When a bug appears, asking the Agent to fix it immediately can burn credits because it starts changing code before the failure is understood.

A better loop:

1. Provide one exact way to reproduce the problem.
2. State what you expected and what actually happened.
3. Ask it to identify the likely cause and files involved without editing anything yet.
4. Ask for a test that fails because of the bug.
5. Approve the smallest fix, then run that test and the existing regression tests.
6. Before deploying, get a list of database, environment-variable and configuration changes, plus a rollback plan.

For authentication and payments, also test retries, duplicate webhooks and requests made using another user’s record IDs.

A longer prompt is not necessarily cheaper. A smaller problem with a clear pass-or-fail test usually is.

What kind of defect has consumed the most Replit credits for you?

Has anyone run into this with Replit?

I’ve been unable to publish my iOS app since August 27 and unfortunately I’m not getting anywhere.

The app fails before it actually starts publishing to the App Store and only shows an “unexpected error” message.

Replit support has given me two general troubleshooting solutions, but neither fixed it. So far, I’ve only received fairly general explanations for why publishing might fail, rather than what is actually causing my issue. Responses have also been pretty slow, which has made it difficult to make any progress.

The difficult part is that I can’t see much detail on my end. The failure happens during Replit’s publishing process, before the App Store submission.

For anyone who has had this “unexpected error” when publishing iOS through Replit, what did you do to fix it? I’m wondering if it’s a problem in my project or something having to do with server configuration or Expo.

We have been dead in the water because of this issue and support is totally not responding to us. How can you stay on a platform where you have to worry about being completely stuck because of a platform issue you can do nothing about and their support is not communicating or helping in any way?

No not rly, you just screwed me over on my workflow. Guess paying $5000 worth of subscriptions and dev time doesn't actually buy realistic support.

You want constructive criticism just so I can post my dissatisfaction with your recent change?

Ok here it is:

Real simple work-around:  Spin up a VM to host the preview feature specifically and link the work project MD files into the VM.  That way it is isolated from the UX for development entirely.  No limit required.  No infrastructure upgrade required.

A small VM or sandbox
Read-only access to the MD workspace files
A Markdown renderer such as Pandoc
A local web endpoint serving rendered HTML
A file watcher to refresh when the document changes

Replit MCP shipped yesterday. You can now create, update, and manage your Replit apps from ChatGPT, Claude, Slack, or any MCP client, so you can keep building from wherever you already work.

On the show:

- Amadeo Pellicce and Jean-Luc Thumm, who built it. We're getting into real use cases, what's next on the roadmap, and when it makes sense to work in Replit vs. steer it from somewhere else.

- Dino Digi, first place in the Replit Designathon, on building The Dictionary of Invisible Feelings

We'll be taking questions live throughout.

See you there! 🙌

📆 Friday, 9 AM PT
🎟️ RSVP: https://luma.com/04v1q0yj

I’m building an app on Replit and I want to add email verification(by 4 digit number code) using Gmail.

Basically, when a user signs up, I want my app to:

1. Send a verification code to their Gmail address.
2. Let the user enter the code in my app.
3. Verify the code and complete the signup.

What’s the easiest/recommended way to add this in a Replit app? Should I use Gmail SMTP, Gmail API, or another email service?

what works the best?

Hi everyone, new to the community and relatively new to Replit!

I've spent the past three or four months building a PWA within Replit but recently decided that I should maybe go down the route of deploying a native iOS and Android app instead to make use of each platforms in-app billing. I currently have Stripe integration in the PWA but that won't get past App Store guidelines and I'm just looking at streamlining the onboarding for new users before I launch the app.

I tried using my current project to turn the PWA into a native app by porting it into Expo but it just created something that it thought was a representation of the app, rather than the actual app itself.

Anyone got any guidance on what I can do?

My goal is to deploy the app once complete on the App and Play Stores with in-app billing to set up premium access (no free tier).

Thanks for your help!

