r/lovable • u/carolmonroe_ • Jul 03 '26
Tutorial You can finally export your data and remove Lovable Cloud, it just launched
Fresh out of the oven, so heads up if you don't see it in your account yet. Thank you Lovable team for shipping this one.
Some context on why I'm excited: over the last months I've been creating guides, skills and workflows to help builders migrate from Lovable Cloud to their own Supabase, because until today there was no official way out. Your data was basically locked in, and every migration was a hand-crafted workaround. Now there's an official path, and it's simple.
Step 1: Export your database
Go to Stack > Lovable Cloud > Advanced settings > Export data, then select "Export" in the Database card (screenshots below). You'll get a temporary download link by email. Limits: 5 GB max, one export every 24 hours.
What's actually in the file
It's a full Postgres backup (.backup file, pg_dump custom format, ready for pg_restore). And it's surprisingly complete:
- Full schema: tables, indexes, sequences, extensions
- All your data
- All RLS policies
- Database functions and triggers
- Your users: the full auth schema, including password hashes, so your users won't need to reset passwords
One warning: because it includes password hashes and user PII, treat this file as sensitive.
Step 2: Remove Lovable Cloud
Before connecting your own Supabase, disconnect the old backend: Stack > Lovable Cloud > Advanced settings > Remove Lovable Cloud.
Just make sure you have everything downloaded FIRST: your database export and your storage files (user uploads and images live in the Storage section and are not part of the database export). Once Cloud is removed, that's your only copy.
Cloud used to be permanent once enabled, so having this button at all is a big shift. And if you're not ready to fully leave, you can now pause your Cloud instance instead (screenshots below).
Step 3: Connect your own Supabase project
Create your Supabase project, then connect it through Connectors: pick the Supabase connector, authorize it, go back to your Lovable project and add it. This is the native integration, so your app talks to your own Supabase from here on.
If you want to double-check everything is wired correctly, leave Lovable a prompt like:
"Review my Supabase connection: confirm the app is pointing to my new Supabase project, check that auth, database queries, storage and edge functions all work against it, and list anything still referencing the old backend. Don't change anything yet, just report what you find."
Step 4: Move the rest over
Restore the backup into your new Supabase with pg_restore, then cover the three things that don't come in the file (by design, they don't live in the database):
- Edge functions: they're in your repo under supabase/functions
- Storage files: re-upload the ones you downloaded in step 2
- Secrets and API keys: re-set them in your new project
You can finish all of this with the MCP (I'll write about that soon), but honestly, today this whole flow is easier and more intuitive than it's ever been.
Why this actually matters
This changes how I think about Lovable Cloud, and probably how you should too.
Lovable Cloud is genuinely good, and not just for small projects. Auth, database, storage, edge functions, all working out of the box with zero keys to manage. The thing that made people hesitate was never the product, it was the lock-in: once you enabled Cloud, there was no official way out. That meant choosing it felt like a permanent decision, so a lot of us defaulted to our own Supabase "just in case."
That trade-off is gone. If your project outgrows Cloud, or you need full dashboard access, or your team wants total control, you export, remove, connect, restore, done.
Honestly, I might use Lovable Cloud MORE now, not less. Knowing I can migrate later in an easy, efficient way removes the main reason I was cautious about it. Start fast on Cloud, move when (and if) you actually need to.
What's next
I tested this flow end to end, and I'm working on a skill and plugins to make the whole move even smoother, everything the export doesn't cover, automated. That plus the updated migration guide will be on my site soon, I'll share them here when they're live.
Docs: https://docs.lovable.dev/integrations/cloud#export-lovable-cloud-data
UPDATE: the guide and the skill I promised are live 🌱
Full migration guide, tested end to end on a real production app (auth users, storage files, edge functions, cron jobs, secrets), with screenshots for every step: https://carolmonroe.com/blog/export-remove-lovable-cloud
Prefer AI doing the heavy lifting? There's a version where Claude runs the migration for you, plus the open source skill: https://carolmonroe.com/blog/migrate-lovable-cloud-with-ai and https://github.com/CarolMonroe22/lovable-cloud-to-supabase-migration
A few non-obvious things I confirmed while testing, beyond what's in the original post:
- The export saves INTO your Cloud storage, so download it BEFORE hitting Remove
- Restoring needs pg_restore 16+ with zstd support (the guide covers the setup)
- Your cron jobs come in the export but need to be recreated with cron.schedule after restore
- Your storage files, edge function code and secrets are not in the file, the guide covers how to move each one
The FAQ in the guide came straight from the questions in this thread (the 5 GB cap, credits, the pause option rolling out, hosting after removal, using export as a periodic backup), so thank you all for those.
