Use Squiid with
Lovable
Lovable needs credentials for every service your project touches. Give it one instead: SQUIID_API_KEY in .env, and every service in the catalog behind it.
What Lovable is
Lovable builds full stack web applications from a conversation in the browser. It generates a React frontend, wires up a backend and can publish the result, with a Supabase integration for data and authentication. It is the most literal expression of vibe coding, and the moment an app leaves the prototype stage it needs real services with real credentials behind it.
The problem: every agent wants keys
The moment a coding agent stops writing a component and starts wiring up a product, it needs credentials. A database URL for Supabase. A deploy token for Vercel. An API key for Resend. Another for Twilio, another for Stripe, another for whichever model provider the feature calls. Each one is a signup, a dashboard, a billing relationship and a secret that has to exist somewhere Lovable can reach.
What happens next is worse than a long .env file. People paste secrets into prompts to get better answers, and keys end up in chat transcripts, in screenshots posted for help, and in committed config. Because each key belongs to a different vendor, rotating one after a leak means finding it, regenerating it and updating every place it was copied to.
The fix: one key, one convention
Squiid holds the upstream credentials for every service in the catalog. Your project gets one variable:
SQUIID_API_KEY=sq_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Then every call your app or your agent makes goes to the gateway with that one key:
curl https://api.squiid.io/v1/supabase/... \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SQUIID_API_KEY"
Official SDKs take a base URL, so most integrations are a one line change rather than a rewrite:
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';
const db = createClient(
'https://api.squiid.io/v1/supabase',
process.env.SQUIID_API_KEY,
);
That is the gateway convention: https://api.squiid.io/v1/<service>/ with Authorization: Bearer $SQUIID_API_KEY. It is the same for every service, which is why an agent only has to learn it once. Full detail is on the gateway convention page.
Setting it up in Lovable
- Lovable projects have an area for environment variables and secrets used by server side code and edge functions. Add
SQUIID_API_KEYthere rather than pasting provider keys into the chat. - If you connect GitHub and sync the project to your own repository, the same single variable is all your local environment needs, which keeps the browser project and the repo in step.
- State the gateway convention in your prompt so generated server functions call
api.squiid.io. Check the Lovable documentation for the current name of the secrets panel, since the product moves quickly.
What it costs
Usage is paid from prepaid credits at par: $1 of credit is $1 at the provider, no markup. The free plan is $0/month with a 15% fee on credit top-ups and a $50 minimum top-up. Solo is $19.97/month and its top-up fee starts at 8%, falling to 6.5%, 5% and 3.5% as trailing 30-day API spend passes $100, $500 and $2,000. Team is $29.97 per seat per month for seats 1-5, $24.97 for seats 6-20 and $19.97 above that, with the same ladder one point lower. Custom pricing is 3% or less against a commitment. Subscription-priced services such as Supabase Pro at $25 a month pass through at the provider price with no fee. Credits pause at zero rather than overdrawing, with alerts at 75%, 90% and 100%. See spend controls.
Services agents ask for most
The eight services that come up first in almost every Lovable project, all reachable with the same key.
Supabase
DatabasePostgres with auth, storage and realtime.
Vercel
HostingDeploy from a git push, preview per branch.
Resend
EmailTransactional email in one POST request.
Twilio
MessagingSMS, voice and phone numbers worldwide.
Cloudflare R2
StorageR2 object storage, Workers, KV and D1.
Stripe
PaymentsCheckout, subscriptions and webhooks.
Anthropic
LLM APIClaude models for app-side generation.
OpenAI
LLM APIChat, embeddings, images and audio.
Set it up in 3 steps
Add the services in Squiid
Create a Squiid account, top up credits, and click add on the services this project needs. Squiid provisions them upstream and keeps the provider credentials.
One line in .env
Put SQUIID_API_KEY=sq_live_… in .env and remove every provider key you were carrying. That is the whole secret surface of the project.
Tell Lovable the convention
Write the base URL and the header into your project rules file so Lovable generates correct calls without being reminded.
Questions people ask
How do I add API keys to a Lovable project?
Use the project secrets or environment variables area rather than the chat. With Squiid there is one value to add, SQUIID_API_KEY, and it covers every service the app calls, so there is no growing list to maintain.
Lovable uses Supabase already. Why route through Squiid?
So the Supabase credential is not the thing your project holds, and so Supabase, email, payments and model calls arrive on one invoice with one balance. If you only ever use Supabase, the direct integration is fine.
Can I take a Lovable app to my own repository?
Yes, through the GitHub sync. The single gateway variable moves with it, so local development works as soon as you set SQUIID_API_KEY. Nothing needs to be reconnected service by service.
What stops a generated app from overspending?
Prepaid credits. Usage draws down a balance you funded, alerts fire at 75%, 90% and 100%, and calls pause at zero rather than generating a bill. Auto top-up is optional and capped.
Give Lovable one key.
Not twelve.
One account, one API key, one bill and one dashboard for every service in the catalog your project needs.