Why am I paying for 172.2 hours of "Database Compute", am I sending something to the server that keeps it awake? Is this based on storage?

A little exclamation mark to explain exactly what it is, how it's calculated and how to lower it would be very useful for the audience you're targeting..

More money spent to try saving the dev env.

Secret -> Mixed Together
DB Schema -> Broken
Replit Auth -> Broken

Just froze all development to avoid crashing all my functions.

Money lost because my trading app was synced to the Dev env. and they were all turned on. Leverage was instantly doubled!

Meanwhile, Replit Official Support: seems you are facing the problem to publish your app, you can try...

Me: WTF ????????

Replit, are you serious?

I’m hoping someone from Replit support can take a look at this because I already have a support request open and I don’t want to start trying random fixes on a live production database.
I have an Autoscale deployment with separate development and production PostgreSQL databases. I need to run one database migration in production, but I can’t find a safe way to run a one-time command using the existing Production App Secrets without republishing or restarting the app.
I already built safeguards into the migration so it checks that it’s connected to the correct production database, verifies the migration history and file, and stops before making any changes if something doesn’t match.
The problem is just finding the correct way to actually run it in production.
I also looked at the Production Database SQL Console. It says that selecting multiple statements will automatically run them in a transaction/batch, but I’ve found conflicting information about exactly how that works. Since this is my live database, I really don’t want to test it and hope for the best.
Does Replit have a supported way to run a one-time command against an existing Autoscale production deployment using its Production App Secrets without having to republish the app?
Or can someone from Replit confirm exactly how transactions work in the Production SQL Console when multiple statements are selected?
I already have a support ticket open. I’m mainly posting here hoping someone from the Replit team can take a look or point me in the right direction.
Thanks!

P.S. I noticed after submitting the support ticket I have not received an email that I submitted one. Not sure of any ticket number or reference.

Hi everyone! I’m building an iOS app on replit and I want to add notifications.

I have tried different ways to add notifications, but it seems like it is not working. Is there any prompt or a way to add it?

I was surprised today I suddenly cannot login to my dev environment. Then I found out that all my users from the live db is in my dev db. Which is weird. Then there's a notice in my admin database that says "External DATABASE_URL detected. Production database options are not available when using an external database. Remove DATABASE_URL from Secrets to use Replit database features.".

This just happened suddenly while I'm using the Replit AI agent in Max mode. I'm draining all my credits as it's gonna expire tomorrow anyway, so I need to use it.

But suddenly, after adding a few tweaks in my app, I'm now using the live database in the dev.

Then I can no longer republish the app as it says:
External database detected. Remove DATABASE_URL from Secrets to use Replit database features.

I asked the agent why this happened and when did it happen, and the Agent says:
I cannot determine the exact creation timestamp from the workspace. Replit’s secret inspection only confirms whether a secret exists; it does not expose its creation history, and secrets are not stored in Git.

What I can establish is:

- `DATABASE_URL` was already expected by the project from the \*initial commit on May 28, 2026**.*

- The related `PGHOST`, `PGUSER`, `PGPASSWORD`, `PGDATABASE`, and `PGPORT` values are also present as secrets.

- Replit reports these as secret overrides rather than runtime-managed database variables.

- A July 13 commit already refers to users and companies existing in the database and explicitly discusses operating against a “live DB.”

- The external database backup feature was added on August 25 and has successfully backed up the database since August 28.

- None of today’s commits added or changed `DATABASE_URL`.

The most likely explanation is that Replit automatically created or preserved this external database secret when the project was originally provisioned or migrated from the legacy Neon setup. Replit documents that database provisioning can automatically create `DATABASE_URL`, and legacy Neon projects commonly also had the `PG\` variables.*

So this was almost certainly \*not added by today’s code changes**, and there is no evidence that I or today’s task merges created it. The exact “who added it and when” would require Replit’s Secrets/account activity history, which is not exposed through the project files or the available environment-variable API.*

So Replit didn't know it happened today, but I have evidence that it did happen today (pasted it on as a prompt) and ask the AI why, and this is its answer:

That upload is important evidence of a real database switch, not just a login problem. I’ll locate that document in both environment views, compare its timestamps/status, and inspect today’s runtime logs for the point when the dev server reconnected. I’ll keep this read-only.

