Prototypes are valuable because they collapse uncertainty quickly. They become liabilities when teams either polish too early or never harden at all.
The transition point is usually clear: more teams depend on the tool, critical decisions rely on its output, and ad-hoc fixes become routine operational cost.
The right move is incremental platformization: stabilize interfaces, add baseline observability, and isolate high-change surfaces behind clear ownership.
You do not need a full rewrite to gain platform reliability. You need disciplined boundaries and a roadmap that protects stability first.