# Releasing, deploying, and changing the schema

How a version gets from this repo onto a server, and the one rule that keeps
rollbacks possible.

## The short version

Dispatch **Cut release** from the Actions tab and pick `patch`, `minor` or
`major` (or `explicit` plus a number). It stamps every `package.json`, commits
`chore(release): vX.Y.Z`, tags, and pushes both refs in one go. It refuses a
version that already exists as a tag, and refuses a no-op bump.

The equivalent by hand, if you would rather cut it locally:

```bash
pnpm version:set 1.2.0                       # stamp every package.json
git commit -am "chore(release): v1.2.0"
git tag v1.2.0 && git push origin master v1.2.0
```

Either way that push triggers `.gitea/workflows/build.yml`, which builds **both** images in
one matrix run and publishes:

| tag pushed | image tags produced |
| --- | --- |
| `v1.2.0` | `1.2.0`, `1.2`, `sha-<short>` |
| push to `master` | `master`, `sha-<short>`, `latest` |

Then dispatch a deploy from the Actions tab:

- **galactus** (office server, standalone Docker) — *Deploy to galactus*
- **cubex** (3-node Swarm) — *Deploy to Portainer*

> **The `v` is not part of the image tag.** `docker/metadata-action`'s
> `{{version}}` strips it. Git tag `v1.2.0`, dispatch `1.2.0`. Dispatching
> `v1.2.0` deploys nothing that exists.

**Cut release needs a `RELEASE_TOKEN` secret** — a Gitea PAT with
`write:repository`. It does not use the built-in Actions token on purpose:
whether a push made with that token re-triggers `build.yml` depends on the Gitea
version, and a release that quietly publishes no images is worse than one that
fails outright. If the build somehow does not start, `build.yml` has
`workflow_dispatch` — run it against the new tag by hand.

Because api and web are built from one matrix run, they cannot drift at build
time. They *can* drift at deploy time if a stack is applied with only one image
moved — the web footer shows both versions and flags a mismatch, and the deploy
workflow's last step fails if the API does not report the tag you dispatched.

## What a deploy actually does

1. **db + minio** — `scope: full` only. Idempotent; data lives on named volumes.
2. **Pre-migrate backup** — `deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs` runs
   `mysqldump` *inside the still-running old API container*, via Portainer's
   Docker API. The file lands in that container's `BACKUP_DIR` volume as
   `pre-migrate-<tag>-<timestamp>.sql.gz`, which is exactly what the
   **Operaciones** admin screen lists and can restore. A dump taken on the CI
   runner would be unreachable by the only restore path the platform has.
3. **`prisma migrate deploy`** — as a workflow *step*, never the container
   `CMD`. If it were the CMD, N replicas would race each other applying the
   same migration.
4. **app** — the new api + web images.
5. **Verify** — `GET /version` on the running API must report the dispatched
   tag.

Rollback is `tag: 1.1.9` re-dispatched. **That rolls back code only.** The
schema stays where it is. Which brings us to the rule.

## The rule: expand / contract

Prisma has no down-migrations. There is no `prisma migrate down`, and there
never will be. So a schema change that the *previous* release cannot tolerate
turns a 30-second rollback into a restore-from-backup outage.

**Every schema change must leave the previous release working.** Split anything
destructive across two releases:

| | Release N (expand) | Release N+1 (contract) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rename a column | add the new column, write to both, read the old | drop the old column |
| Drop a column | stop reading and writing it in code | drop it |
| Add a required column | add it nullable (or with a default), backfill | make it `NOT NULL` |
| Split a table | create the new table, dual-write | stop writing the old, drop it |
| Add an enum value | add the value; old code must not choke on unknowns | start emitting it |

Ship N, let it soak, *then* ship N+1. If N has to be rolled back you just
re-dispatch the old tag — the expanded schema still satisfies it.

