ctms/docs/plans/2026-03-30-remove-nginx-design.md

Remove In-Repo Nginx Design

Goal: Remove all in-repository Nginx runtime, build, publish, and documentation responsibilities while keeping the frontend as an independently deployable image behind an external reverse proxy.

Decisions

• Remove the nginx/ directory and every repository-owned Nginx configuration reference.
• Keep docker-compose.yaml as the deployment entrypoint, but change the production topology to frontend + backend + db.
• Keep frontend as a standalone runtime image that serves the built SPA directly.
• Keep backend as the only API container and let the external reverse proxy route /api and /health to it.
• Update historical docs so they describe the current topology instead of preserving obsolete Nginx-based guidance.

Architecture

• db remains the persistent PostgreSQL service.
• backend remains the FastAPI service exposed on port 8000.
• frontend becomes a standalone container image built from frontend/Dockerfile and serves the compiled SPA on its own port.
• The external reverse proxy is now the only public entrypoint and is responsible for routing browser traffic to frontend and API traffic to backend.

Operational Notes

• The frontend still assumes same-origin API access, so the external proxy must route /api/* and /health to backend.
• The repository publish flow should only build and push ctms-backend and ctms-frontend.
• Verification should prove that no runtime, CI, or document references to repository-managed Nginx remain.