An AI-generated website is still a website someone has to own and maintain. The client may arrive with a convincing demo, a live URL, and no clear idea how the forms, content, deployment or domain work. That is a normal starting point for technical discovery, not a reason to dismiss the work.
The first task is to find out what actually exists. A polished screen can be backed by solid code, a fragile chain of services or a prototype that has never handled a real visitor.
Inventory before editing
Identify the platform, repository, hosting account, domain and DNS owner. Find the source files, build process, database if any, and third-party services. Check whether the client can export the site and who pays for each subscription. Make a backup or copy before changing a live version.
Ask which parts the client generated, which a developer later modified and which parts are merely embedded services. This tells you where a repair is possible and where a replacement may be safer.
Test the journeys that carry risk
Try the navigation on a small screen and by keyboard. Submit forms in a controlled test and verify where messages arrive. Check links, error states, consent and analytics. Review headings and page content as actual text, rather than relying on visual appearance. Look for exposed keys and understand how secrets are stored before touching integrations.
Do not turn every finding into a rebuild recommendation. Distinguish a cosmetic flaw from a failure that costs inquiries, breaks accessibility or exposes data.
Choose among three paths
Stabilize when the foundation is serviceable and the issues are bounded. Document ownership, fix the important journeys and make the deployment reproducible.
Rework selected pieces when the front end is valuable but forms, content management, accessibility or performance need a deliberate implementation.
Migrate or rebuild when the platform cannot support the client’s required workflow, the source cannot be maintained, or critical dependencies cannot be recovered. Explain what can be retained so the client understands the cost.
Define the next owner
The handoff should say who updates content, who deploys code, who monitors the forms, who pays for hosting and how the site is restored. An AI tool may have helped make the first version. It is not an operating plan.
For agencies, this is a good place to bring in a technical partner. You keep the client relationship and creative direction; the specialist turns uncertainty into an assessment, a scoped plan and a site that can be supported. WordPress support for agencies is one route when the inherited site uses that platform.