Restoring from the pre-migrate dump is the **emergency lever, not the routine
path**, and on galactus it is worse than it sounds: galactus is the replication
master, DDL replicates through the binlog, and restoring the master from a dump
diverges every replica. GTIDs will not line up and each replica needs a full
re-seed. Assume a restore is a multi-hour, whole-topology event.

## Migration history

`packages/database/prisma/migrations/0000_init/` is a **baseline**. It is the
full schema as it stood on 2026-07-30, generated with:

```bash
prisma migrate diff --from-empty \
  --to-schema-datamodel packages/database/prisma/schema.prisma --script
```

Until then the schema had only ever been applied with `prisma db push`, so no
history existed and the schema state was disconnected from the app version.

### One-time, on every database that already exists

`0000_init` describes tables those databases already have, so `migrate deploy`
would fail with **P3005 "the database schema is not empty"**. Mark it applied
instead of applying it — this writes a `_prisma_migrations` row and changes no
data:

```bash
DATABASE_URL=<the database> npx prisma@5 migrate resolve \
  --applied 0000_init --schema packages/database/prisma/schema.prisma
```

Do this once per database (prod, dev, any local copy). Verify first that the
live schema really does match the baseline — this should print an empty
migration:

```bash
prisma migrate diff --from-url "$DATABASE_URL" \
  --to-schema-datamodel packages/database/prisma/schema.prisma --script
```

If it prints actual statements, the live database has drifted from
`schema.prisma`. Reconcile *before* baselining, or the first real migration
will fail against a schema Prisma believes it already knows.

### From here on

```bash
# edit schema.prisma, then:
pnpm --filter @jorgecuadros/database exec prisma migrate dev --name add_foo
```

Commit the generated `migrations/<timestamp>_add_foo/` directory. `db push` is
now a local-scratch tool only — using it against a database with history
desynchronises it from `_prisma_migrations`.

## galactus vs cubex

`galactus` is standalone Docker (Portainer endpoint **3**), `cubex` is a 3-node
Swarm (endpoint **2**). They need different compose files because **plain
compose silently ignores Swarm's `deploy:` keys** rather than erroring:

| | Swarm (`deploy/*.stack.yml`) | standalone (`deploy/galactus/*.compose.yml`) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| restart | `deploy.restart_policy` | `restart: unless-stopped` — **without this nothing comes back after a host reboot** |
| placement | `node.labels.jorgecuadros_db == true` | dropped, one host |
| ports | `{mode: ingress}` long syntax | `"3306:3306"` |
| `depends_on` | ignored by Swarm | honoured, with `condition: service_healthy` |
| volumes | named | named (unchanged — the pinning hazard was a Swarm problem) |

Keep the two sets in sync when either changes.

On both hosts, cross-stack traffic goes over the **host address**, not compose
service DNS: db, minio and app are three separate stacks, so three separate
networks. `DATABASE_URL` and `S3_ENDPOINT` name the host and its published
port. Do not "simplify" them to `mysql:3306`.

### galactus is addressed by MagicDNS, and containers need help resolving it

galactus is Tailscale-only once it is installed in the office, so every URL
names `galactus.tail01aa2.ts.net`. Its LAN IP is a DHCP lease and has already
drifted once — never put a `192.168.4.x` address in a secret.

Containers on galactus cannot resolve that name by default. The host runs
systemd-resolved, whose `127.0.0.53` stub is unreachable from inside a
container, so Docker falls back to the upstream resolver listed in
`/run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf` — the LAN router, which knows nothing about
the tailnet. Routing to `100.x` works fine; only the *lookup* fails, and the
symptom is Prisma **P1001 "can't reach database server"** on a container that
otherwise started cleanly.

`deploy/galactus/jorgecuadros-app.compose.yml` therefore pins the resolver:

```yaml
dns:        [100.100.100.100]        # Tailscale's fixed anycast MagicDNS address
dns_search: [tail01aa2.ts.net]       # this tailnet's suffix
```

Both are overridable (`TAILSCALE_DNS`, `TAILNET_SUFFIX`) if the tailnet changes.
Browser-facing origins need none of this — those names resolve on the client.

