Should I rebuild my MVP
or keep fixing it?

Messy is not the same as broken.

Early products accumulate weird decisions. That is normal. Naming is inconsistent. Components are duplicated. The first database model is not elegant. The UI has leftovers from three different versions of the idea.

None of that automatically justifies a rewrite. If users can get value and the product can still be changed without everything collapsing, targeted cleanup may be the much better trade.

Signs a partial fix is probably enough

• The main flows work and are understandable.
• Most bugs are localized rather than systemic.
• You can ship changes without breaking unrelated areas constantly.
• The data model is imperfect but still represents the product reasonably well.
• The biggest problems are UX, scope, positioning, or missing tests rather than a fundamental platform mismatch.

Signs you may need deeper reconstruction

• Core data is modeled in a way that makes required features extremely difficult or unsafe.
• Authentication, permissions, payments, or other critical foundations cannot be trusted.
• Every small change causes failures across unrelated areas.
• You are trapped on a platform that cannot support a now-essential requirement.
• You do not control the source, infrastructure, or key accounts needed to maintain the product.

Even then, “rewrite everything” is not the only option. Sometimes the right move is replacing one subsystem while leaving the rest alone.

Ask what the rewrite buys you.

Before starting over, name the concrete capability the rebuild unlocks. Faster feature work? Reliable permissions? A platform migration? Better performance for a real load problem? If the answer is just “a cleaner codebase,” compare that benefit honestly against months of duplicated work.