2026-08-07 — Docker build: final fix = ship prebuilt dist, drop npm from image

Correction to earlier entry

The first "fix" (remove NODE_ENV=production, use npm ci) was never actually persisted — the committed Dockerfile still had ENV NODE_ENV=production + npm install, and EasyPanel still failed with vite: not found at the npm build step. (The earlier Dockerfile-change commit turned out not to be on the remote.)

Decision: stop running npm inside the Docker image

Building the Vue app inside Docker depends on npm + esbuild postinstall, which is the exact source of the repeated vite: not found failures. To make deployments deterministic, the SPA is now built locally and its frontend/dist/ is committed to the repo (force-added; .gitignore updated with !frontend/dist/).

New Dockerfile (apply: commit `c19b23d`)

Single-stage, no node/npm/vite anywhere in commands:

FROM python:3.11-slim
COPY frontend/dist/ ./frontend/dist/ ← prebuilt SPA
pip install backend deps
COPY backend/ ./backend/
CMD ["python", "run.py"] (Flask serves frontend/dist, which is at the path _register_frontend resolves → /app/frontend/dist)

.dockerignore no longer excludes frontend/dist/.

Verification (no local Docker)

Dockerfile has zero node/npm/vite in any RUN/COPY/CMD (only comments mention them).
frontend/dist/ (28 files) tracked and pushed on origin/main.
Backend _register_frontend path (Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent/frontend/dist) matches the Docker COPY target /app/frontend/dist.
Local server: GET / 200 (serves the new tabbed SPA), health ok, admin/1234 login 200.

Convoying workflow for UI changes

cd frontend && npm run build
git add frontend/dist/ && git commit
push → EasyPanel redeploys (no npm build step, so no vite failure).

Remaining before live model

Real LLM_API_KEY (+ provider) in backend/.env for analyze/persona/chat.
Re-deploy on EasyPanel to confirm the image builds & runs.

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