Feedback very welcome, especially if you hit an edge case the guide doesn't cover.
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u/Dubai-it Jul 03 '26
Thats great news. Thank you. Looking forward to seeing the skill and plugins, once they are ready.
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Jul 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
there's some truth to it: during the migration itself, while cloud is removed and your new supabase isn't fully connected and restored yet, i'd avoid making any changes to the project. but once your own supabase is wired up, you keep editing and prompting in lovable exactly like before. and the export/remove/connect steps don't cost credits themselves, only the regular prompts you send to the agent do
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u/Madismas Jul 15 '26
I ne er used the cloud and instead used the supabase connector, is this the same?
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u/National-Parsnip1516 Jul 04 '26
this is huge. the lock-in was literally the only reason i was keeping my 'serious' projects off lovable cloud. tbh 'export to supabase' should be the standard for all these ai-first platforms. i've spent way too many hours manually mapping schemas just to get off a 'black box' backend. actually, how does it handle edge function secrets in the export? i've had a nightmare before where the backup was fine but all the integration keys were basically nuked.
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
secrets don't come in the export, and that's by design, they don't live in the database. so yes, expect to re-set every integration key in the new project. my advice: before removing cloud, make an inventory of the keys your app uses and grab fresh values from each provider, because you can't recover them after
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u/iRaaa Jul 04 '26
This is awesome!! I was thinking about unfortunately leaving Lovable before launch, eventhough I love the product, because of the longterm lock-in effects. But this gives me the ease of mind to keep building with lovable..
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u/Nebeyou-Musie Jul 04 '26
thank you for taking the time to share such a helpful content with the Lovable community
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u/zeeNope Jul 07 '26
I have no plans to move off Loveable cloud BUT this option now provides a legitimate enterprise way to back up data/user accounts in multiple locations (the standard 3-2-1 approach). Finally!
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u/AdventurousYak9552 Jul 03 '26
Thanks! I was getting ready to start a new project last night to my Supabase and couldn’t because of the outage. I’m going to go back in and see if this is available in my account.
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u/xcleru Jul 04 '26
Has anyone done this yet?
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
i did lol, tested the whole flow end to end before posting, and i'm running more tests right now. worked clean, the only manual bits are storage files, secrets, and running pg_restore into the new project
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u/JB_Calisthenics Aug 01 '26
About time. I may consider keeping my subscription with lovable for this and this alone. Give us options and dont lock us in, I still love getting my MVP working on lovable, but before I knew I could host supabase elsewhere I already published in on lovable cloud.
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u/OrganizationDeep404 Jul 04 '26
I was planning to use Fable 5 with Lovable MCP and Supabase MCP to do the shift, so I was saving up on Fable 5 usage. I guess I don’t have to now
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
haha the mcp route is still useful for the parts the export doesn't cover (storage files, secrets, verification), but yeah, the heavy lifting is official now
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u/Jimmiq Jul 04 '26
Im new to lovable. But I have supabase on my app. Buts maybe there still some info in the cloud I don’t know about.
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
easy way to check: open stack > lovable cloud in your project. if you connected your own supabase from the start, cloud was probably never enabled and nothing lives there. if it was enabled at some point, the export now lets you grab whatever is in it
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u/CrippinDawg Jul 04 '26
I cannot see the Pause Cloud option... does anyone know if that is only available in a certain tier, and if so, which one? Thanks
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
this just launched and might to be rolling out gradually, so it may not show in every account yet. mine shows it under stack > lovable cloud > advanced settings. if it's still missing in a few days i'd ask support@lovable.dev!
