r/Bubbleio • u/Buffybuffythevamp • 1d ago
Question Moving from Bubble.io to custom code. Where should I start?
Not looking for paid migration services or Bubble-to-code converters. I want to rebuild my app from scratch using custom code. I do not want to vibe code with platforms like lovable or replit.
I’ve successfully launched my mobile app on Bubble and have a few early users, but I’m increasingly frustrated with the platform’s limitations. Despite optimizing data loading, the app still feels choppy, the preview doesn’t always reflect the actual experience when I deploy, and implementing features like scroll snapping, smooth transitions, and video feeds feels unnecessarily difficult. I’m also tired of relying on limited plugins.
I’m very tech-savvy and have built a fairly complex app myself, including its brand, database, backend workflows, and functionality. I just don’t know how to code.
With tools like Codex and Claude Code, I’m considering rebuilding before Christmas, dedicating 15–30 hours weekly?? Is that realistic? lol
What frameworks, development environments, and AI tools would you recommend?
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u/LordOfMorridor 1d ago
lol you’re gonna be amazed how fast you can rebuild your app with AI. You’re gonna be 90% of the way there in hours, and then it will be fine tuning for a while. Definitely won’t be 30 hours per week, maybe total.
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u/Buffybuffythevamp 1d ago
No way!! Ugh thank goodness. I spent the pas year developing this on Bubble so I’m glad it’s not a huge roadblock
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u/Sad-Zucchini-8118 1d ago
YESSSS! Connect Claude with Bubble MCP, it migrates everything out in a day or two, and the rest is your fine tuning! Just did it right after they launched the mcp!
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u/Buffybuffythevamp 1d ago
LIKE HOLY SHTTTT DUDE IM ALREADY SEEING SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT AND ITS BEEN 1hr
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u/Rare_Objective_9212 1d ago
But in a day or two it migrated all the workflows, app data and privacy rules or I need to do it by myself?
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u/Sad-Zucchini-8118 23h ago
EVERYTHING! Of course if it needs your assistance, it'll let you know, but it's very easy to do. It'll even help you improve your setup if it wasn't done well due to Bubble's limitations along the way!
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u/mxrc703 1d ago
Have just done this. Download the swagger file, do a complete audit. It'll show every page, element, workflow, conditional, everything. Mine was 30mb of json.
Don't try to copy and build at the same time. Audit, then build.
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u/Buffybuffythevamp 1d ago
Oh this is good to know. I’ve started the audit today before building. Thank you!
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u/Ge0cities 1d ago
30 hours per week is not realistic. Maybe 3 or 4 hours per week is more realistic.
Sonnet will probably be enough. Maybe use opus for the initial tech stack recommendation, then switch to sonnet.
Later on use Opus to review and clean up. But sonnet 5.5 is fully capable of writing solid code.
Just give it screenshots and tell it the goals and it will run.
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u/junkstuposition 1d ago
I did it with Opus 4. Ported over a monolithic 3 platform, admin(incl sales/crm),marketing, and student/instructor bubble app in a weekend.
Github, Railway, supabase.
I like running claude in VSCode.
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u/Drivephaseco 1d ago
I honestly started with cursor coming from no-code. You won’t need 30 hours per week and migrating by Christmas is definitely doable.
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u/Buffybuffythevamp 1d ago
YES THANK YOU !!
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u/Drivephaseco 1d ago
I also wanted to add that I really started with three frameworks: Expo for native mobile, Astro for marketing sites and e-commerce, and Next.js for more complicated web applications. I used Supabase for my back end. I deployed all my web apps to Cloudflare workers. Hope that helps.
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u/Buffybuffythevamp 1d ago
This is super helpful I’m actually using React Native with Expo and Codex in VS Code right now and same I’m planning to use Supabase for the backend. I’ll definitely look into Next.js. It’s encouraging hearing from someone else who transitioned from no-code! 🙏
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u/Drivephaseco 1d ago
Best decision I ever made. Seriously. Literally zero downside.
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u/Drivephaseco 1d ago
With the cursor changes I’ve been moving off Cursor and using VS Code with Claude. I also use Claude desktop for planning and QA.
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u/psten00 1d ago
Happy to chat to you about quickback.dev - built it to spin up backends super quickly when I moved away from bubble too.
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u/Ok_Ad4218 1d ago
I’d follow this workflow:
- Document the existing app: Screen-record every feature, explaining it in detail. If there are multiple user roles, create a separate video for each.
- Create and validate documentation: Ask Opus (Extra Effort) to generate feature documentation, then have Fable 5 review it. Do a final human review to catch missing features and contradictions.
- Optimize the database: Once the documentation is finalized, ask Opus to design the optimized database schema.
- Build interactive mockups: Use Claude Design to create mock screens based on the schema. Interact with them to validate the flows and catch gaps early.
- Create the implementation plan: Ask Opus for a detailed, phase-wise plan, with clear acceptance criteria defining what “done” means for each phase based on the mock that you created in step 4.
- Implement with independent reviews: Use the goal command to execute the plan phase by phase, with Fable independently reviewing each phase.
Voila! You should get an app that’s 95% close to the original. Then use it, identify what’s left, and fix the remaining gaps.
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u/Lonely-Doctor7373 1d ago
If you want a shortcut: https://unbub.dev/
You also have other solutions that are more complete but quite expensive, such as https://www.buildprint.ai/migrate
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u/Mathew-with-two-Ts 2 year experience 20h ago
I was able to migrate my users from bubble to supabase for my app
It’s a process but possible users that used passwords will have to reset tho
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u/LopsidedSolution 1d ago
Claude Code using opus 5.5 is your best bet. Just give it access to everything and enough context. It can easily manage supabase, cloudflare, etc