Lovable login works in preview, breaks in production: the 3 redirect lists

#supabase #lovable #webdev #auth

Login works on the Lovable preview. You publish, or put a custom domain in front, and now sign-in loops, drops you on localhost:3000, or comes back with no session. The React didn't change. The host did.

Supabase Auth only sends the browser back to URLs it already trusts. Preview was on that list. Production wasn't.

What it looks like

Preview: Google / GitHub / magic link works. Production: spinner, then the login page again.
After OAuth you land on http://localhost:3000 or the old *.lovable.app preview host.
The address bar ends in #error=... or error_description=Unsupported%20redirect.
Google shows Error 400: redirect_uri_mismatch naming a URL you don't recognize.
Confirm / reset emails open the preview app, or 404 on the live domain.

Test in a private window on the live origin. Preview cookies will lie to you.

There are three lists, not one

Most people paste the production URL into one box and call it done.

Supabase Site URL (Authentication → URL Configuration). The default redirect when your code doesn't pass redirectTo. Magic links and password resets use it. A new project starts at http://localhost:3000.
Supabase Redirect URLs (same page). The allowlist. Every redirectTo must match it, or Auth quietly ignores it and uses Site URL. That's how you "set production" and still bounce to localhost.
The OAuth provider's Authorized redirect URI (Google Cloud, GitHub). This is not your app. It's Supabase's callback, https://YOUR_PROJECT.supabase.co/auth/v1/callback. Publishing the Lovable app doesn't change it. Getting it wrong gives redirect_uri_mismatch at the provider, which looks like a Lovable bug.

On a connected Supabase project, the first two live in the Supabase dashboard, not the Lovable chat. (Lovable Cloud, the built-in backend, is configured in Lovable instead.)

The fix

Site URL = the live origin, e.g. https://myapp.com (or your *.lovable.app host if that's what's published). Leave preview out of it, since it's the default for emails.

Redirect URLs: add every origin you actually use. ** matches across /:

https://myapp.com/**
https://myapp.com/auth/callback
https://*.lovable.app/**
http://localhost:5173/**

Whatever path your code passes as redirectTo must be covered. A trailing-slash mismatch is enough to fall back to Site URL.

Provider console (Google / GitHub): JavaScript origins get your app's origin. Authorized redirect URIs get the Supabase callback copied from Authentication → Providers. Don't put https://myapp.com/auth/callback there: Google returns to Supabase, and Supabase returns to your app.

redirectTo in code: hardcoding the preview host is how production "randomly" returns to preview. Use the current origin:

const redirectTo = `${window.location.origin}/auth/callback`;

const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOAuth({
  provider: "google",
  options: { redirectTo },
});

Same for resetPasswordForEmail and signInWithOtp. If you customized email templates, {{ .SiteURL }} always points at Site URL; use {{ .RedirectTo }} when the link should follow what you passed.

60-second checklist

Private window, live hostname.
Site URL is production, not localhost or only the preview host.
Redirect URLs cover production (plus /auth/callback if you use it); preview can stay as a wildcard.
Provider redirect URI is https://YOUR_PROJECT.supabase.co/auth/v1/callback.
redirectTo is built from window.location.origin.
Read the error / error_description in the URL fragment on the landing page. Auth still redirects on failure; the reason is in the hash.

Full guide

The longer version with source links and an FAQ (Site URL vs Redirect URLs, "I set Site URL, why localhost?", Lovable vs Supabase settings) is here:

https://fixloop.dev/guides/lovable-login-preview-vs-production

If sessions exist but saves silently do nothing, that's RLS, not redirects. I wrote up a 5-minute check for that.

I run FixLoop. There's a free scan for leaked keys and missing headers, and we fix broken Lovable/Supabase apps for a fixed price. No fix, no pay.

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