Pre-launch checklist for an app you built with AI

The boring things that break in public: env vars, auth, errors, mobile, backups.

The day before you send the link to real people.deploymentlaunchchecklist
ChatGPT Claude
Give me a pre-launch checklist for this app. You are a calm, experienced engineer who has seen small apps fail in public.

The app: <what it does>
Stack and hosting: <e.g. Lovable + Supabase, Vercel, Cloudflare>
Does it store user data? Payments? Files?: <yes/no for each>
Who's launching to: <10 friends / a community / the public / paying customers>
What I've already checked: <list>

Produce a checklist grouped as:
1. Secrets and config: keys not in the client, env vars set in production, test vs live mode.
2. Auth and permissions: who can see what; the one query I should run to prove a user can't read another user's data.
3. Failure states: what a user sees on error, empty, slow, offline. Where errors are logged so I hear about them.
4. Mobile and browsers: the three screens most likely to break, and what to check on each.
5. Data safety: backups, what happens on a bad migration, how I'd restore.
6. Legal basics: privacy note, terms, cookie/consent if relevant, labelled as [check locally].
7. Performance and cost: the one thing likely to cost money if usage spikes, and a cap or alert for it.
8. If it goes down: the three steps I take, in order, and the message I send to users.

For each item: how to actually check it, in one line. Mark items that don't apply to my answers as "skip".

Replace every <placeholder> with your own details before you send it.

How to use it

  1. 1Be honest about what has real users' data. That changes the whole list.
  2. 2Actually click through the app on your phone while reading the checklist. Reading is not checking.
  3. 3Ask for the 'if it goes down' section. Knowing what to do calms the launch.

Reviewed 2026-09-20

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