection law (LGPD), for example, applies to small businesses too, and a loss or leak of data damages trust in the whole product.

Expectation of uptime

People who pay expect the system to be up. Without monitoring, an outage is discovered through a customer complaint, sometimes hours later.

Recurring costs

Hosting, database, email, AI APIs: each service has its own bill, and some grow with usage. Without spending limits and budget alerts, a traffic spike or a bug stuck in a loop can turn into an unexpected invoice.

None of these changes is a reason to delay the launch. They’re reasons to launch on the right foundation: protected data, alerts in place, and costs planned ahead. That’s what WIP Launch delivers, with documentation so you understand what was done.

Do I need to understand infrastructure to make the decisions?

No. You need to understand the consequences of each option, and WIP explains them in plain language: what it costs, what it protects, and what the risk of not doing it is. The decision stays yours; the jargon stays with us.

The decisions that come up when you launch a product are few and concrete:

Decision	What you need to know to decide
Where to host	Estimated monthly cost, ease of operation, and how much the cost grows with usage
How much to invest in backups	How much data you can afford to lose and how long you can be offline
Who receives the alerts	Who can act if the system goes down, and at what hours
Whether to stay on the platform where you built it	What you gain in control and what you pay in work and cost if you move

WIP has no preferred provider. The recommendation might be a simple virtual private server (VPS), Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or keeping the project where it is, if that serves the product. What guides the choice is your situation.

We also recommend keeping the domain, accounts, and repository in your name. That way, you can stay with WIP, take over operations, or switch providers without losing anything you’ve built.