# Stop Burning Lovable Credits — Setup Guide

Edit your Lovable project for free with GitHub + Claude Code. Two-way sync, zero credits spent on edits.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/wr7sn9ZvFKE

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## What you need

- A Lovable project (any plan)
- A free GitHub account — https://github.com
- Claude Code installed — https://chadesheppard.com/claude-code-guide
- 10 minutes

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## Step 1 — Connect Lovable to GitHub

1. Open your Lovable project.
2. Top-right → **GitHub** → **Connect to GitHub**.
3. Authorize the Lovable app on your GitHub account.
4. Choose an org and repo name → **Create repository**.

Lovable now pushes every change you make in the chat prompt box to GitHub, and pulls every change you push from anywhere else. Two-way sync is on.

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## Step 2 — Get your code into Claude Code

Open Claude Code in the terminal and paste:

```
Clone https://github.com/<your-username>/<your-repo> into ./<your-repo>, cd into it, install dependencies, and start the dev server.
```

Claude Code will:

1. `git clone` your repo.
2. Install dependencies (`bun install` or `npm install`).
3. Start the dev server on `localhost` and print the URL.

Open the URL in your browser — that's your Lovable project running locally.

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## Step 3 — Ground Claude in your codebase (do this every time)

Before you touch anything, paste:

```
Analyze this codebase and explain the structure — the framework, the routing, where pages live, where components live, and any conventions I should follow. Do not change any files yet.
```

This keeps Claude from guessing at what you built.

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## Step 4 — Make an edit and push it back

Ask for the change in plain English, for example:

```
Add the word "test" to the very top of the homepage in large font.
```

Once you see it in your browser and you like it, push it back:

```
Please commit this change with a clear message and push it to GitHub.
```

Refresh your Lovable preview — the change is there. Zero Lovable credits spent.

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## The whole trick

Every edit you make through Claude Code and push to GitHub is real work on your app that never touches your Lovable message limit. Use Lovable for what it's great at (fast starts, easy deploys), use Claude Code for the grind.

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## Related

- Claude Code Guide → https://chadesheppard.com/claude-code-guide
- Is Paying for AI Worth It? → https://chadesheppard.com/is-paying-for-ai-worth-it
- All playbooks → https://chadesheppard.com/playbooks