The Gap Between "Works in Lovable" and "Works in Production" You built something in Lovable. It works. Your users can sign up, create accounts, run queries. The builder made that part fast. Then you hit the wall. Your database lives on Lovable's servers. Your code is locked in their export format. You need to add a custom domain, but the builder doesn't support it. A user reports a bug that requires a database schema change, and you realize you can't roll back deployments. You're three months in and starting to understand that "working" and "production-ready" are different problems. Here's what's actually happening: AI builders are optimized for iteration speed, not infrastructure ownership. They abstract away the hard parts so you can move fast. That's the feature. But the moment you need control, compliance, or the ability to own your data and code, you're fighting the platform's design. Most founders discover this too late. They've built real revenue on borrowed infrastructure.…