Recovery guides for builders whose app has started to drift
Practical reading for the point where an AI-built app still works, but the next change no longer feels safe. Start with the failure pattern you recognize, then use the guide to make the next coding session smaller and more trustworthy.
Start with the problem you recognize
Choose the page that matches where the project is actually stuck.
The app feels messy
Start with the warning signs that a working product is drifting out of shape.
Start hereThe codebase feels risky
Start with a bounded recovery route instead of another blind feature request.
Start hereThe app disagrees with itself
Start by finding the one record or workflow that should govern a disputed decision.
Start herePlanning keeps going nowhere
Start by separating useful exploration from decisions that need explicit ownership.
Start herePublished pages
How AI-built apps drift out of shape
AI-built apps rarely fail because one prompt was bad. They fail because product truth, code truth, and the build workflow split apart.
Read guideGuideWhen your AI-built app has three different sources of truth
Many ?random bugs? are really authority conflicts: the interface, the database, and the AI instructions each believe they own the same decision.
Read guideGuideHow to continue a messy Cursor or Claude Code project without starting over
The safest next move is rarely another feature. First separate what still carries product truth from what only carries implementation noise.
Read guideGuideWhy AI planning chats fail on real apps
A planning chat can sound smart while never forcing the decisions that keep a real app coherent.
Read guideGuideHow to recover a Cursor-built app without starting over
Recovery gets easier once you stop arguing in absolutes and separate product truth from implementation noise.
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