fix: wait for API to be ready before starting frontend

Users reported "Unable to Connect to API Server" errors on startup
because the frontend started before the API finished initialization
(database migrations, etc.).

- Add wait-for-api.sh script that polls /health endpoint
- Update supervisord configs to use wait script instead of sleep 5
- Waits up to 5 minutes for API to be ready before starting frontend
- Applies to both single-container and multi-container deployments

Fixes #315

Dockerfile

@@ -76,6 +76,10 @@ EXPOSE 8502 5055
 
 RUN mkdir -p /app/data
 
+# Copy and make executable the wait-for-api script
+COPY scripts/wait-for-api.sh /app/scripts/wait-for-api.sh
+RUN chmod +x /app/scripts/wait-for-api.sh
+
 # Copy supervisord configuration
 COPY supervisord.conf /etc/supervisor/conf.d/supervisord.conf
 

Dockerfile.single

@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ COPY --from=builder /app/frontend/public /app/frontend/public
 # Create directories for data persistence
 RUN mkdir -p /app/data /mydata
 
+# Copy and make executable the wait-for-api script
+COPY scripts/wait-for-api.sh /app/scripts/wait-for-api.sh
+RUN chmod +x /app/scripts/wait-for-api.sh
+
 # Expose ports for Frontend and API
 EXPOSE 8502 5055
 

scripts/wait-for-api.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Wait for the API to be healthy before starting the frontend
+# This prevents the "Unable to Connect to API Server" error during startup
+
+API_URL="${INTERNAL_API_URL:-http://localhost:5055}"
+MAX_RETRIES=60  # 60 retries * 5 seconds = 5 minutes max wait
+RETRY_INTERVAL=5
+
+echo "Waiting for API to be ready at ${API_URL}/health..."
+
+for i in $(seq 1 $MAX_RETRIES); do
+    if curl -s -f "${API_URL}/health" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        echo "API is ready! Starting frontend..."
+        exit 0
+    fi
+    echo "Attempt $i/$MAX_RETRIES: API not ready yet, waiting ${RETRY_INTERVAL}s..."
+    sleep $RETRY_INTERVAL
+done
+
+echo "ERROR: API did not become ready within $((MAX_RETRIES * RETRY_INTERVAL)) seconds"
+echo "Starting frontend anyway - users may see connection errors initially"
+exit 0  # Exit 0 so frontend still starts (better than nothing)

supervisord.conf

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ autostart=true
 startsecs=3
 
 [program:frontend]
-command=bash -c "sleep 5 && npm run start"
+command=bash -c "/app/scripts/wait-for-api.sh && npm run start"
 directory=/app/frontend
 environment=NODE_ENV="production",PORT="8502"
 passenv=API_URL,NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL,INTERNAL_API_URL
@@ -37,4 +37,4 @@ stderr_logfile_maxbytes=0
 autorestart=true
 priority=30
 autostart=true
-startsecs=5
+startsecs=10

supervisord.single.conf

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ autostart=true
 startsecs=3
 
 [program:frontend]
-command=bash -c "sleep 5 && npm run start"
+command=bash -c "/app/scripts/wait-for-api.sh && npm run start"
 directory=/app/frontend
 environment=NODE_ENV="production",PORT="8502"
 passenv=API_URL,NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL,INTERNAL_API_URL
@@ -49,4 +49,4 @@ stderr_logfile_maxbytes=0
 autorestart=true
 priority=30
 autostart=true
-startsecs=5
+startsecs=10