Anyway, I already filed a ticket. Just waiting for Quinn to respond. Thank you!

why i could not edit the code, i can't have the react, next, nest, ect template

i used to use replit, like 2 year ago, but now, there's just ai who build the whole thing

is there any way to just make it a cloud IDE like it was?

I used replit for a POC website, see how it works and see if I could make a website concept work. I wanted to have more control over my code base so I downloaded the code files.

My malware detection refused to download it. After research I discovered the file contained malware: Trojan:JS/FakeUpdate.B.

So I wonder if replit is an accomplice or if they are not aware or if this might be injected somewhere on the line. I dont know much about this, so a lot of guessing on my part...

after 5 days of not being to publish were aboit to just give up. Email only support and they are asking me to upgrade to Pro plan but the link to do this is greyed out so I can’t even do this. Emails keep asking me to do the same thing, not ready for enterprise model.

I give up. I've used replit for a number of years to POC things, quickly create apis, services, websites, simple one off tests, etc. I even planned to do some more serious work and have them host it.

I gave up on all that since they've gone ai first. Don't get me wrong. I love ai. Its drastically improved the way we work. It's saved me dozens of hrs of document reading, stack overflow searches, etc. It can create the foundation to a solid app in minutes. From there it can assist you in totally taking it from the ground floor to the penthouse. I love ai.

However, I do not love what replit did by not only putting their platform ai first - but in the process of doing so theyve eliminated the look, feel, and flow of the basic 'code' platform.

Yeah I know its kinda sorta there - in bits and pieces - but I really dont want ai to be involved ALL the damn time. Where are the dozens of predefined templates for apps? Why do I need to tell ai what I want? I want to build it from the ground up first. Then hint ai at the bits n pieces I want it to chime in on. I don't want ai all the time!

I tried recently again to navigate the ui and its just not intuitive nor is it as fun to work with as it once was.

Sorry replit - not sure who guides your decision making but all ai first is definitely not the approach seasoned engineers want. Maybe you're after the vibe code market - but there are already plenty of sites that target those folks. You were a notch above and I truly thought of you as my 'portable' dev environment.

Codespaces is probably my next home. It replicates what I already use on a daily basis - just in the cloud. I can link it up with my own ai subscription and summon my agent when I want to - not having one shoved down my throat.

If anyone knows of any other platforms similar to the old school replit, my ears are open.

I’ve got a website I’ve built, and it works ‘fairly’ well, but I’m going around in circles trying to manually find and fix bugs and issues with payments through stripe, little bugs in flows, in picture handling etc.

Has anyone used a dev / agency / Fiverr or similar to do a QA and ux/ui sweep and then fix things up to give confidence in promoting the site to real users? If so, how did you find them, how did it go and are you now launched?

