Build apps without code
- Pulakit Bararia
- Apr 5
- 12 min read
I’ve built over 20 full-stack applications—without writing a single line of code. Yep, no coding, no debugging nightmares, yet my software and websites are used by tens of thousands of people across 16 countries.
You don’t need to be a programming genius to build and launch apps.
In this article, I will break it down for you—step by step—how you can create any kind of app without touching code.
And trust me, I’ll keep it as simple as possible.
So buckle up, because this is about to change how you see app development! 🚀
💡 Idea Phase
So, you’ve got an app idea—let’s say a simple project manager.
But here’s the problem: you don’t know how to code.
Now, you’ve got a few choices. You could hire a developer, but budgets are tight, and finding the right one is a whole other mission.
So, you get stuck in this endless loop—a great idea in your head, but no way to bring it to life.
Sound familiar? Yeah, we’ve all been there.
But here’s what you’re gonna do instead.
Grab a pen and paper. Yep, going analogue for a second.
Start by writing down your core idea. Then make a mind map—draw it out.
What are the key features?
How will users move from one screen to the next?
What does the home screen look like? What buttons go where?
Think of everything—design, functionality, user flow, pain points, even tiny details like whether a button says “Submit” or “Done.”
💭 Example: Let’s say in your project manager app, you want users to be able to create tasks, assign deadlines, and categorize them with tags. Boom. That’s already three blocks on your mind map.
Trust me—this step is crucial.
It gives your idea structure, clarity, and momentum. You’re not just imagining an app anymore—you’re designing one.
And guess what? This works for both websites and apps. Doesn’t matter if it’s a to-do list, a marketplace, or the next viral social network—you always start here.
🎯 Pro tip: Focus on core features first
Don’t try to build the next Notion or Airbnb in one go.
Strip your idea down to the minimum lovable version.
That’s the version that does just enough to solve a problem or delight a user—and nothing more.
You can always build more later. But starting lean? That’s how you win.
Chatgpt/Perplexity for prompt generation
🧠 ChatGPT / Perplexity for Prompt Generation
Alright—now that your notebooks have all the sketches, scribbles, flowcharts, and feature lists, it’s time to make a long paragraph prompt for your app.
This is where AI becomes your co-builder.
You’re gonna take everything you’ve written down—all those thoughts on design, user flow, functionality, the vibe of your app—and you're going to turn it into one clean, powerful prompt.
Here’s what this prompt needs to include (don’t skip anything, trust me):
🔧 Functionality — Every feature you want, even the tiny ones. From "users can tag tasks" to "real-time collaboration."
🎨 Design — Dark mode? Rounded corners? Minimalist layout? Add it all.
🧭 User Flow — How the user moves from A to B. What's the first thing they see when they log in? How many clicks to complete a task?
🌅 Vision & Purpose — Why are you building this? What problem are you solving? Who’s it for?
🌀 Style and Feel — Is your app playful and colorful? Or is it sleek, calm, and professional? Mention fonts, spacing, layout style, even mood if you want.
Then, at the end of all that, you add this line (non-negotiable):
"Make me a super detailed prompt covering everything I gave you in super detail. Be very elaborate."
Boom. You now have a prompt that’s a direct extension of your brain.
Next up?
You drop that into ChatGPT (or Perplexity, or whatever you vibe with), and AI’s gonna spit out a massive paragraph covering your vision into proper developer format.
What the app does, how it looks, what the layout is like, what the buttons say, what happens when someone clicks “Create Project,” the font on the headers, the animation on the scroll… everything will be covered in that one final paragraph.
Now here’s the real magic:
You don’t stop there.
You treat ChatGPT like your creative partner. You keep refining it.
Go back and forth.
👉 “Hey, make this part more minimal.”
👉 “Add a dashboard with progress stats.”
👉 “Include onboarding screens with a progress bar.”
👉 “Can you make the colour scheme more calming, like light blue and soft grey?”
You keep building on the prompt until the description matches exactly what you see in your mind.
This is your blueprint. This is what you’ll use to start building your app.
Figma (optional tho If you know it is always better)
Albright, this step’s optional—but if you know your way around Figma, or are even a little curious, it can seriously level up your whole build.
Figma is a super cool design tool that lets you create almost anything visually—websites, apps, logos, mind maps, dashboards—you name it.
