Break AI fix loop — stop Cursor and Lovable breaking yesterday’s feature.
“The filter worked, but the table stopped loading. I asked it to fix the table, and the filter disappeared.” We end that loop. Architecture, critical-path tests, TypeScript strict, and an AI guardrails file — in 2 weeks.
Break AI fix loop is a $3,999 fixed-fee, 2-week engagement that stops the AI regression cycle. We install real module boundaries, write integration tests on every critical path, add a regression test for every bug you have hit, pin TypeScript strict at seams, gate GitHub Actions CI on every PR, and ship a .cursorrules / .claude/rules.md file that tells future prompts which boundaries to respect. You keep vibe-coding new features — but Cursor, Lovable, and Bolt can no longer silently break working ones. Best for apps in the 1k–5k line range inside the prompt-test-break loop.
Symptoms the AI regression cycle is producing.
Every client who hires Break-the-Fix-Loop has at least four of these six symptoms. Each row names the root cause and the specific intervention we install in 10 business days.
| Symptom | Root cause | What we install |
|---|---|---|
| Asked Cursor to fix A, it broke B, C, and D | No module boundaries; every prompt touches unrelated files; no tests protect current behavior | Architecture map + integration tests at the 3–5 seams where regressions keep landing |
| Lovable keeps breaking the same feature every prompt | Missing regression suite; the Lovable prompt has no memory of the last bug | Regression test per historical bug + AI guardrails file pinning the boundaries |
| By file seven, the AI forgot decisions from file two | LLM context window loss on large codebases; no typed contracts at seams | TypeScript strict at seams + Zod schemas; AI cannot silently change the contract |
| Credit burn climbing with zero shipped features | Prompt-retry tax from silent regressions; no CI gate to catch broken merges | GitHub Actions CI required on every PR; pre-commit hook blocks broken merges |
| Dreading the handoff to a human developer | Untyped, untested codebase; new dev onboard time measured in weeks | Architecture doc + test-running guide + Loom walkthrough; day-one productivity |
| Unsure which Cursor prompt broke production | No staging, no preview deploys, no rollback path; prompts land straight in main | Staging branch + Vercel preview deploys + tested rollback procedure |
Ten-day stop AI regression cycle schedule.
D1–D2 audits the fix loop. D3–D4 maps the boundaries the AI keeps breaking. D5–D8 lands the refactor behind tests. D9–D10 wires the CI gate, TS strict, the AI guardrails file, and the handoff Loom.
- D1–2days 1–2
Regression audit — catalogue every Cursor fix loop
Day 1–2: we walk your last month of commits and the bugs you filed, cataloging every ‘fixed A, broke B’ moment. This becomes the regression test backlog we burn down later in the engagement.
- D3–4days 3–4
Architecture map — draw the missing boundaries
Day 3–4: map the module boundaries the AI prompts cannot hold in their head. One A4 page identifying the 3–5 seams where regressions keep landing and where typed contracts will live.
- D5–8days 5–8
Refactor behind tests at the seams
Day 5–8: write integration tests asserting current behavior (green), refactor the seam behind a single function or module, tests stay green. Ship daily to a staging branch. Nothing touches production yet.
- D9–10days 9–10
CI gate + TypeScript strict + AI guardrails
Day 9–10: GitHub Actions required on every PR — type-check, lint, tests. TS strict on, implicit-any warnings cleared in touched files. .cursorrules / .claude/rules.md file pinning the boundaries for future prompts. 45-minute handoff Loom.
- D1–2days 1–2
Regression audit — catalogue every Cursor fix loop
Day 1–2: we walk your last month of commits and the bugs you filed, cataloging every ‘fixed A, broke B’ moment. This becomes the regression test backlog we burn down later in the engagement.
- D3–4days 3–4
Architecture map — draw the missing boundaries
Day 3–4: map the module boundaries the AI prompts cannot hold in their head. One A4 page identifying the 3–5 seams where regressions keep landing and where typed contracts will live.
- D5–8days 5–8
Refactor behind tests at the seams
Day 5–8: write integration tests asserting current behavior (green), refactor the seam behind a single function or module, tests stay green. Ship daily to a staging branch. Nothing touches production yet.
- D9–10days 9–10
CI gate + TypeScript strict + AI guardrails
Day 9–10: GitHub Actions required on every PR — type-check, lint, tests. TS strict on, implicit-any warnings cleared in touched files. .cursorrules / .claude/rules.md file pinning the boundaries for future prompts. 45-minute handoff Loom.
“By file seven, the AI had forgotten the architectural decisions it made in file two. The only way out was to put the decisions in a file the AI had to read every time.”
The .cursorrules file we install on day 10.
This is the AI guardrails file we commit at the end of every Break-the-Fix-Loop engagement — one for Cursor, a mirror copy for .claude/rules.md. Every future prompt has to read it, and the CI gate refuses to merge changes that break it. It is the single biggest reason clients stop seeing the same Lovable keeps breaking symptom post-engagement. External refs: Cursor rules docs · Claude Code docs.
