fix server in wp-suite.conf so proxy works.

With 2 workers, both ran Base.metadata.create_all() at import on an empty DB,
racing on CREATE TABLE (duplicate pg_type for "projects"). --preload imports
the app once in the master before forking, so tables are created a single time.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

DEPLOYMENT.md

@@ -51,16 +51,23 @@ Create a file named `.env` in the **project root** (same folder as
 POSTGRES_DB=wpsuite
 POSTGRES_USER=wpsuite
 POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<strong-random-password>
-
-# Must match the POSTGRES_* values above. Host is the compose service name "db".
-DATABASE_URL=postgresql+psycopg://wpsuite:<strong-random-password>@db:5432/wpsuite
 ```
 
+That's it — the API now builds its own connection string from these three
+values and **encodes the password automatically**, so a password with special
+characters (`@ ! # : /` …) works without any manual escaping. `DATABASE_URL`
+is **optional** and only needed if you want to point the API at some other
+database; if you do set it, you must URL-encode the password yourself, and it's
+ignored whenever the three `POSTGRES_*` values are present.
+
 Generate a strong password with `openssl rand -base64 32`.
 
-These are the only credentials in the system: the `db` container initialises
-Postgres from `POSTGRES_*`, and the `api` container connects with the matching
-`DATABASE_URL`. Neither value appears in the compose file or in git.
+> **Portainer note:** for a Git-based stack these go in the stack's
+> **Environment variables** section (Portainer doesn't read a local `.env`).
+> Set `POSTGRES_DB` / `POSTGRES_USER` / `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` there.
+
+These are the only credentials in the system, and they never appear in the
+compose file or in git.
 
 ## 3. Point your reverse proxy at the nginx container
 

Dockerfile

@@ -4,5 +4,7 @@ COPY server/requirements.txt ./server/
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r server/requirements.txt
 COPY server/ ./server/
 EXPOSE 8000
-CMD ["gunicorn", "-k", "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker", \
+# --preload imports the app once in the master (so create_all runs a single time)
+# before forking workers, preventing a table-creation race on first startup.
+CMD ["gunicorn", "-k", "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker", "--preload", \
      "-b", "0.0.0.0:8000", "--workers", "2", "server.app:app"]

docker-compose.yml

@@ -19,7 +19,14 @@ services:
     build: .
     container_name: wp_api
     environment:
-      DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL}
+      # Preferred: the API builds its own connection string from these and
+      # encodes the password automatically (no manual URL-encoding needed).
+      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER}
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
+      POSTGRES_HOST: db
+      # Optional full-URL override (must be URL-encoded if used).
+      DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL:-}
     restart: unless-stopped
     depends_on:
       db:

html/index.html

@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@
 
   <!-- FOOTER -->
   <footer class="footer">
-    <p>Work Package Suite v1.0 | Prime Controls | All files work offline with local browser storage</p>
+    <p>Work Package Suite v1.0 | Prime Controls - Business Technology Group | Pilot Use Only</p>
   </footer>
 
   <script src="feedback-config.js"></script>

nginx/conf.d/wp-suite.conf

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 server {
     listen 80;
-    server_name _;
+    server_name wp.controls.dev;
 
     root /usr/share/nginx/html;
     index index.html;

server/db.py

@@ -1,28 +1,49 @@
 """Database engine and session setup.
 
-The connection string comes from the DATABASE_URL environment variable, e.g.
-    postgresql+psycopg://wpsuite:secret@db-host:5432/wpsuite
+Connection precedence:
+  1. POSTGRES_USER + POSTGRES_PASSWORD + POSTGRES_DB (preferred) — the URL is
+     built with SQLAlchemy's URL.create(), which encodes the password for you,
+     so passwords with special characters (@ ! # : / …) need NO manual escaping.
+     Host/port default to POSTGRES_HOST=db / POSTGRES_PORT=5432.
+  2. DATABASE_URL — a full SQLAlchemy URL, if you'd rather supply one directly
+     (you must URL-encode any special characters in the password yourself).
+  3. Neither set → a local SQLite file, so the API runs anywhere without Postgres.
 
-If unset, it falls back to a local SQLite file so the API can be run and tested
-on any machine without Postgres. The schema is identical either way (SQLAlchemy
-handles the dialect differences).
+The schema is identical either way (SQLAlchemy handles dialect differences).
 """
 import os
-from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+from sqlalchemy import create_engine, URL
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker, DeclarativeBase
 
-# Load a local .env if present (dev convenience). In production the DATABASE_URL
-# normally comes from the systemd unit's Environment / EnvironmentFile instead.
+# Load a local .env if present (dev convenience).
 try:
     from dotenv import load_dotenv
     load_dotenv()
 except Exception:
     pass
 
-DATABASE_URL = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", "sqlite:///./wpsuite.db")
 
-# SQLite needs this flag to be used from FastAPI's threadpool; Postgres ignores it.
-connect_args = {"check_same_thread": False} if DATABASE_URL.startswith("sqlite") else {}
+def _resolve_url():
+    user = os.getenv("POSTGRES_USER")
+    pw = os.getenv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD")
+    dbname = os.getenv("POSTGRES_DB")
+    if user and pw and dbname:
+        # Build from components — password is encoded automatically.
+        return URL.create(
+            "postgresql+psycopg",
+            username=user, password=pw,
+            host=os.getenv("POSTGRES_HOST", "db"),
+            port=int(os.getenv("POSTGRES_PORT", "5432")),
+            database=dbname,
+        )
+    return os.getenv("DATABASE_URL") or "sqlite:///./wpsuite.db"
+
+
+DATABASE_URL = _resolve_url()
+
+# SQLite needs this flag from FastAPI's threadpool; Postgres ignores it.
+_is_sqlite = isinstance(DATABASE_URL, str) and DATABASE_URL.startswith("sqlite")
+connect_args = {"check_same_thread": False} if _is_sqlite else {}
 
 engine = create_engine(DATABASE_URL, connect_args=connect_args, pool_pre_ping=True, future=True)
 SessionLocal = sessionmaker(bind=engine, autoflush=False, autocommit=False, future=True)