And the best part? It’s not hard to learn.
It’s just you dragging shapes, text, and elements around, like digital Lego blocks. Think of it as a superpower for turning your idea into something you can see.
Now, here’s why Figma matters.
Even though it won’t build the backend or give your app actual functionality, it will show you exactly how your app will look and feel—before you even start building.
It’s like sketching your dream house before you start construction. You get to see the colours, the layout, the buttons, the flow, the vibe—
everything visual. And that clarity makes a huge difference.
So if you’re comfortable with Figma, or even want to give it a try:
👉 Design the full app—screen by screen.
👉 Think of it in both mobile and desktop formats (since people use both).
👉 Design the home screen, login screen, dashboards, menus, buttons, forms—literally everything a user will see and interact with.
Trust me, this step saves you so much confusion later.
So yeah—Figma isn’t mandatory, but it’s like having a map before you start the journey.
Draw the app (Another Option)
Here’s another option, that works like magic. Just grab a pen and paper (or pencil if you're fancy), and start drawing your app. Sketch it out.
Draw a rough mobile screen (just a rectangle), and start placing stuff—like where the logo goes, where the buttons should be, what the home screen should look like, etc. Then, draw more boxes to represent other screens in your app. Think login screen, profile page, dashboard, or whatever your app needs.
You don’t need to be an artist—stick figures and boxes are fine. The goal is just to visualize your app. By the end, you’ll have your full idea laid out in front of you. Super simple, but insanely effective.
Let's start building the app.
Alright—so now you’ve done the hard part. Your app idea is locked in. You’ve got a full vision written out, your designs are ready (whether it’s Figma or good ol’ pen and paper), and you know exactly how the app should look and feel. You’ve literally mapped it all out—screens, buttons, features, everything.
Now comes the real magic: it’s time to actually build the thing.
And here’s the cool part—you’re gonna use Lovable and Bolt to bring it all to life. These tools are next-level. They’re not just no-code—they’re the modern way to build fully functional, polished apps without getting stuck in code chaos.
You’ll be connecting screens, setting up functionality, handling data, and turning your idea into something real. It’s like snapping puzzle pieces together—but each piece is a feature of your app.
What you designed? Now it becomes interactive. That button? It now takes users to a new screen. That task you wrote in the mind map? It’s now a real feature. Bit by bit, screen by screen, you’re building something that people can use, tap, explore, and fall in love with.
Trust me—there’s nothing like the feeling of going from “I have an idea” to “Yo, check out this app I built.”
Using Lovable to make the final app
Okay, so—what exactly is Lovable?
Lovable is this crazy powerful app builder that lets you create production-level apps without touching any code. It’s like if Figma and a backend dev had a baby—but way easier to use.
You get full control over your design, structure, user flow, and logic. It’s built for people who have a strong vision and want to build fast without compromising on quality.
It's smooth, it's fast, and it makes you feel like a superhero dev… without having to be one.
So let's get started.
🧠 Turning Your Idea into a Real App with Lovable – Step-by-Step
Okay, now that everything’s planned—the features, the design, the flow—it’s time to bring your app to life with Lovable.
Here’s exactly what you’re gonna do:
✨ Step 1: Go to lovable.dev
Open up your browser and type in lovable.dev. That’s the website where all the magic’s about to happen.
🔐 Step 2: Sign In With Google
Once you’re on the site, click that “Sign in” button and just log in using your Google account. Easy. No extra steps, and no long sign-up forms. Just connect your Google and boom—you’re in.
📦 Step 3: You’ll See a Big Box That Says “Ask Lovable to make…”
This is where the magic starts.
Right on the homepage, you’ll see a big text input box that says something like:
"Ask Lovable to make..."
This is the exact spot where you're gonna feed Lovable everything it needs to start building your app.
🧷 Step 4: Attach Your Design (Figma or Hand-Drawn Image)
Now look below the input box—you’ll see two upload options:
📎 Upload a Figma File – If you made your app design on Figma, just copy the Figma share link (make sure it's public or editable), and paste it there.
📷 Upload an Image – If you drew your design on paper, just take a clear photo of the drawing and upload it. That’s your wireframe. Simple but powerful.
