Common Issues general

My App Was Working Yesterday and Now It's Completely Down

Your app was running perfectly fine — maybe for days, weeks, or even months. Then suddenly, without you changing anything, it stopped working. Users are seeing errors, the page won't load, or features that worked yesterday are now broken.

This is terrifying, especially if you have paying customers or an important demo coming up. You didn't touch anything, so why did it break? The answer is usually that something in the background changed — a subscription expired, a service went down, or an automatic update broke something.

The key is to figure out what changed and fix it as quickly as possible. Most sudden outages have simple causes once you know where to look.

Error Messages You Might See

503 Service Unavailable 500 Internal Server Error This site's security certificate has expired ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID Database connection limit reached Account suspended
503 Service Unavailable500 Internal Server ErrorThis site's security certificate has expiredERR_CERT_DATE_INVALIDDatabase connection limit reachedAccount suspended

Common Causes

  • Hosting subscription expired — Your free trial or paid plan ended and the hosting provider took your app offline
  • Database hit its limit — Your database ran out of free storage or connections and stopped accepting requests
  • API key expired or was revoked — A third-party service you depend on (payments, email, maps) changed or expired your access key
  • SSL certificate expired — Your site's security certificate ran out and browsers now block the page entirely
  • Automatic updates broke something — A library or dependency auto-updated to a version that's not compatible with your code
  • The service your app depends on went down — If Supabase, Firebase, Vercel, or another service has an outage, your app goes down too

How to Fix It

  1. Check your hosting platform first — Log in and see if there are any warnings, billing issues, or outage notices
  2. Check third-party service status — Visit the status pages of services you use (Supabase status, Vercel status, Stripe status, etc.)
  3. Look at billing and subscriptions — Check if any free trials expired or credit cards were declined
  4. Check your domain and SSL — Make sure your domain is still connected and the SSL certificate hasn't expired
  5. Look at error messages — Open the app and note any error codes (500, 503, etc.) to help identify the problem
  6. Redeploy the app — Sometimes simply redeploying from your hosting dashboard fixes temporary issues

Real developers can help you.

Jaime Orts-Caroff Jaime Orts-Caroff I'm a Senior Android developer, open to work in various fields Mehdi Ben Haddou Mehdi Ben Haddou - Founder of Chessigma (1M+ users) & many small projects - ex Founding Engineer @Uplane (YC F25) - ex Software Engineer @Amazon and @Booking.com Dor Yaloz Dor Yaloz SW engineer with 6+ years of experience, I worked with React/Node/Python did projects with React+Capacitor.js for ios Supabase expert Omar Faruk Omar Faruk As a Product Engineer at Klasio, I contributed to end-to-end product development, focusing on scalability, performance, and user experience. My work spanned building and refining core features, developing dynamic website templates, integrating secure and reliable payment gateways, and optimizing the overall system architecture. I played a key role in creating a scalable and maintainable platform to support educators and learners globally. I'm enthusiastic about embracing new challenges and making meaningful contributions. hanson1014 hanson1014 Full-stack developer experienced in fixing and deploying AI-generated apps from Lovable, Bolt.new, Cursor, and Replit. I specialize in debugging Supabase integration issues (auth flows, RLS policies, database connections), fixing broken deployments, resolving routing/blank screen problems, and cleaning up messy React/Vite codebases. I also build production apps with the Claude API and have shipped a Mac desktop dev tool (Nexterm from scratch. Based in Hong Kong, fast turnaround. Jacek Rozanski Jacek Rozanski Senior PHP/Symfony developer and DevOps engineer with 20+ years of professional experience, running opcode.pl (web development agency, est. 2004). Day job: I'm the sole backend developer at merketing company where I own and maintain 11 PHP/Symfony microservices on AWS (ECS Fargate, RDS, S3, CloudFront), handle the full CI/CD pipeline (Bitbucket Pipelines, Docker), and manage monitoring with Sentry and CloudWatch. These services handle high request volumes in production every month. What I bring to AI-built apps: - I audit and fix security issues (OWASP methodology), performance bottlenecks, and architectural problems in codebases generated by Cursor, Claude Code, Lovable, Bolt, and v0 - I refactor AI-generated prototypes into production-grade applications with proper error handling, testing, and clean architecture (SOLID, DDD, hexagonal architecture) - I set up the infrastructure AI tools don't touch: AWS hosting, CI/CD pipelines, automated deployments, database optimization, monitoring, and alerting - I integrate external services: payment providers, email systems, partner APIs, SSO/auth Tech stack: PHP 8.x, Symfony, React, Next.js, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Docker, AWS (ECS, RDS, S3, SQS/SNS, CloudFront), Terraform, Supabase. I also use AI tools daily (Claude Code, Cursor) in my own workflow, so I understand both the strengths and the gaps in AI-generated code. Based in Poland (CET timezone). Available for async work and calls during EU/US business hours. Luca Liberati Luca Liberati I work on monoliths and microservices, backends and frontends, manage K8s clusters and love to design apps architecture Alvin Voo Alvin Voo I’ve watched the tech landscape evolve over the last decade—from the structured days of Java Server Pages to the current "wild west" of Agentic-driven development. While AI can "vibe" a frontend into existence, I specialize in the architecture that keeps it from collapsing. My expertise lies in the critical backend infrastructure: the parts that must be fast, secure, and scalable. I thrive on high-pressure environments, such as when I had only three weeks to architect and launch an Ethereum redemption system with minimal prior crypto knowledge, turning it into a major revenue stream. What I bring to your project: Forensic Debugging: I don't just "patch" bugs; I use tools like Datadog and Explain Analyzers to map out bottlenecks and resolve root causes—like significantly reducing memory usage by optimizing complex DB joins. Full-Stack Context: Deep experience in Node.js and React, ensuring backends play perfectly with mobile and web teams. Sanity in the Age of AI: I bridge the gap between "best practices" and modern speed, ensuring your project isn't just built fast, but built to last. PawelPloszaj PawelPloszaj I'm fronted developer with 10+ years of experience with big projects. I have small backend background too David Olverson David Olverson Solo dev shipping production apps with AI-assisted development. I specialize in rescuing broken Lovable/Bolt/Cursor builds and taking them to production. 10+ apps shipped including SaaS CRMs, gaming platforms, real estate tools, and Discord bots. Stack: Next.js 16, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Prisma. I use Claude Code with 50+ custom skills for rapid delivery. Average turnaround: 2-4 weeks from broken prototype to production.

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Frequently Asked Questions

I didn't change anything, so why did it break?

Many things can change without you doing anything: hosting subscriptions expire, database storage fills up, SSL certificates expire, or services you depend on have their own outages. Regular maintenance prevents most of these surprises.

How can I prevent this from happening again?

Set up uptime monitoring (free tools like UptimeRobot will alert you immediately), keep track of when subscriptions renew, and make sure payment methods on all services are up to date.

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