Lovable Made Crystal Clear · chapter 2: How Lovable actually works
Plan mode vs Build mode
2026-09-11
Flat 1 credit to think, a floating bill to build, the docs' own examples drawn to scale, and the 20-credit check-in gate on long runs.
Below: the paragraphs from the book that build this idea, then the diagram itself (Figure 2.2), and a recap. About a minute of reading.
Plan mode is talking to the architect. Build mode is the crew swinging hammers. An hour at the architect's table costs the same flat coin every time, and when you walk out, not one wall has moved. The crew is different: they bill by the job, a coat of paint is cheap and a new bathroom is not, and once they start, plaster comes off. The drawing you approved at the table is what keeps them from opening the wrong wall. That is the whole mode toggle: 1 flat credit to think with the architect, a floating bill for the crew, and the approved .lovable/plan.md as the drawing the crew builds from, strictly.
Figure 2.2 puts the two modes side by side, with the docs' own price examples drawn to scale and the check-in gate marked where it sits on a long run.
Recap
- The idea: Flat 1 credit to think, a floating bill to build, the docs' own examples drawn to scale, and the 20-credit check-in gate on long runs.
- The picture: Figure 2.2, from chapter 2 ("How Lovable actually works") of Lovable Made Crystal Clear.
- Go deeper: the chapter builds this step by step, with recipes and sources at the end.
This diagram is one of many in Lovable Made Crystal Clear.
Every chapter opens with the gist, draws the hard ideas, and ends with recipes and sources.
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