📝 Step 5: Paste the Final Prompt (from ChatGPT or Perplexity)
Remember the super detailed prompt you generated earlier with ChatGPT or Perplexity? The one that includes:
Your app's full description
Features and Functionality
Design style
User flow
Overall vision
Yeah—that one. You’re gonna copy and paste the entire paragraph right into the big text box above the upload section.
This prompt is literally your blueprint. It tells Lovable exactly what kind of app you're building.
🚀 Step 6: Hit Enter and Let Lovable Work
Once you've:
✅ Uploaded the image or Figma
✅ Pasted the full prompt
Just press Enter. That’s it.
Lovable will start building your app. Based on your input, it’ll generate real screens, lay out the components, and give you a functional skeleton to work with. From there, you can tweak and refine everything as you go.
This step right here? It’s where your idea goes from “just an idea” to a real, usable app. No code. No dev team. Just you, your vision, and some insanely powerful tools.
Let’s build. 💻📱🔥
🎉 Your App Is Built—But We’re Not Done (Yet)
Lovable has now taken your designs, and your prompt, and turned it all into a real, coded, functional app. You can now:
✅ Preview your app directly on the platform
✅ Switch between mobile and desktop views
✅ Interact with your app like a real user would
And let’s be honest—seeing your idea come alive like that?
Feels surreal. So first of all,
congratulations. Seriously. Most people never even get this far. But guess what? We’re just getting started.
Now we gotta polish this thing and make sure it’s connected to the brain of the operation—the database.
🧠 What Is a Database (and Why Do You Need One)?
Let’s keep it super simple:
A database is where your app stores all the actual data users generate or interact with. Think:
User accounts
Tasks, projects, notes, messages
Any form submissions or inputs
App settings
Basically, anything that isn’t hardcoded
Without a database, your app is like a cool-looking robot with no memory. It can move, but it doesn’t remember anything. We don’t want that. So we’re gonna connect your app to a powerful, scalable backend system—and for this, we’re using Supabase.
🛠️ Step-by-Step: Connecting Your App to Supabase (Lovable’s Integration)
Lovable makes this super smooth—but you still need to do it right. Here’s the full, detailed guide:
🔗 Step 1: Look at the Top-Right Corner in Lovable
Inside Lovable’s editor/dashboard, look at the top-right corner of the screen. You’ll see an option that says:
“Connect to Supabase”
Click on it.
📁 Step 2: Create a New Supabase Project
You’ll be prompted to either connect an existing Supabase project or create a new one.
Since this is probably your first time, go ahead and:
Click on “Create New Project”
Give your project a name like project-manager-app or my-awesome-app
Choose or create a team name (like Team Productivity or Snippetz Team)
Pick a region (closest to your user base for better speed)
Boom—your Supabase project is now live and ready.
✅ Step 3: Test It Live
Now preview your app again. Try adding a task. Try creating a new project. Refresh. It should still be there.
If it is—congrats! Your app is now connected to a real-time, production-ready backend. 🎉
💬 One Final Thing: Modify As Needed
The app’s up, but now it’s time for a quick polish.
Go through the app like a real user. Tap around, scroll through every screen, and note what feels off—maybe something’s missing, maybe a button feels weird, maybe the layout’s clunky.
For every issue, do this:
1. Spot the problem
Example: “There’s no delete button on tasks.”
2. Describe the fix + design
Example: “Add a small trash icon on each task card with a confirmation pop-up.”
3. Prompt Lovable again
Head back to Lovable, paste in your updated prompt describing the issue and the fix, and let it do its magic.
PUBLISHING THE APP
There are two ways to publish your app.
The first is more technical—exporting your code to GitHub and using Android Studio to generate an APK. It works well, but if you don’t have any coding experience, it can be tricky.
The second way is much easier and beginner-friendly, though slightly unconventional.
🛠️ Option 1: Export to GitHub + Use Android Studio to Create an APK (For Android)
This sounds fancy, but let’s make it super digestible:
1. Export the Code
On Lovable, click “Export to GitHub.”
It’ll send the full code of your app to a GitHub repo (basically an online folder full of your code).
2. Open Android Studio
Download Android Studio (Google’s official tool to build Android apps).
Once installed, open the code from GitHub in Android Studio.
3. Build an APK File
Inside Android Studio, you’ll see an option to Build > Generate Signed APK.