## Replication

galactus's MySQL is the **master**; every other MySQL in the estate is a
replica. Consequences that bite:

- `server-id` must be unique across the whole topology (prod `1`, cubex dev
  `11`). A duplicate breaks replication silently.
- GTID is on from first boot, so replicas attach with `SOURCE_AUTO_POSITION=1`.
- `binlog_expire_logs_seconds` is raised to 60 days in the galactus compose file
  (`MYSQL_BINLOG_EXPIRE_SECONDS`). MySQL 8.4 defaults to 30 days; a replica
  offline longer than the retention needs a full re-seed.

Still open, and **not** handled by anything in this repo:

- No replication user with `REPLICATION SLAVE` granted exists yet.
- Nothing sets `read_only` / `super_read_only` on the replicas, so a stray write
  to a replica will diverge it.
- The channel to the VPS crosses the public internet. It needs a tunnel or TLS —
  do not publish raw 3306.

## Seeding the first sign-in account

A freshly migrated database has a schema and **no users**, so nobody can log in.
`prisma migrate deploy` creates tables, never rows; nothing in the deploy path
seeds an account, by design — creating an administrator should be a deliberate
act, not a side effect of shipping code.

`apps/api/scripts/seed-user.mjs` ships inside the API image. On the target host:

```bash
docker exec -e SEED_PASSWORD='<a strong password>' \
  <api-container> node apps/api/scripts/seed-user.mjs
```

Defaults are `admin@jorgecuadros.local` / `ChangeMe!2026` / role `ADMIN`,
overridable with `SEED_EMAIL`, `SEED_PASSWORD`, `SEED_NAME`. **Do not accept the
default password on anything but a dev database** — it is published in this
repo's README. The script upserts by email, so re-running is safe, but it also
**resets the password of an existing account**.

## The session cookie and TLS

`SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE` controls the `Secure` flag on the session cookie. It
defaults to on in production, and it must be explicitly `"false"` for a
deployment served over plain HTTP.

This is not cosmetic. express-session silently declines to emit a `Secure`
cookie over an unencrypted connection: no `Set-Cookie` header is sent at all,
`POST /auth/login` still answers `200` with the user object, no session is
established, every subsequent request gets `403`, and the UI bounces back to
`/login` in a loop. It looks like an auth bug and is really a transport
mismatch.

galactus runs with `SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=false`, which is acceptable **only**
because it is reachable exclusively over Tailscale — WireGuard already encrypts
the wire, so the cookie never crosses an untrusted network. Turn it back on the
moment the app is served over TLS or reachable off-tailnet. Behind a
TLS-terminating reverse proxy, set `trust proxy` on the Nest app instead of
disabling the flag.

## The MySQL client inside the API image

Alpine's `mysql-client` package is **MariaDB's** client, and it installs an
empty `/usr/lib/mariadb/plugin`. It therefore cannot speak
`caching_sha2_password`, which is MySQL 8.4's default and effectively only auth
method, and every `mysqldump`/`mysql` call from the container fails with:

```
ERROR 1045: Plugin caching_sha2_password could not be loaded:
  ... /usr/lib/mariadb/plugin/caching_sha2_password.so: No such file or directory
```

`mariadb-connector-c` supplies that plugin and is installed in
`docker/api.Dockerfile` for exactly this reason — do not drop it as an unused
dependency. It affects far more than the deploy backup: the entire
**Operaciones** panel (backup, restore, sync, re-import) shells out to these
binaries, so without it none of those work in a container either. The feature
had only ever been exercised with the API running on a developer machine, where
the Oracle client is installed, which is why this went unnoticed until the
first containerised deploy.

