Deploy a Lovable site to a custom domain in 5 minutes

Lovable's default lovable.app subdomain is fine while you're iterating. The moment you show the site to a customer, that subdomain starts to look unfinished. This guide covers the five-minute path to a custom domain on EU-hosted infrastructure.

What you'll need

• A Lovable project that builds successfully
• A domain you own (or one you'll buy in the next 5 minutes)
• A free VibeDeploy account

That's it. No CLI installation required (though the CLI makes redeploys faster).

Step 1: Export from Lovable

In your Lovable project, push to GitHub or download the project as a ZIP. Either path works.

If you use the GitHub option, you'll get a connected repo Lovable updates as you edit. That's useful later for auto-redeploys.

If you download the ZIP, you'll need to repeat this step every time you change the project in Lovable.

Step 2: Build locally (or skip and let Git do it)

If you're using the GitHub path, skip to Step 3. The CI build runs automatically.

If you downloaded the ZIP:

unzip my-lovable-project.zip
cd my-lovable-project
npm install
npm run build

You'll get a dist/ folder. That's what you upload.

Step 3: Upload to VibeDeploy

Sign in to VibeDeploy. Click New Site. Either:

• Drag-and-drop the dist/ folder into the upload area, or
• Connect the GitHub repo if you went that route. VibeDeploy detects Vite (Lovable's default) and runs npm run build automatically.

Either way, you get a *.vibedeploy.be URL within 30 seconds. Open it. The site should look identical to the Lovable preview.

Step 4: Add your custom domain

In the site settings, click Domains, then Add domain. Enter the domain (e.g. mysite.com).

VibeDeploy gives you DNS records to add at your registrar. Two flavors:

• Apex (mysite.com): an A record pointing to VibeDeploy's edge IP.
• Subdomain (www.mysite.com): a CNAME pointing to proxy.vibedeploy.be.

Add both if you want the apex and the www subdomain to work. Most registrars take 1 to 5 minutes to propagate.

Once DNS resolves, VibeDeploy issues a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate automatically. The site goes live on HTTPS.

Step 5: Set up the magic file for future Lovable iterations

This is the step most people skip and then regret.

Create a file at the root of your repo called .vibedeploy.txt:

project: my-lovable-site
token: vbd_xxx
framework: vite
build: npm run build
output: dist

Replace vbd_xxx with the deploy token from your VibeDeploy site settings.

Why this matters: if you keep iterating in Lovable and pushing to GitHub, VibeDeploy auto-redeploys on every push. If you ever switch to a different AI agent (Cursor's chat, Claude Code, Aider) the magic file tells the agent how to deploy without you re-typing it.

Verify

Open https://mysite.com in a fresh browser tab. You should see your Lovable site, served over HTTPS, on your custom domain.

Common things that go wrong:

• DNS hasn't propagated. Wait a few more minutes. Use dig mysite.com to verify.
• Mixed content warnings. Lovable sometimes generates http:// references for images or fonts. Search the source for http:// and replace with https://.
• Custom domain on Lovable's side too. Lovable also lets you set a custom domain pointing at their hosting. Don't do both at once. Pick one (VibeDeploy in this case) and remove the Lovable side.

What you get

• Custom domain (mysite.com instead of mysite.lovable.app)
• HTTPS automatic, no manual cert management
• EU hosting (Belgian data centre, GDPR-friendly)
• Backup retention up to 30 days on paid plans
• Auto-redeploy on every Lovable update if you used the GitHub path

What this doesn't do

• Doesn't replace Lovable's AI editor. Keep iterating in Lovable.
• Doesn't move your Supabase or external API. Those continue running where they were.
• Doesn't migrate the project off Lovable. The source still lives in Lovable's editor; VibeDeploy just hosts the build output.

Cost

VibeDeploy free tier covers 1 site with custom domain. €0/month if your site fits the free limits. €9/month on the Maker plan when you outgrow them. No per-bandwidth charges.

For a deep comparison with other Lovable hosting options, see VibeDeploy vs Lovable hosting. For the broader pattern, see the main deploy guide.