Enhance Docker deployment with environment variable configuration

- Added environment variable setup in docker-compose.yml for VITE_API_URL.
- Introduced update-docker-env.sh script to create/update .env file for local and remote deployments.
- Updated Dockerfile to dynamically create env-config.js during build.
- Modified frontend to load environment configuration from env-config.js.
- Refactored API client to use centralized config for API URL.

README.md

@@ -389,3 +389,58 @@ For MinIO in production, consider:
 - Setting up proper networking and access controls
 - Using multiple MinIO instances for high availability
 
+## Docker Deployment
+
+### Local Development with Docker
+
+1. Set up the environment variables:
+   ```bash
+   ./update-docker-env.sh
+   ```
+   
+   This will create a `.env` file with default settings for local development.
+
+2. Run the application using Docker Compose:
+   ```bash
+   docker-compose up -d
+   ```
+
+3. Access the application:
+   - Frontend: http://localhost:5000
+   - Backend API: http://localhost:3000
+
+### Remote Server Deployment
+
+When deploying to a remote server:
+
+1. Set up the environment variables with your server's hostname:
+   ```bash
+   ./update-docker-env.sh your-server-hostname
+   ```
+   
+   This ensures that the frontend correctly connects to the backend API.
+
+2. Pull and run the latest Docker images:
+   ```bash
+   docker-compose pull
+   docker-compose up -d
+   ```
+
+3. Access the application through your server's hostname:
+   - Frontend: http://your-server-hostname:5000
+   - Backend API: http://your-server-hostname:3000
+
+### Environment Configuration
+
+The Docker setup uses environment variables to configure the services:
+
+- Frontend:
+  - `VITE_API_URL`: URL of the backend API (default: http://backend:3000 for container networking)
+
+- Backend:
+  - Database connection parameters
+  - Storage configuration
+  - Other backend settings
+
+For custom configuration, edit the `.env` file or the `update-docker-env.sh` script.
+

docker-compose.yml

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       backend:
         condition: service_started
+    environment:
+      - VITE_API_URL=${VITE_API_URL:-http://backend:3000}
     networks:
       - worklenz
 

update-docker-env.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Script to set environment variables for Docker deployment
+# Usage: ./update-docker-env.sh [hostname]
+
+# Default hostname if not provided
+DEFAULT_HOSTNAME="localhost"
+HOSTNAME=${1:-$DEFAULT_HOSTNAME}
+
+# Create or update root .env file
+cat > .env << EOL
+# Frontend Configuration
+VITE_API_URL=http://${HOSTNAME}:3000
+
+# Backend Configuration
+DB_HOST=db
+DB_PORT=5432
+DB_USER=postgres
+DB_PASSWORD=password
+DB_NAME=worklenz_db
+NODE_ENV=development
+PORT=3000
+
+# Storage Configuration
+AWS_REGION=us-east-1
+STORAGE_PROVIDER=s3
+BUCKET=worklenz-bucket
+S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=minioadmin
+S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=minioadmin
+S3_URL=http://minio:9000
+EOL
+
+echo "Environment configuration updated for ${HOSTNAME}"
+echo "To run with Docker Compose, use: docker-compose up -d" 

worklenz-frontend/Dockerfile

@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
 RUN npm ci
 
 COPY . .
+
+# Create env-config.js dynamically during build
+RUN echo "window.VITE_API_URL='${VITE_API_URL:-http://backend:3000}';" > ./public/env-config.js
+
 RUN npm run build
 
 FROM node:22-alpine AS production
@@ -16,13 +20,13 @@ WORKDIR /app
 RUN npm install -g serve
 
 COPY --from=build /app/build /app/build
+COPY --from=build /app/public/env-config.js /app/build/env-config.js
 
