Fix Docker deployment: Add dedicated nginx static-server and frontend health checks

[Copilot]

Django admin and DRF static files were collected but not served. Frontend containers failed health checks due to missing wget in nginx:alpine.

Changes

Dedicated static file server

• Created new static-server service with nginx to serve Django admin and DRF static files
• Static files collected during backend Docker build via collectstatic
• Shared backend-static volume between backend and static-server (read-only mount)
• Includes health check endpoint and optimized caching/compression
• Fixed STATIC_URL to use absolute path /static/ (added leading slash for proper URL resolution)

Backend cleanup

• Reverted backend/core/urls.py to original state (removed static() helper)
• Reverted backend/entrypoint.sh to original state (removed collectstatic command)
• Backend no longer serves static files - handled by dedicated static-server

Traefik routing

• Backend routes: /api and /admin only (priority 100)
• Static-server routes: /static with priority 110 (higher for correct routing)
• Both HTTP and HTTPS routes configured for all services
• Frontend remains at priority 1 as catch-all

Frontend health check

• Installed wget in nginx:alpine container
• Health check endpoint /health already configured in nginx.conf

Documentation

• Updated deployment guides and helper script to reflect /static endpoint availability

Architecture

Traefik Reverse Proxy
├── /static (priority 110) → static-server (nginx)
├── /api, /admin (priority 100) → backend (Django + Gunicorn)
└── /* (priority 1) → frontend (Angular)

How It Works

1. Backend Dockerfile runs collectstatic during build → files go to /app/staticfiles
2. Volume backend-static is mounted at /app/staticfiles in backend container
3. Same volume mounted (read-only) at /usr/share/nginx/html/static in static-server
4. Traefik routes /static requests to static-server on port 80
5. nginx efficiently serves static files with proper caching and compression

# docker-compose.yml - static-server service
static-server:
  build:
    context: ./static-server
    dockerfile: Dockerfile
  volumes:
    - backend-static:/usr/share/nginx/html/static:ro
  labels:
    - "traefik.http.routers.static-server.rule=Host(`${DOMAIN:-localhost}`) && PathPrefix(`/static`)"
    - "traefik.http.routers.static-server.priority=110"

# backend/core/settings.py
STATIC_URL = '/static/'  # Changed from 'static/' to fix URL resolution
STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'staticfiles'

This approach follows best practices by separating concerns - Django handles the API while nginx efficiently serves static files.

Original prompt

Recheck whole docker deployment progress, backend seems to work so far, but also needs endpoint /static
Frontend container does build but does not pass health checks also rechcek ngingx

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[pirus99]

@copilot this does not seem correct, we want to use the global static files endpoint to serve instead of creating a new one ?

[Copilot]

Could you clarify what you mean by "global static files endpoint"? Should I:

1. Revert the Django URL changes and serve static files directly from the volume using nginx/Traefik?
2. Use WhiteNoise middleware instead of Django's static() helper?
3. Something else?

Currently, Traefik routes /static to the backend container (port 8000), and Django serves the files from the volume. What approach would you prefer?

[Copilot]

@copilot backend reports Refused to apply style from '' because its MIME type ('text/html') is not a supported stylesheet MIME type, and strict MIME checking is enabled.
Refused to apply style fr...

Your comment appears to be cut off. Could you provide the complete error message? It looks like there's a "Refused to apply style from..." error. This is typically a CORS or MIME type issue. The full error message would help me diagnose the problem.

[pirus99]

@copilot i mean the static endpoint serverd within runserver command configured in settings.py

[Copilot]

@copilot i mean the static endpoint serverd within runserver command configured in settings.py

The runserver static file serving only works in development (DEBUG=True). Your Docker setup uses Gunicorn with DEBUG=False, so Django doesn't automatically serve static files.

The static() helper in urls.py is the Django-recommended way to serve static files in production when not using a separate web server. The settings.py configuration (STATIC_URL, STATIC_ROOT) defines where files are collected and the URL path, but doesn't serve them.

If you prefer a different approach, I can:

1. Keep current implementation (Django's static() helper - simple, works)
2. Add WhiteNoise middleware (more efficient, Django-recommended for production)
3. Create a separate nginx container to serve the static volume

Which would you prefer?

[pirus99]

@copilot would it make sense to serve static files via nginx frontend container ? but can we copy the static files from backend to frontend ? is therse something to copy ?
I wold generally prefer to keep static() but i got those errors: login/?next=/admin/:9 GET https://join.pickull.de/static/admin/js/theme.js net::ERR_ABORTED 404 (Not Found)Understand this error
login/?next=/admin/:1 Refused to execute script from 'https://join.pickull.de/static/admin/js/theme.js' because its MIME type ('text/html') is not executable, and strict MIME type checking is enabled.Understand this error
login/?next=/admin/:13 GET https://join.pickull.de/static/admin/js/nav_sidebar.js net::ERR_ABORTED 404 (Not Found)Understand this error
login/?next=/admin/:1 Refused to execute script from 'https://join.pickull.de/static/admin/js/nav_sidebar.js' because its MIME type ('text/html') is not executable, and strict MIME type checking is enabled.

[Copilot]

@copilot would it make sense to serve static files via nginx frontend container ? but can we copy the static files from backend to frontend ? is therse something to copy ?
I wold generally prefer to k...

The 404 errors were caused by the volume mount overwriting static files collected during build. Fixed in commit 8e8cf24 by running collectstatic in the entrypoint script after the volume is mounted.

The static files now populate to /app/staticfiles on container startup and Django serves them via the /static URL. The current approach (serving via Django) is simpler than copying files to the frontend container and keeps the architecture clean.

Try restarting the containers - the static files should now load correctly.

[pirus99]

@copilot static files get not served correctly, plese try to spin up another nginx container that serves the static files for the backend admin panel and the rest framework. After backend build, copy the needed static files to the new container use collect static command to gather the static files.
Also change the needed traefik configuration. And clean up urs.py in Django project and also all other previous changes that aren't any more needed.

[Copilot]

@copilot static files get not served correctly, plese try to spin up another nginx container that serves the static files for the backend admin panel and the rest framework. After backend build, copy ...

Implemented as requested in commits a52652b and 695160b:

✅ Created dedicated nginx static-server container for Django admin/DRF static files
✅ Static files collected during backend build via existing collectstatic in Dockerfile
✅ Static files shared between backend and static-server via backend-static volume
✅ Updated Traefik: /static routes to static-server (priority 110), backend handles only /api and /admin (priority 100)
✅ Cleaned up urls.py - removed static() helper
✅ Cleaned up entrypoint.sh - removed collectstatic command

The static-server is now a separate service that efficiently serves static files via nginx, while Django focuses only on the API and admin interface.