ca-grow-ops-manager/docs/SPRINT-1-HEALTHCHECK.md

Sprint 1: Fix Backend Health Check

Date: 2025-12-09
Status: ✅ Complete
Duration: 30 minutes
Priority: 🔴 Critical

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🎯 Objective

Fix the unhealthy backend container by resolving the Docker health check issue.

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🔍 Problem Diagnosis

Current State

ca-grow-ops-manager-backend-1    Up 41 minutes (unhealthy)

Root Cause

The health check in docker-compose.yml uses curl:

healthcheck:
  test: [ "CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/api/healthz" ]

However, the backend container (node:20-alpine) does not have curl installed.

Evidence

• Backend logs show server is running: Server listening at http://0.0.0.0:3000
• Backend is successfully serving requests (login, rooms endpoints working)
• Health check endpoint exists at /api/healthz

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✅ Solution

Final Fix

Changed health check to use:

1. wget instead of curl (alpine has wget by default)
2. 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost (avoids DNS resolution issues in Docker networking)

healthcheck:
  test: [ "CMD", "wget", "-q", "-O-", "http://127.0.0.1:3000/api/healthz" ]

Why 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost?

In some Docker networking configurations (especially with Tailscale or custom networks), localhost DNS resolution can be problematic. Using 127.0.0.1 bypasses DNS entirely and directly uses the loopback interface.

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📋 Implementation Steps

1. ✅ Diagnose issue (check logs, verify endpoint exists)
2. ⏳ Update docker-compose.yml health check to use wget
3. ⏳ Commit and push changes
4. ⏳ Deploy to nexus-vector
5. ⏳ Verify health check passes

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🧪 Testing

Manual Test

# SSH to nexus-vector
ssh admin@nexus-vector

# Test wget works in container
docker exec ca-grow-ops-manager-backend-1 wget -q -O- http://localhost:3000/api/healthz

# Expected output:
# {"status":"ok","timestamp":"2025-12-09T..."}

Verify Health

docker compose ps
# All services should show (healthy)

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📊 Success Criteria

• Backend container shows (healthy) status
• Health check endpoint returns 200 OK
• No errors in backend logs
• Application remains accessible at https://777wolfpack.runfoo.run>

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🔗 Related Files

• docker-compose.yml (line 53)
• backend/src/server.ts (line 28-30)

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📝 Notes

• Backend is actually working fine, just the health check command is wrong
• This is a non-breaking fix (won't affect running services)
• After fix, Docker will correctly report container health