Playbooks
It works in the demo. Here is the checklist before real users touch it.
A generated prototype that works in a demo and a prototype ready for real users are different bars. This is the specific checklist for closing that gap.
Last updated Aug 15 · 11 min read
Step 1: review the data model against real requirements
Whatever generator produced the prototype — a multi-tenant SaaS build or an internal ops dashboard against an existing schema — review the actual data model against production requirements: does row-level security genuinely isolate tenants, does the schema handle the real scale of data expected, and does it match how the business actually needs to query it later.
Step 2: a genuine security review of auth
If auth was generated quickly, treat it as a hypothesis, not a fact — adding auth to an existing app is a real security surface, and it deserves a real review before any actual customer data touches it, not an assumption that it works because nobody has tried to break it.
Step 3: real load, not one person clicking through it
A prototype tested by its own builder clicking through it once tells you nothing about concurrent real usage. Genuine load testing — even a basic one — surfaces problems a demo never would.
Step 4: a real deployment and backup process
Does the app exist only inside the generator's own hosting, or is there a real, independent deployment and backup process? A clean GitHub export handoff is the first step toward genuine independence from any single tool.
Step 5: someone who can actually debug it
Can anyone on the team read and debug the generated code when something breaks in production, or does the app only exist as a black box that worked until it didn't? This is often the single most overlooked gap.
What to do with the checklist results
Most of these come back uncertain rather than clearly wrong — that uncertainty is the actual signal that a real review is worth doing before more users depend on the prototype, not necessarily a rebuild from scratch.
Get a real review before you scale
This exact review is what Scult's software team does — reviewing what already works and fixing specific gaps, not starting over. Book a meeting and bring the prototype.
Need this built into your business?
The free tools and prompts on this site handle the small, solved problems. If what you need is bigger — custom software, built and maintained for you — that's Scult's day job.
