I Built a Buy Me a Coffee Clone in 6 Hours Using AI (And You Can Too)
Contents
Introduction
What if I told you I built a fully functional payment platform in a single afternoon?
Not a mockup. Not a prototype. A real, working website that processes actual payments, manages user accounts, and is live right now at coffee.beyondintelligence.dev.
The kicker? I barely wrote any code myself.
The AI Development Revolution Is Here
Remember when building a payment platform meant:
- Weeks of backend development
- Complex authentication systems
- Payment integration nightmares
- Endless debugging sessions
That was last year. Today, I’m shipping production-ready apps in hours, not months.
My secret weapons:
- Lovable - An AI that writes entire applications from plain English
- Supabase - Backend infrastructure in minutes
- Stripe - Payments without the pain
See It In Action
Before I show you how to build your own, check out what I built:
☕ coffee.beyondintelligence.dev
The site offers a clean, modern way to support creators:
🚀 What I Built:
- ✅ Passwordless magic link auth - Just enter your email, click the link, and you’re logged in!
- ✅ Choose your support style:
- Quick one-time coffees ($3, $5, or $10)
- Monthly/weekly subscriptions for ongoing support
- ✅ Subscription management - Dashboard to manage your plans
- ✅ Global currency support - Automatically detects and accepts your local currency
- ✅ Beautiful, polished UI - Looks like it took months, built in hours
- ✅ Perfect mobile experience - Try it on your phone!
How the Magic Happened
Here’s where it gets really interesting. I didn’t just jump into Lovable - I used ChatGPT to optimise my approach first.
Step 1: ChatGPT as My Architect
I asked ChatGPT: “Help me create a buy me a coffee site with Lovable, following their prompting best practise”
ChatGPT generated:
- A complete knowledge base file with project specs
- Database schemas
- API documentation
- Step-by-step prompting strategy
- Even colour palettes and design guidelines!
Time spent: 10 minutes ⏱️
Step 2: The Quick Parts - UI & Deployment
With ChatGPT’s blueprint, Lovable flew through the basics:
- UI Generation: Beautiful interface with Tailwind CSS
- Component Structure: React components for everything
- Responsive Design: Mobile-first approach
- Deployment: One-click publish with Lovable’s hosting
This part was shockingly fast. The AI understood the design requirements and created a polished interface immediately.
Time spent: 1 hour ⏱️
Step 3: The Security Reality Check (80% of my time!)
Here’s the truth nobody talks about: AI generates prototype code, not production code.
In the early versions, Lovable suggested:
- Email-only auth (no verification!)
- Then email + simple password (still insecure)
- Handling payment data locally (huge liability!)
I spent 5 hours identifying and fixing security issues:
- Authentication: Rejected AI’s initial suggestions, implemented passwordless magic links
- Payment Security: Delegated ALL payment handling to Stripe (we store zero payment data)
- Database Security: Configured Row Level Security, prevented SQL injection
- Infrastructure: Enforced HTTPS everywhere
- Data Architecture: Single
customerstable linking to Stripe customer IDs
The beautiful part? Lovable generated all the secure code once I knew what to ask for:
- Supabase edge functions for payment processing
- Stripe webhook handlers
- Subscription management endpoints
- Secure API routes
I didn’t write the code - but I had to know what secure code looks like.
Time spent: 5 hours ⏱️ (reviewing, testing, hardening)
Step 4: Final Testing & Polish
The last phase - making sure everything actually works:
- End-to-end payment testing in sandbox
- Mobile responsiveness checks
- Error handling improvements
Time spent: 30 minutes ⏱️
Real Talk: My Results
Let me share the raw numbers:
- Total development time: 6.5 hours
- Step 1 - Planning (ChatGPT): 10 minutes
- Step 2 - UI & Deployment: 1 hour
- Step 3 - Security hardening: 5 hours (77% of project!)
- Step 4 - Testing & polish: 30 minutes
- Lines of code I personally wrote: 0 (zero!)
- Lines of code generated by AI: ~2,000+
- Security flaws caught and fixed: 7+
- Supabase edge functions created: 4
- Monthly running cost: $0 (free tiers)
Your Turn: Build Your Own Payment Platform This Weekend
I’m going to show you EXACTLY how to build your own version. No gatekeeping, no “figure it out yourself” - just pure, actionable steps.
Why start with a payment platform?
Because it’s the ultimate validation tool. Here’s the secret:
- Ideas are worthless until someone pays for them
- The fastest way to test any business? See if people will pay
- Whether it’s a course, service, or product - payment validates demand
- Skip surveys and waitlists - get real commitment with real money
What you can validate:
- Creators: Will people support your content?
- Consultants: Will clients pay for your expertise?
- Builders: Will users buy your product?
- Anyone: Will your idea make money?
Once someone pays, you deliver the value and boom - you’ve validated your business model in a weekend.
The best part? Lovable handles everything - from code generation to hosting. You don’t even need to know what GitHub is.
🚀 Step 1: Get Your Tools Ready
1. Sign up for Lovable
- Go to Lovable (yes, this is my referral link - it helps me create more content like this!)
- Start with the free trial
- You’ll need this to generate your app
2. Create a Supabase account
- Head to supabase.com
- Free tier is perfect for starting
- Note your project name and Lovable will handle integration
3. Set up Stripe
- Sign up at stripe.com
- You need to follow the steps to do ID verification if you want to receive payments
- Start in test mode (no real money)
- Grab your test API keys
✅ Checkpoint: You should have 3 browser tabs open with your new accounts
🧠 Step 1.5: Use ChatGPT to Optimize Your Approach
Before diving into Lovable, get ChatGPT to help you plan:
ChatGPT Prompt:
I want to build a [your idea] website using Lovable (an AI code generator).
