Chat Web App (chat_web_app)

Frontend for chat.aimloperations.com — a React + TypeScript single-page app for the AI ML Operations chat product.

Companion backend: chat_backend

Production serve is node-static (not Docker). Hosts build with npm into a document root; the shared web-static nginx container from server-infra serves those assets. Same pattern as dta_webapp.

Stack

• React 18, TypeScript, Create React App (react-scripts 5)
• Material UI (MUI) 5 + Emotion for components and theming
• React Router 6 for routing
• Axios for REST against chat_backend
• WebSocket for live chat (REACT_APP_BACKEND_WS_API_BASE_URL)
• Jest + React Testing Library for unit tests

Repository layout

chat_web_app/
├── README.md
├── .gitea/workflows/          # Unit tests + deploy-prod / deploy-beta
└── llm-fe/                    # CRA application (npm root)
    ├── package.json
    ├── .env.development       # Local dev API/WS URLs
    ├── .env.beta
    ├── .env.production
    ├── public/
    └── src/
        ├── axiosApi.js        # Axios instances (JWT + CSRF)
        ├── App.tsx
        ├── index.tsx
        └── llm-fe/
            ├── pages/         # Route-level views
            ├── components/    # Shared & feature UI
            ├── contexts/      # Auth, account, WebSocket, theme
            └── ui-kit/        # MD* design-system wrappers

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 (matches CI)
• npm (lockfile: llm-fe/package-lock.json)
• Running chat_backend locally for full chat/auth (default in .env.development: port 8001)

Local setup

1. Clone and install

git clone ssh://git@git.aimloperations.com:30009/ai_ml_operations/chat_web_app.git
cd chat_web_app/llm-fe
npm ci

2. Configure environment

CRA loads mode-specific env files. Variables must be prefixed with REACT_APP_ to be visible in the browser bundle.

File	Used when	Backend
.env.development	npm start	http://127.0.0.1:8001
.env.production	npm run build / build:prod	https://chatbackend.aimloperations.com
.env.beta	npm run build:beta	https://beta.chatbackend.aimloperations.com

Required keys (already set in the committed env files):

REACT_APP_BACKEND_REST_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8001/api/
REACT_APP_BACKEND_WS_API_BASE_URL=ws://127.0.0.1:8001/ws/chat_again/

These are baked into the JS at build time. There is no host secret file for this frontend (unlike Django apps under ~/Documents/secrets/). Change the committed .env.* files if API domains change, then redeploy.

Optional local overrides (gitignored): .env.local, .env.development.local, .env.production.local.

3. Start the backend

From the chat_backend repo (adjust to however that service is run locally):

# example — follow chat_backend README for the current command
cd chat_backend
# run Django on the port matching .env.development (8001)

4. Start the dev server

cd llm-fe
npm start

Open http://localhost:3000.

npm scripts

Command	Purpose
npm start	CRA dev server (port 3000)
npm run build	Production build into llm-fe/build/
npm run build:prod	Prod build + copy to /var/www/prod.chat.aimloperations/html
npm run build:beta	Beta env build + copy to /var/www/beta.chat.aimloperations/html
npm test	Jest watch mode
npm run test:ci	Single CI run (CI=true, no watch)

build:prod / build:beta are intended for deploy hosts (or a machine that can write those /var/www/... paths). Paths must match server-infra app_catalog.chat_web_app.webroot_pattern:

/var/www/{env}.chat.aimloperations/html

Tests

cd llm-fe
npm test          # watch
npm run test:ci   # one-shot (matches Gitea Unit Tests)

CI / deployment

Gitea Actions workflows in .gitea/workflows/:

Workflow	Trigger	Behavior
unit-tests.yml	push/PR to master	npm ci + npm run test:ci in llm-fe/
deploy-prod.yml	after green Unit Tests on master push	server-infra/scripts/deploy.sh --app chat_web_app --env prod --ref <sha>
deploy-beta.yml	workflow_dispatch	tests, then deploy --env beta

Deploy flow (on each webserver listed in host_apps):

1. Git checkout at the pinned ref under /opt/apps/src/chat_web_app_<env>
2. npm ci in llm-fe/
3. npm run build:<env> → writes the static tree under /var/www/...
4. web-static nginx serves that root on the host port (prod 8082, beta 8083 if enabled)

Manual deploy from the control node:

~/Documents/repos/server-infra/scripts/deploy.sh \
  --app chat_web_app --env prod --ref <sha>

NPM (not managed by Ansible) should balance public chat domains to:

• adama:8082 + roslin:8082 + ai-server-4080:8082 (prod)

See server-infra IMPLEMENTATION.md.

Related repos

• Backend: chat_backend — Django API + WebSocket
• Infra: server-infra — app_catalog, host_apps, deploy.sh, web-static
• Pattern reference: dta_webapp — node-static frontend deploy