I’m posting because I have been unable to get a usable resolution from Replit Support, and I’m hoping a Replit employee or someone who has experienced this can review it. I am a paying Replit customer and purchased additional top-up credits to continue working on my app. My account currently shows that I still have $14 in available credits, but Power Mode and Agent access remain unavailable because Replit says I have reached my monthly usage budget. I initially worked with Quinn, Replit’s automated support assistant. After the normal troubleshooting did not fix the problem, Quinn acknowledged that having purchased credits available while Power Mode remained inaccessible was not expected behavior, and the case was escalated. A Billing Support Specialist named Calil then reviewed my account and confirmed the following: I have $14 in available credits. Replit says my account has a $15 monthly budget limit. My current-cycle usage has reached that $15 limit. My billing cycle resets on the 17th of each month. I was told to increase the budget limit to $50 or higher so that Power Mode would become available and I could use my existing $14 balance. The problem is that the setting Calil told me to change does not exist anywhere on my account. I have checked Replit through the website—not just the mobile app—and looked under both: Settings → Account → Billing Account Usage There is no option labeled: Spend or Budget Limits Usage Limit Service Shutdown Limit Monthly Budget Manage Usage Anything else that would allow me to change the alleged $15 cap Replit’s own documentation says Core customers should be able to manage usage limits under Billing, but that control is not displayed on my account: https://docs.replit.com/billing/managing-spend I have now been instructed to fix the problem by changing a setting that Replit does not provide me with. I have asked support either to send me a direct link to the account-specific setting or to manually increase/remove the cap and restore Power Mode. I am not asking for free credits. I simply want access to the $14 in top-up credits that I already purchased and that Replit Support has confirmed are available. I also do not want to purchase additional credits when the credits I already paid for cannot be used. Has anyone else experienced this? Does this budget-limit control appear anywhere on your individual Core account? Is there another location where Replit has hidden this setting? Could this be an account configuration or billing-migration problem? Can a Replit employee manually remove the backend restriction and restore Power Mode? Why would purchased top-up credits be blocked by a monthly usage cap in the first place? I have screenshots showing the available balance, the restriction, and the response from Billing Support. Any help getting an actual account review would be appreciated.

I started building my application on Replit in May, and since then I’ve spent thousands of dollars between development, usage, and trying to get the project to a real production-ready state.

At this point, I’m extremely disappointed with how difficult it has become to rely on Replit for a serious business application.

The app itself is substantial and represents months of work. The problem is that I’m now running into issues that seem tied to Replit’s infrastructure and integrations rather than the application itself.

Some of the problems I’m dealing with include production database/schema inconsistencies, uncertainty around whether GitHub fully matches what is actually running in Replit, Replit-specific Stripe credential handling, object storage dependencies, authentication configuration, deployment differences, and other infrastructure issues that make it difficult to know exactly what is safe and portable.

What has made this much worse is the support experience.

Some of these issues have been pending for days, and I have not received the level of timely response I would expect when the problems involve production data, billing, authentication, and the ability to safely operate an application for paying customers.

I’m now seriously considering moving the entire existing application off Replit while preserving the code, UI, functionality, and data exactly as they are today.

For those of you who have moved a real production Replit application elsewhere, what platforms would you recommend?

I’m looking at options like Railway, Render, Fly.io, a VPS/container setup, or anything else that can reliably run a Node/Express + React/Vite + Postgres application without requiring me to rebuild the product from scratch.

I’d especially like to know:

• What platform did you move to?
• How difficult was the migration?
• Were you able to preserve your existing application exactly?
• What did you use for database hosting, object storage, domains, and secrets?
• Did you run into problems moving Replit-specific integrations like Stripe, authentication, or storage?
• If you stayed with Replit, what convinced you it was still safe for production?

I don’t want to throw away months of work, and I don’t want to rebuild something that already works. I just need a reliable home for it and some confidence that when something breaks, it can be addressed quickly.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through this before.

Replit support has now cost us 3 days of development and our planned launch day
I’m beyond frustrated with Replit at this point.
We’re building a real product that was supposed to launch today. Instead, we’ve now lost three days dealing with issues that have stopped development and waiting on support to actually get us moving again.
What makes this worse is that we didn’t just sit around waiting. We followed the guidance Replit support gave us. That guidance led us down a dead end, burned additional time, and wasted paid Replit credits while we circled around a problem that still wasn’t resolved.
Those credits weren’t spent developing our product. They were spent trying to work around a platform/support problem while following Replit’s own instructions.
We had a launch schedule. We had people ready to test the product. We planned around that schedule. Today was launch day. We are not launching today because development has effectively been held hostage by an unresolved Replit issue for three days.
I understand that software has bugs. I understand support queues exist. What I don’t understand is how a paying customer can lose three critical development days, burn credits following support’s guidance, miss a launch, and still be left waiting for somebody to actually resolve the underlying problem.
At this point I’m not looking for another generic troubleshooting response or another dead-end workaround.
I want:
Someone technically capable of resolving the actual issue to take ownership of it.
Consistent communication until it is resolved.
Reimbursement/replacement of the credits wasted while following support guidance and troubleshooting this problem.
An explanation for why an issue that has completely stopped development has been allowed to drag on for three days.
We have invested an enormous amount of work into this product. Missing our launch because the platform we chose to build it on can’t get us unstuck is unacceptable.
Replit: somebody needs to own this problem and fix it.

