Connecting Lovable to GitHub

Why connect on day one

Three reasons, in order of importance:

1. Backup and history. Every change is a commit you can inspect and revert, independent of the platform.
2. Ownership. The code is yours in a place you control — no lock-in argument to have later.
3. Collaboration. A developer can work in a normal editor while you keep prompting.

It takes two minutes and costs nothing. Do it before the project matters.

How to connect

In the project, open the GitHub option and authorise the integration, then choose the account or organisation and create the repository. Lovable pushes the current code as the initial commit.

For client work, create the repository in the client's organisation from the start — moving it afterwards means re-pointing the connection.

How two-way sync behaves

• Prompt-driven changes in Lovable are committed to the repository automatically.
• Commits you push from your machine or from the GitHub web editor are picked up by Lovable.
• Both sides work from the same default branch.

Two rules keep it painless:

One editor at a time on a file. Finish and push your local edit before prompting Lovable in that same area.

Pull before you push. Lovable commits while you work; pulling first avoids the conflicts.

Working locally

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd <your-repo>
npm install
npm run dev

Edit, commit, push, and Lovable picks it up. This is the standard setup for using an AI code editor alongside Lovable, or for a contractor doing a tricky piece of work.

Branches and pull requests

For anything risky, work on a branch and open a pull request rather than pushing to the default branch. Review the diff, merge when it is right, and Lovable syncs the merged result. This is also how a small team collaborates without stepping on each other.

Common problems

Symptom	Cause and fix
Changes not appearing in Lovable	Pushed to a different branch than the one connected
Merge conflict	Both sides edited the same file — resolve locally, push the resolution
Repository looks empty	Authorised the wrong account or organisation; reconnect
Local build fails but Lovable works	Missing environment variables locally, or dependencies not installed

What is and is not in the repository

The repository holds your application source. Environment secrets are not committed — they live in the platform's secret storage, which is exactly right. When running locally, supply your own values for anything the app needs.

Reverting a bad change

Two options, both cheap:

• Use Lovable's version history to jump back to a known-good state.
• Use git revert on the offending commit and push.

Both beat prompting your way out of a broken build, which typically costs more and lands you somewhere new rather than somewhere known.

If you ever leave

The repository is a complete, standard project. You can build and deploy it anywhere that runs a modern JavaScript app. That option existing is the point of connecting early — you rarely use it, but the project is never trapped.