-# Create a script to inject environment variables
+# Create a script to start server and dynamically update env-config.js
 RUN echo '#!/bin/sh\n\
-cat > /app/build/env.js << EOL\n\
-window.env = {\n\
-  VITE_API_URL: "${VITE_API_URL}"\n\
-};\n\
+# Update env-config.js with runtime environment variables\n\
+cat > /app/build/env-config.js << EOL\n\
+window.VITE_API_URL="${VITE_API_URL:-http://backend:3000}";\n\
 EOL\n\
 exec serve -s build -l 5000' > /app/start.sh && \
 chmod +x /app/start.sh

worklenz-frontend/index.html

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
       rel="stylesheet"
     />
     <title>Worklenz</title>
+    <!-- Environment configuration -->
+    <script src="/env-config.js"></script>
   </head>
 
   <body>

worklenz-frontend/src/api/api-client.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import axios, { AxiosError } from 'axios';
 
 import alertService from '@/services/alerts/alertService';
 import logger from '@/utils/errorLogger';
+import config from '@/config/env';
 
 export const getCsrfToken = (): string | null => {
   const match = document.cookie.split('; ').find(cookie => cookie.startsWith('XSRF-TOKEN='));
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ export const getCsrfToken = (): string | null => {
 export const refreshCsrfToken = async (): Promise<string | null> => {
   try {
     // Make a GET request to the server to get a fresh CSRF token
-    await axios.get(`${import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL}/csrf-token`, { withCredentials: true });
+    await axios.get(`${config.apiUrl}/csrf-token`, { withCredentials: true });
     return getCsrfToken();
   } catch (error) {
     console.error('Failed to refresh CSRF token:', error);
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ export const refreshCsrfToken = async (): Promise<string | null> => {
 };
 
 const apiClient = axios.create({
-  baseURL: import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL,
+  baseURL: config.apiUrl,
   withCredentials: true,
   headers: {
     'Content-Type': 'application/json',

worklenz-frontend/src/api/home-page/home-page.api.service.ts

@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@ import { IHomeTasksModel, IHomeTasksConfig } from '@/types/home/home-page.types'
 import { IMyTask } from '@/types/home/my-tasks.types';
 import { IProject } from '@/types/project/project.types';
 import { getCsrfToken } from '../api-client';
+import config from '@/config/env';
 
 const rootUrl = '/home';
 
 const api = createApi({
   reducerPath: 'homePageApi',
   baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
-    baseUrl: `${import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL}${API_BASE_URL}`,
+    baseUrl: `${config.apiUrl}${API_BASE_URL}`,
     prepareHeaders: headers => {
       headers.set('X-CSRF-Token', getCsrfToken() || '');
       headers.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');

worklenz-frontend/src/api/projects/projects.v1.api.service.ts

@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@ import { IProjectsViewModel } from '@/types/project/projectsViewModel.types';
 import { IServerResponse } from '@/types/common.types';
 import { IProjectMembersViewModel } from '@/types/projectMember.types';
 import { getCsrfToken } from '../api-client';
+import config from '@/config/env';
 
 const rootUrl = '/projects';
 
 export const projectsApi = createApi({
   reducerPath: 'projectsApi',
   baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
-    baseUrl: `${import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL}${API_BASE_URL}`,
+    baseUrl: `${config.apiUrl}${API_BASE_URL}`,
     prepareHeaders: headers => {
       headers.set('X-CSRF-Token', getCsrfToken() || '');
       headers.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');

worklenz-frontend/src/config/env.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/**
+ * Environment configuration
+ * Reads from window.VITE_API_URL (set by env-config.js)
+ * Falls back to import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL (set during build time)
+ * Falls back to a development default
+ */
+
+declare global {
+  interface Window {
+    VITE_API_URL?: string;
+  }
+}
+
+export const getApiUrl = (): string => {
+  // First check runtime-injected environment variables
+  if (window.VITE_API_URL) {
+    return window.VITE_API_URL;
+  }
+  
+  // Then check build-time environment variables
+  if (import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL) {
+    return import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL;
+  }
+  
+  // Default for development
+  return 'http://localhost:3000';
+};
+
+export default {
+  apiUrl: getApiUrl(),
+};