Can you:
1. Create a knowledge base file with project specifications
2. Generate optimised prompts for Lovable
3. Include database schema and API structure
4. Suggest design guidelines
Make it production-ready with authentication and payments.
ChatGPT will give you:
- A complete project blueprint
- Step-by-step Lovable prompts
- Technical specifications
- Design system
Pro tip: This AI-to-AI handoff is the secret sauce!
🚀 Step 2: Generate Your App with Lovable
First, add your ChatGPT-generated knowledge base to Lovable’s Knowledge File section.
Then use these refined prompts (or the ones ChatGPT created for you):
Initial Build Prompt:
Use the knowledge file. Build a responsive landing page for "Support My Work".
Page should include:
- A hero section with a personal message
- One-time donation buttons ($3, $5, $10)
- Recurring donation toggle (weekly/monthly)
- Social media links (Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, website)
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Warm, coffeehouse aesthetic with Tailwind CSS
After each prompt:
- Test in preview mode
- Refine with specific requests
- Watch the magic happen!
🚀 Step 3: Connect Your Backend
Time to make it real with Supabase - and Lovable makes this ridiculously easy:
The Magic Integration:
- Click the Supabase integration button in Lovable
- Follow the connection wizard
- Lovable automatically creates your database!
What Lovable Sets Up For You:
create table customers (
id uuid references auth.users primary key,
stripe_customer_id text unique,
email text unique,
created_at timestamp default now()
);
-- That's it! Stripe handles everything else
Tell Lovable What You Want:
Connect to Supabase with:
- Passwordless magic link authentication
- Edge functions for payment processing
- Secure API routes with RLS enabled
- Webhook handlers for Stripe events
Lovable will:
- Configure your Supabase project
- Set up authentication flows
- Create edge functions for payments
- Enable all security features
No manual SQL needed! Just click, connect, and let Lovable handle the technical setup.
🚀 Step 4: Make Money with Stripe
This is where your site becomes real - and it’s simpler than you think:
Just One Key Needed:
- Get your Stripe secret key from the dashboard
- Add it to Lovable’s environment variables such as
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=your-stripe-secret(don’t just paste plain text) - That’s it!
Stripe Integration Prompts for Lovable:
Add Stripe payment processing with:
- One-time coffee purchases ($3, $5, $10)
- Monthly subscription tiers ($5, $10, $20)
- Auto-detect user currency and convert prices
- Customer portal for subscription management
- Beautiful checkout experience with loading states
- Supabase edge functions to handle all payment logic
The Magic of Edge Functions: Lovable generates Supabase edge functions that handle everything:
- Payment creation
- Subscription management
- Customer portal access
- Payment verification
Test the flow:
- Use card number:
4242 4242 4242 4242 - Any future date and CVC
- Watch the magic happen! ✨
Pro tip: Start in Stripe test mode, verify everything works, then flip to live mode when ready.
🚀 Step 5: Deploy and Get Your First Coffee
The Easiest Deploy Ever:
Lovable makes deployment ridiculously simple:
- Click the “Publish” button in Lovable
- Your site is instantly live! 🎉
- Optional: Link your custom domain with one click (like I did with coffee.beyondintelligence.dev)
That’s it. No GitHub, no build commands, no server setup.
Launch Checklist:
- ✅ Test payment flow end-to-end
- ✅ Check mobile responsiveness
- ✅ Switch Stripe to live mode
- ✅ Share with friends for first coffee!
This Changes Everything
Think about what just happened:
- You’re not a frontend developer, but you built a beautiful site
- You’re not a backend developer, but you built real infrastructure
- You’re not a security expert, but you shipped a secure payment platform
- You didn’t write a single line of code
- A fully working site in a few hours that accepts real money
The game-changer? AI has democratized software building.
Twelve months ago, you needed:
- Years of coding experience
- Design skills
- Backend knowledge
- Security expertise
- Thousands of dollars
Today, you need:
- An idea
- A Sunday afternoon
- $0 (free tiers)
- Willingness to learn
My Hard-Won Pro Tips
🎯 The ChatGPT + Lovable Power Combo:
- Use ChatGPT to create knowledge files and refine prompts
- Feed structured specs to Lovable for better results
- Iterate quickly - if something’s wrong, just re-prompt
- Don’t settle for the first output - refine until it’s perfect
💡 Speed Hacks That Saved Hours:
- Use Lovable’s Supabase integration (don’t manually set up databases!)
- Let edge functions handle payment logic
- Start with Stripe test mode - switch to live when ready
- Deploy directly from Lovable - no DevOps needed
⚠️ Avoid These Time Wasters:
- Don’t try to code fixes yourself - just re-prompt
- Skip complex database schemas - Stripe stores what you need
- Don’t overthink the design - Lovable’s UI is already polished
- Forget perfection - launch and iterate based on user feedback
The Bottom Line
Twelve months ago, building this would have taken me weeks and thousands in developer costs. Today, it took an afternoon and some AI prompts.
The tools are here. The barriers are gone. The only question is: what will you build?
I ran a live workshop walking people through these steps. You can watch the recording here
💬 Comments & Discussion