On August 16, 2026, KashBoss stopped working for every customer at the same moment. Cashiers could not sell. Owners could not open their dashboards. Even logging in failed. Every request to our servers came back with the same error.
My AI assistant immediately built a technical theory about a timeout inside the database and began changing a setting to test it. The real cause was much simpler, and I found it by opening a billing page. Our database was still on the free plan, which allowed 5 gigabytes of outgoing data per month. We had used 5.93. When a free project goes over its limit, the provider restricts it, and that restriction looks exactly like a total outage.
The next day it went down again, because the smallest server size could no longer load the map of our database's structure: hundreds of tables, functions and security rules. Nobody had told me that the accounts you open on day one are part of your product.
The short answer
To build a SaaS with an AI assistant you need an ordinary computer with a few tools installed, plus accounts for code storage (GitHub), a database (for us, Supabase), web hosting (for us, Cloudflare), the app stores if you want mobile apps, a domain name, and the AI assistant itself. Free plans are fine for building. Before any customer depends on your product, move every critical service to a paid plan with a card attached.
Think of it as opening a shop
A shop needs a few things in place, and software is the same:
- A workshop where the work happens: your computer, with a handful of tools installed.
- A craftsman who does the skilled work: your AI coding assistant.
- A safe for the blueprints where every version is stored: GitHub, a service that keeps your code and its full history.
- A stockroom with a lock on every shelf where customer data lives: your database provider.
- A shop front on a busy street: web hosting, a domain name and, for mobile, the Google Play and Apple app stores.
Each of these is an account with a company, and each has a free tier and a paid tier. Free tiers are wonderful for building. They are dangerous for running a business, because their limits are designed to be hit, and your customers feel it before you do.
A free plan is a building permit, not a lease.
Do you need a powerful computer?
No. KashBoss was built on an ordinary Windows laptop with 7.6 gigabytes of memory. The AI assistant does its thinking on the provider's servers, not on your machine.
It matters in one moment: building the final version of a mobile app. Our Android release crashed twice with an "out of memory" error. The code was fine. Chrome and two editor windows were open, leaving less than 2 gigabytes free. Closing them made the same build succeed. So any computer from the last five years will do. Keep at least 20 gigabytes of disk free and close heavy programs before a release build.
Install the tools one at a time
These are the tools on my machine:
| Tool | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Git | Saves every version of your code on your computer |
| GitHub CLI | Lets the AI open and merge updates on GitHub for you |
| Flutter | Builds the web and mobile app from one code |
| Android Studio | Provides the parts needed to build Android apps |
| Claude Code | The AI assistant that works inside your project folder |
| Python | Runs small helper scripts |
You do not have to follow a page of instructions you do not understand. Once the assistant is installed, it can check what is missing and guide you. The important word is guide: ask it to go one tool at a time and explain each step before it runs anything.
The accounts and what each is for
| Account | What it is for |
|---|---|
| GitHub | Stores the code; runs tests and deploys |
| Supabase | Database, logins, server functions |
| Cloudflare | Hosts the website; stores product images |
| Google Play | Publishes the Android app |
| Apple Developer | Publishes the iPhone app |
| Google Cloud | Maps for live tracking; a card is required even inside the free quota |
| Codemagic | Builds the iPhone app in the cloud, so no Mac is needed |
| AI assistant | Writes the code with you; the largest regular cost |
Prices change often, so check each provider's current page.
GitHub's free plan includes a monthly allowance of automated work minutes. In September 2026 we merged more than 350 updates and ran out of free minutes before the month ended, so we got a bill. We then made the automation skip work that did not need to run.
Running paying customers on a free database plan. For months, real companies used KashBoss while our database sat on the free plan. On August 16, 2026, we crossed the free limit on outgoing data and the provider restricted the project, so every customer lost access at once, including logins. My assistant spent valuable time chasing a technical theory before we looked at the usage page. The next day the smallest server size could not handle our database's structure, and that caused a second outage. Two days of disruption, caused by a small monthly cost we should have been paying from the start.
The rule we follow now: before any customer depends on the product, every critical service is on a paid plan with a card attached. And when everything fails at once, check the usage and billing pages first. It is usually a limit, a bill or a suspension, not a bug.
Protect the accounts
Your accounts hold your customers' data and your ability to ship. Treat them like the keys to your shop.
- Use one owner email for every account, and write down which email owns which account. Losing that email can lock you out of your own product.
- Turn on two-step verification everywhere: a password plus a code from your phone.
- Decide what happens at a limit. Many providers let you choose between stopping the service and billing you for the extra. For a business system, a surprise bill is better than a surprise outage, so I turned the stop-at-limit switch off on purpose.
If your card fails and the invoice goes unpaid, the provider can pause your projects, so keep a backup card on file.
Ask for a cost check before anything new
Some features cost almost nothing, and others can cost a fortune. Converting every GPS point from our sales reps into a street address would have cost thousands of dollars a month at our volume, so we never built it. Every time an idea touches a paid service, I ask for the bill before I ask for the code.
Chapter 1 of the book has the full accounts sheet and a prompt for a monthly audit of every service.
Key takeaways
- An ordinary laptop is enough to build a full business system. Free disk space and closed programs matter more than raw power.
- The accounts you open on day one are part of your product, and a free-plan limit can take down every customer at once.
- When everything fails together, check billing and usage pages before chasing technical theories.
- Use one owner email, two-step verification and a backup payment card, and decide in advance what happens when you reach a limit.
- Ask for the monthly cost of a feature before you ask for its code.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Mac to publish an iPhone app?
No. A cloud build service rents you a Mac by the minute. We used one for KashBoss, and the first iPhone build took six minutes and was uploaded straight to Apple. You still need a paid Apple developer account, and some steps must be done by you in Apple's website.
Is it safe to launch a SaaS on free plans?
Free plans are fine for building and testing, but not for customers who depend on you. Their limits are designed to be hit, and crossing one can restrict your whole project at once. Move every critical service to a paid plan with a card attached before your first customer relies on you.
What is the first thing to check when my whole app stops working?
Open the usage and billing pages of your database and hosting providers. When login and every other feature fail together, the cause is usually a limit, an unpaid bill or a suspension rather than a bug in your code. It took us a billing page, not a debugging session, to find ours.