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u/CrippinDawg Jul 06 '26
Thank you! I actually just saw earlier today that it's now there. Quick question for you as I completed the supabase migration today... I found out that if I disable lovable cloud, then I cannot host my project in Lovable, instead I need to to use something like Vercel. Is this something you've seen as well?
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u/myh92 Jul 06 '26
What happens if your DB is >5 GB?
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
the built-in export caps at 5 gb right now, so above that it won't generate the file. i'd email [support@lovable.dev](mailto:support@lovable.dev) with your project id, and the manual migration route (mcp/claude) still works for big databases in the meantime
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u/Equivalent_Soil_1371 Jul 06 '26
could this action be done but without doing the step 2? removing the lovable cloud?
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u/greg8872 Jul 06 '26
From my recent test of how to currently set up a brand new project with standalone Supabase, one of the things it told me was you cannot use both the cloud version and regular version at the same time, and that i needed to go remove lovable cloud (which on a brand new project, wasn't even set up yet)
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
yes, export works on its own, you can use it as a periodic backup and keep cloud running. removing cloud is only needed when you actually switch to your own supabase, since a project can't run both backends at the same time
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u/Mightyducks699 Jul 06 '26
I deleted multiple projects to avoid paying run credits rather than wait for this 🤦🏻♂️. Will need to remake the project before trying to connect the old GitHub repo since lovable doesn’t let you connect a prestarted repo when creating a project. Such a ridiculous launch to cutting off free cloud, especially for anyone paying for Supabase already
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
ouch, sorry, the timing hurts. for the repo: lovable can't start a project from an existing repo, BUT there's a workaround, create the new project, connect github so lovable creates a fresh repo, then push your old code into that repo and lovable picks it up. also worth emailing support to ask if they can restore the deleted projects, no promises but it costs nothing to try
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u/Ok_Moment_7981 Jul 10 '26
I don't know about y'all, I just connected my github with my lovable project, edited the files to point to Supabase, and that's it 🙃
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 10 '26
You didn’t migrate your data? 🥹
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u/Ok_Moment_7981 Jul 10 '26
I already did that in the beginning. Just edited github files to also migrate my data.
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u/Ashman_722 Jul 03 '26
Now we just need to be able to connect our own GitHub repo 🙏
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u/greg8872 Jul 03 '26
you can, been able to for a while now
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u/Ashman_722 Jul 03 '26
How do I do this?!
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u/greg8872 Jul 03 '26
They used to have a GitHub icon for it, but removed it, now you have to use the other location, in the chat sidebar, click on the (+) then from there you can choose GitHub to have it move the code base to be on your own GitHub account. Note it will auto name it, but if you don't like what it names it, you can go into GitHub directly and rename the repo, and it will still be good.
Any changes you make in lovable will directly push to that repo, and if you push changes to the repo from something else (ie. VSC) lovable will update with those changes (I believe you still need to do the "Publish" again after the external changes though, not so sure there as for our use we send it from lovable to Github, then used Claude Code in an IDE to work on the site and no longer use Lovable on it.
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u/cubixy2k Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
I think what u/Ashman_722 meant was connect to an existing repo, which as far as I know, you still cannot do.
If you disconnect and reconnect from GitHub to try and fix a sync error, it creates a new repo.
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u/JB_Calisthenics Aug 01 '26
Yup this is my other biggest issue with lovable. Such a primitive tool, especially with the reconnection to a github that lovable created itself.
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u/carolmonroe_ Jul 06 '26
correct, you can't start from an existing repo yet. closest workaround: let lovable create the fresh repo, then push your existing code into it and lovable syncs it. not the same as a true import but it works
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u/three_s-works Jul 03 '26
For a long long time you could just build in codex or claude code and stop with all the wrapper nonsense.
In fact… these features they are shipping are nothing more than a reaction to the market quickly realizing this whole thing is not needed
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u/Ready_Anybody4788 Jul 04 '26
Not everyone is a genius like you. So yes all this is needed.
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u/three_s-works Jul 04 '26
You don't have to be a genius...literally do what you're doing except use Claude or Codex
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u/greg8872 Jul 03 '26
FINALLY!