# Locking an app

When an app is finished — or it's live and people are using it — you may not want it changed
again by accident in a later conversation. **Locking** freezes the app: your AI can still look at
it, but it can't edit, redeploy, or delete it until you unlock it.

## What locking does

While an app is locked, your AI is blocked from making **any change** to it:

- No editing files or redeploying.
- No changing the database or running migrations.
- No uploading assets, deleting versions, or deleting the app.

If your AI tries, it gets a clear "this app is locked" message and stops, instead of quietly
changing your live app.

## What still works while locked

Locking only blocks changes — it never gets in the way of looking or copying:

- Your AI can still **read** the app, check its status, view logs, and inspect the data.
- You can still **save a version** and **make a copy** (fork).
- You can still **create a draft** to experiment safely (see below).

## Only you can lock and unlock — from the web

Locking and unlocking happen in your [Dashboard](/dashboard), not through the chat. This is on
purpose: your AI **cannot unlock an app**, so a stray instruction in a conversation can never
override your decision to protect it. To unlock, open your dashboard, find the project, and toggle
it off — then your AI can edit it again.

## Working on a locked app without unlocking it

You don't have to unlock to try things out. Ask your AI to make a **draft** — a private copy with
its own link — and experiment there freely. The locked app stays untouched. When you're happy and
ready to publish the changes to the real app, you'll need to **unlock it first**, then apply the
draft. See [Versions & undo](/docs/versions-and-undo) for how drafts work.

## When to use it

- An app you've shipped and don't want altered.
- A live app with real users, where an accidental redeploy would be disruptive.
- Anything you want to "set and forget" while you keep building other projects.

See also [Managing your projects](/docs/managing-projects).