01# .cursorrules — pinned 2026-04-17 (Afterbuild Labs Break-the-Fix-Loop handoff)02# This file is the contract the AI must respect. Do not edit without updating tests.03 04## Architecture boundaries05- Data access lives only in `src/lib/db/*`. Components never import from `@supabase/*`.06- HTTP/Stripe calls live only in `src/lib/integrations/*`. No `fetch` in components.07- Auth state reads live only in `src/lib/auth/session.ts`. No direct cookie access elsewhere.08- Server actions live only in `src/app/*/actions.ts`. No `"use server"` in components.09 10## Required patterns11- Every exported function has an explicit return type. No `any`, no implicit `any`.12- Every seam between a component and a module uses a Zod schema for input validation.13- Every mutation has an integration test in `tests/integration/` that runs in CI.14- Every bug fix adds a regression test in `tests/regression/` named `issue-<id>.test.ts`.15 16## Banned patterns (these break production — fail the PR)17- Using `createClient` from `@supabase/supabase-js` outside `src/lib/db/*`.18- Direct `stripe.*` calls in React components or route handlers.19- Disabling TypeScript strict, or adding `// @ts-ignore` without an `ISSUE-` comment.20- Committing `.env` or `.env.local`. Use `.env.example` for new keys.21- Skipping the signature verify step in `/api/webhooks/stripe`.22 23## Before you ship241. `npm run typecheck` — must pass with zero errors.252. `npm run lint` — must pass with zero warnings in touched files.263. `npm test` — integration + regression suites must be green.274. Open the PR against `main`. CI blocks merge if any step above regresses.What the Break-the-Fix-Loop engagement ships.
Eight deliverables — each a keyword-bearing noun phrase, each landed in your repo by day 10, each enforced by the CI gate.
- 01Architectural refactor — module boundaries with typed seams, no more tangled files
- 02Critical-path test coverage — every revenue, auth, and data flow gets an integration test
- 03Regression test for each bug you have hit in the last month, so it cannot come back
- 04GitHub Actions CI that runs tests on every PR and blocks merges that break main
- 05TypeScript strict at every seam so the AI cannot silently regress an API contract
- 06AI guardrails file (.cursorrules / .claude/rules.md) that pins the boundaries for future prompts
- 07Written architecture doc + onboarding runbook for any future dev or AI prompt
- 0845-minute handoff Loom — the asset most clients revisit six months later
Two weeks. One price. End the Cursor regression fix cycle.
Best value for apps in the 1k–5k line range. Bigger codebases quoted as Finish My MVP ($7,499) or custom. Includes a mid-engagement Loom on day 5 and the handoff Loom on day 10.
- turnaround
- 2 weeks
- scope
- Architecture · integration tests · CI gate · TS strict · AI guardrails
- guarantee
- Partial refund on genuine scope miss — same promise as Emergency Triage
Break the fix loop vs hourly vs rewrite.
Four dimensions. The lime column is what you get when you pick a scoped architecture-plus-tests engagement over an open meter or a blank-slate rewrite.
| Dimension | Hourly contractor | Full rewrite | Break the Fix Loop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hourly contractor — open meter | Full rewrite — $25k+, blank slate | $3,999 fixed · 2 weeks · partial refund on miss |
| What changes | Visible features rewritten, tests optional | Everything replaced, old app discarded | UI identical; architecture + tests + CI underneath |
| AI usage after handoff | AI still breaks things, no feedback loop | Team prompts a fresh codebase they do not own | Keep vibe-coding; CI gate catches every regression |
| Deliverables | Code diff only, no docs or rules | New codebase, no migration playbook | Architecture doc + AI guardrails file + CI gate + Loom |
Who should pick Break the Fix Loop (and who should not).
Pick Break-the-Fix-Loop if…
- →You have spent more than a week prompting the same bug across Cursor, Lovable, or Bolt.
- →Your app is in the 1k–5k line range and has real modules the AI keeps violating.
- →You want to keep vibe-coding new features, but stop the AI from breaking old ones.
- →You are about to hand the codebase to a new developer and you know it will be embarrassing.
- →Credit burn is climbing with zero shipped features — the loop is now the bottleneck.
Do not pick Break-the-Fix-Loop if…
- →The data model is unsalvageable — Finish My MVP or a full Platform Escape is the right next move.
- →The app is 10k+ lines of untested AI spaghetti — 2 weeks will not be enough; we will say so.
- →You want a single integration fixed, not a refactor — pick Integration Fix ($799) instead.
- →Production is down right now — Emergency Triage ($299) is the 48-hour SLA you want.
- →You are looking for a rewrite with a new stack — we keep your existing code, not replace it.
Engineers who run the AI regression refactor.
Stopping the Cursor regression fix loop is a typed-refactor-plus-debugging engagement. Three specialists share the work.
Runs the architectural refactor and typed-boundary pass — TS strict on, Zod at seams, so the next Cursor or Lovable prompt cannot silently regress an API contract.
02 · Regression traceTraces the 'fix A and break B' regressions, writes the tests that fail first, then fixes the seam — so the refactor lands behind a real test harness, not hope.
03 · Regression auditRuns the D1–D2 regression audit, catalogues every bug from the last month, and scopes the test backlog that gets burned down during the refactor phase.
Break AI fix loop — your questions, answered.
Related AI rescue services
Related Cursor / Lovable fixes
End the AI fix loop. Keep the Cursor prompts.
2 weeks. $3,999. Architecture, critical-path tests, CI gate, AI guardrails file. After the engagement, your next Cursor or Lovable prompt stops breaking yesterday’s feature.
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