DigitalOcean Routing Fix - Production Deployment

🚨 Issue Identified

The RISWIS application was experiencing authentication failures in production due to routing mismatches between the frontend, DigitalOcean ingress, and backend services.

Error Symptoms:

• ❌ Cross-Origin Request Blocked: localhost:5000 (CORS issue)

• ❌ Route POST /auth/login not found (404 error)

• ❌ WebSocket connection failures

🔧 Root Cause Analysis

1. CORS Issue (Fixed)

• Problem: Frontend was using INTERNAL_BACKEND_URL which defaulted to localhost:5000 in production

• Solution: Updated all frontend code to use NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL environment variable

2. Routing Mismatch (Fixed)

• Problem: DigitalOcean App Platform ingress strips the /api prefix when forwarding requests

• Flow:

  Frontend: https://ibank.modernsavingsandloans.com/api/auth/login
  ↓ (DigitalOcean Ingress)
  Backend Receives: /auth/login (prefix stripped)
  ↓ (Backend Expected)
  Backend Routes: Mounted at /api/auth/login ❌ MISMATCH

✅ Solutions Implemented

Frontend Changes

1. Auth Context (frontend/src/app/context/auth-context.tsx)

// OLD (causing localhost issue)
const backendUrl = process.env.INTERNAL_BACKEND_URL || 'http://localhost:5000';

// NEW (production-ready)
const backendUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL 
  ? process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL.replace('/api', '') 
  : 'http://localhost:5000';

2. API Helpers (frontend/src/lib/api-helpers.ts)

// Updated to use NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL consistently
export function getBackendURL(): string {
  const backendUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL 
    ? process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL.replace('/api', '') 
    : 'http://localhost:5000';
  return backendUrl.endsWith('/api') ? backendUrl.slice(0, -4) : backendUrl;
}

3. Config (frontend/src/lib/config.ts)

// Updated backend URL resolution
const getBackendUrl = () => {
  return process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL 
    ? process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL.replace('/api', '') 
    : LOCAL_API;
};

4. All API Proxy Routes

Updated all proxy routes in frontend/src/app/api/proxy/ to use NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL.

Backend Changes

1. App Configuration (backend/src/app.ts)

// NEW: Environment-aware API prefix
const apiPrefix = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? '' : '/api';
app.use(apiPrefix, apiRoutes);

2. Server Configuration (backend/src/server.ts)

// NEW: Consistent prefix handling
const apiPrefix = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? '' : '/api';
app.use(apiPrefix, (req, res, next) => { /* middleware */ });
app.use(apiPrefix, apiRoutes);

3. Config (backend/src/config/index.ts)

server: {
  port: process.env.PORT || 5000,
  env: process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development',
  // Environment-aware API prefix
  apiPrefix: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? '' : '/api'
},

🌐 Environment Variables

DigitalOcean App Spec (riswis-app-spec.yaml)

# Frontend Service
- key: NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL
  value: "https://ibank.modernsavingsandloans.com/api"
  scope: RUN_AND_BUILD_TIME

# Backend Service  
- key: NODE_ENV
  value: production
  scope: RUN_AND_BUILD_TIME

🔄 Request Flow (After Fix)

Production Flow ✅

1. Frontend → https://ibank.modernsavingsandloans.com/api/auth/login
2. DigitalOcean Ingress → Strips /api prefix
3. Backend Receives → /auth/login
4. Backend Routes → Mounted at / (root level in production)
5. Route Match → /auth/login ✅ SUCCESS

Development Flow ✅

1. Frontend → http://localhost:5000/api/auth/login
2. Backend Receives → /api/auth/login
3. Backend Routes → Mounted at /api (in development)
4. Route Match → /api/auth/login ✅ SUCCESS

🧪 Testing

Verification Script

Run node test-routing-fix.js to verify the routing logic:

• ✅ Development environment: Routes at /api

• ✅ Production environment: Routes at / (root)

• ✅ Environment variable processing

• ✅ URL construction logic

📋 Deployment Checklist

• Frontend environment variables updated

• Backend routing logic updated

• DigitalOcean app spec configured

• CORS configuration verified

• WebSocket URLs updated

• All hardcoded localhost references removed

• Testing scripts created

• Documentation completed

🚀 Deployment Steps

1. Commit Changes

   git add .
   git commit -m "fix: resolve DigitalOcean routing and CORS issues"

2. Push to Production Branch

   git push origin msl-production

3. Monitor Deployment

   • DigitalOcean will automatically deploy

   • Check app logs for any issues

   • Test login functionality

🔍 Troubleshooting

If Login Still Fails:

1. Check DigitalOcean app logs for backend errors

2. Verify environment variables are set correctly

3. Test health endpoints: /api/health and /api/health-check

4. Check browser network tab for actual request URLs

Common Issues:

• 404 Errors: Backend routes not mounted correctly

• CORS Errors: Frontend using wrong backend URL

• 500 Errors: Backend configuration or database issues

📊 Expected Results

After deployment, you should see:

• ✅ Login page loads without CORS errors

• ✅ Authentication requests succeed (200 status)

• ✅ No more localhost:5000 references in production

• ✅ Proper error handling and user feedback

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Created: 2025-05-25 Status: Ready for Deployment Priority: Critical - Production Fix