This will convert your code into an APK file—which is what you need to install or publish the app on Android.
4. Test It Out
You can install the APK on your phone and test it like a real app.
5. Publish to Play Store
If everything looks good, you can then upload the APK on the Google Play Console to publish it officially.
🧠 Note: This path is super powerful but might feel a bit techy if you’re new. Take your time, and follow YouTube tutorials if needed—it’s not as scary as it sounds!
Want it easier? Let’s go to Option 2 👇
Using median.co to directly make an app
Go to median.co — it's a tool that turns your website (like the one from Lovable) into a mobile app.
Paste the link of your Lovable app (you’ll get this after you preview your app—copy the full URL). This link is basically your live web version of the app.
Customize your app:
Add your app name
Upload your app logo.
Set a splash screen (this is the screen that shows up when you open the app)
Go through each page and tweak things if needed — like how the navigation works, loading indicators, etc.
Once you’re happy with everything, click on “Build & Download”.
Median will now create a downloadable APK for Android (or other formats), and give you:
A QR code (people can scan this to install the app)
A direct download link
And yes, you can submit this to the Play Store too!
And that’s how you can go from idea 💡 to design 🎨 to a fully published app 🚀—all without writing a single line of code, thanks to Lovable.
Building an AI app
Alright—so you’ve built a basic app using Lovable, and now you’re like:
“Wait... how do I make this smart? How do I actually add AI into this?”
Fair question. Because here’s the deal: Lovable doesn’t (yet) support complex AI logic out of the box.
But don’t worry—you’ve got options. Whether you want to integrate GPT, vision AI, voice AI, or just a custom model—you can totally do that. It just takes a few extra tools and steps.
✨ Option 1: Use AI Plugins or Services Like Relevance AI / Flowise / Cognosys
🧰 Tools:
zapiar
imagica AI
These tools let you build custom GPT-style tools and AI agents with zero code, and they usually give you an embed code or iframe link at the end.
🔧 How It Works:
Go to Relevance AI (or any of the tools above) and create a free account.
Pick a template—like a chatbot, Q&A tool, search assistant, etc.
Customize it:
Upload your data (like PDFs, URLs, CSVs, or Notion docs).
Configure the prompt and behaviour of the AI.
Add memory or action capabilities if needed.
Once you're done, Relevance (or the platform) will give you:
A public link to share your AI.
An iframe/embed code to add to your app or website.
🧠 How to Add That Into Lovable:
In Lovable, go to the screen or section where you want the AI to show up.
And write a prompt in lovable embed [LINK] in the app as a separate AI page .....
🧪 Option 2: Build a Custom AI Using OpenAI API (Manual, But More Power)
If you want full control—like your own chatbot, custom logic, memory, and access to GPT-4—you can do that by using the OpenAI API (or any other AI API like Claude, Gemini, Mistral, etc.)
🧰 Tools You’ll Need:
A backend service like:
Or Firebase Functions / your own Express.js server
Lovable (for your app UI)
Postman (optional for testing APIs)
🔧 Step-by-Step:
🧾 Step 1: Get Your API Key from OpenAI
Create a new API key.
Keep this key safe—it gives access to GPT models.
🧠 Step 2: Create the Backend Logic
Go to Xano, Supabase Edge Functions, or Pipedream.
Create a new API Endpoint.
Inside the endpoint, write the basic code to:
Take user input (from your app)
Send it to OpenAI's GPT-3.5 or GPT-4 API
Return the response to your app
Here’s a basic example of what the API call might look like (in Node.js):
🔗 Step 3: Connect Your App (Lovable) to the API
In Lovable, use the API Integration feature (or WebView + backend).
Make an API call to your own backend endpoint when the user sends a message or triggers the AI.
Display the AI’s response inside your app (use a chat UI or text box).
⚠️ Things to Keep In Mind:
OpenAI has usage limits and pricing, so monitor your usage on the dashboard.
Relevance AI and Flowise have free tiers, but advanced features are paid.
Security: Never expose your OpenAI API key on the front end.
Latency: AI can be slightly slow—add loaders and UX indicators.
✅ Final Advice:
If you're just getting started, go with Relevance AI / Cognosys for zero-code simplicity.
If you're comfortable exploring, go with OpenAI API + a backend for full control.
Either way—you can build an AI app. No excuses.
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