Guides · 5 min read · Updated
My AI-built website broke: what now?
You used an AI tool to build your website. It looked great in the preview, and then things started breaking: forms that don't send, pages that fall apart on a phone, a fix that broke something else. First, take a breath. This happens to almost everyone who builds with AI, and it's very fixable.
1. Stop changing things for a moment
When something breaks, the instinct is to keep asking the AI to fix it. Past a certain size, the tool can't see the whole project at once, so each fix can create a new problem somewhere else. Pause, so you don't dig deeper.
2. Save a copy of what you have
Download the code, or connect the project to GitHub if your tool allows it. If there's a version that last worked, note which one it is. Whatever happens next, you want something to go back to.
3. Check for passwords and keys in the code
AI tools sometimes put API keys or passwords straight into the code or the chat. If you pasted any in, treat them as exposed: log in to the service they belong to and create new ones. This is the one urgent step, especially if your site handles payments or customer details.
4. Write down what's actually wrong
A simple list makes any fix faster and cheaper. Check these first:
- Does the contact form actually deliver to your inbox?
- Does every page work on a phone, not just in the preview?
- Is the site live on your own domain, or only inside the builder?
- Do logins, payments or saved data behave the same every time?
- Does fixing one thing break another?
5. Decide: fix, or rebuild?
If the main pages work and the problems are specific (a form here, a layout there), fixing is usually the right call and much cheaper than starting again.
If everything is fragile, the code is tangled, or it handles payments and customer data with shortcuts, a clean rebuild that keeps your content and design ideas can cost less over time. A good developer will tell you which, honestly, before you spend more.
None of this means you did something wrong
Building with AI was a sensible thing to try: it's fast, affordable and gets a first version surprisingly far. What it doesn't tell you is what it skipped. Accepting changes you couldn't check, pasting keys into the chat, ending up with pieces of several attempts: it's all completely normal, and none of it is a problem to fix.