## The Operaciones panel needs its own database login

The panel's four jobs all shell out to `mysqldump`/`mysql`, and they cannot do
so as the application user. `mysqldump --single-transaction` issues
`FLUSH TABLES`, which requires the **global** `RELOAD` privilege; the MySQL
image grants the app user only `ALL PRIVILEGES ON jorgecuadros.*` plus
`USAGE ON *.*`. `--skip-lock-tables` does not avoid it. BACKUP therefore failed
outright, and SYNC and RE-IMPORT with it, because both take a safety backup
first.

The API is given an admin login out of band rather than permanently elevating
the user it serves requests as:

```
OPS_DB_ADMIN_USER=root
OPS_DB_ADMIN_PASSWORD=<MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>
```

Both deploy workflows pass these into the app stack from the existing
`MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD` secret. Host, port and database still come from
`DATABASE_URL` — the override changes *who logs in*, never *which server*. With
the pair unset the service falls back to the `DATABASE_URL` credentials and logs
a warning, which is what local development wants.

Two more things the panel's dumps now do, for the same reasons the pre-migrate
backup does them (see `deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs`):

- **`--set-gtid-purged=OFF`, but only when the dumper supports it.** galactus is
  the replication *source* with GTID on, so on a MySQL client this flag is what
  keeps every dump from embedding `SET @@GLOBAL.GTID_PURGED` and becoming
  unrestorable onto the server it came from — which is precisely what the
  restore screen exists to do. The panel, however, dumps from *inside the API
  container*, where Alpine's `mysql-client` is MariaDB's: there `mysqldump` is a
  shim over `mariadb-dump`, the flag does not exist, and passing it failed every
  backup with `mysqldump: unknown variable 'set-gtid-purged=OFF'`. So the panel
  probes `mysqldump --help` and passes the flag only if it is advertised,
  invoking `mariadb-dump` directly otherwise (MariaDB writes no GTID state
  unless asked with `--gtid`, so there is nothing to suppress). The pre-migrate
  backup keeps the flag unconditionally — it runs in a real `mysql:8.4` image,
  not in the API container.
- **`set -o pipefail` and a `CREATE TABLE` count.** `mysqldump | gzip` reports
  gzip's exit status, and a `mysqldump` that dies on its first statement still
  produces a ~372-byte perfectly valid archive that passes `gzip -t`. Without
  both checks a failed backup was recorded as a successful one and listed as an
  ordinary restore point. A dump that fails now deletes its own output.

## Known caveats in the deploy path

- The pre-migrate backup step sets `NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0` because
  Portainer serves a self-signed certificate. It is scoped to that one step,
  which talks to nothing but Portainer. Replacing the certificate and dropping
  the flag is the real fix.
- The runner lives on cubex and must reach the target host's Portainer (9443)
  **and** MySQL (3306). If it cannot reach 3306, run the migration by hand from
  a host that can and dispatch with `skip_migrate: true`.
- `bootstrap: true` lets the pre-migrate backup be skipped when no API container
  exists yet. Use it for a first-ever deploy only — it is the one switch that
  lets a migration run with no restore point.
- **The API container sends mail on a timer.** Two sweeps run inside it
  (renewal avisos, on by default at 06:00 America/Tijuana; the servicios
  run-all, off by default) — see
  [`MASS_EMAIL_NOTIFICATIONS.md`](MASS_EMAIL_NOTIFICATIONS.md). Two
  consequences for deploys: the cadence lives in `app_settings`, so it
  **survives a redeploy and is not restored by rolling back an image**, and
  running more than one API replica would double-fire the servicios sweep,
  which has no DB lock (the pólizas one does). Keep it single-replica.
- `SES_*` is optional to deploy — the preflight only warns — but the production
  image sets `NODE_ENV=production`, which disables the stdout dev fallback. A
  blank SES config therefore makes every send fail and log `FAILED`. The
  secrets were created 2026-08-02; the preflight warning on the next run is
  what confirms the names are right. Two things it cannot check: that
  `SES_FROM` is a **verified identity** in `SES_REGION`, and that the account
  is **out of the SES sandbox** (in sandbox, delivery is restricted to verified
  recipients, which would fail a real sweep while looking correctly
  configured).