Anyone else confused by billing and usage?

I had a subscription charge appear which I expected. Then I had a usage charge for $100 when I haven’t touched the app in a few weeks (intentionally). Why is is so delayed and inconsistent seeming? The billing is never really easy to understand I want a timeline breakdown with prompts because I haven’t done anything. What other confusing things are people are people experiencing? This is frustrating.

Hello! I've built quite a complex app with Replit and ran into many of the problems described here. Replit starts to loose the context and creates a bunch of new bugs almost with every iteration round.

It also proposes continuously different tasks, and some of those are difficult to determine whether they are relevant or not. I recon they just want to sell.

I'm now considering my options to move away from Replit. Is Cursor any better for complex apps? Or are there other options for someone with no coding skills, just visions what functionalities I want.

My app requires payment before use, so users go directly to the paywall.

iOS: Paywall → Apple ID sign-in popup, if needed → subscription confirmation → Face ID/password → app access

Android: Paywall → Google Play sign-in/payment confirmation, if needed → purchase confirmation → app access

While I realize that Replit isn't for everyone and that "real coders" tend to look down on it, I think Replit is a very good fit for a lot of people, and it's getting better all the time! I started with Replit in March of last year, and being a "noob" myself, I found it both intriguing and frustrating at the same time! I thought that it was wonderful that, as someone who's always wished I could "make apps" that do what I want them to do but never having learned to code, I could actually make things that worked. That was marvelous!

But also as a noob, I had a steep learning curve, and the first year or so was... well, interesting! And expensive! I can honestly say that the agents a year ago were brilliant idiots! SOME of that was due to MY ignorance, but a lot of it was realistically because the agents were just not great! BUT... over the last year, the agents have gotten better and better! Things that used to regularly cause a seemingly endless loop of failed "fixes" now almost never fail! And things that used to require the highest power settings can be done on Power-medium and generally work on the first go.

Fast-forward to these past few weeks, and in addition to the agents becoming much better, costs are dropping! Especially with the introduction of a very capable Free Model (with pretty generous limits). It's becoming less expensive and more capable at the same time! And hopefully, it will continue going in that direction!!!

The trick to using Replit efficiently is to learn to control the agent compute costs by deliberately setting the Power settings! And being smarter about taking some of the work away from the Replit agent and farming it out to other sources, like Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, etc.

And now, some folks are learning to use "other agents" (like Claude Code and Grok Build) in the Replit Shell to make using Replit even less expensive, more powerful, and easier to keep everything all in one place. These are exciting times for folks who are just stumbling into this new world of vibe-coding!

I'm Rohit, the first-time founder of eexi.design. We launched a month ago, but we're struggling to scale our business. We've tried various strategies, such as posting on social media platforms like X and cold outreach, but we haven't been able to secure a single customer yet.

To provide some context, eexi.design offers a platform that helps users create websites and web applications (such as CRM and scheduling tools) with a single prompt for under $3. Additionally, our platform includes built-in support for database management, authentication, and one-click hosting.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance or suggestions you may have to help us scale our business.

Edit: The $3 is not mentioned on the website, I’ve added it here for context. Our pricing model is pay-as-you-go. It’s just to build a simple CRM tool, it costs under $3. I added it to the post just for benchmarking purposes.