pleno-vue/docs/cpanel-frontend-deployment.md

cPanel frontend deployment

This runbook covers the production deployment of pleno-vue only. The API is not uploaded to cPanel and continues to use its existing release process and hosts.

Release flow

.github/workflows/release.yml starts only after the Automated Tests workflow succeeds for a push to master in this repository. It then:

1. Rechecks that the tested commit is still the head of master.
2. Checks out that exact commit without persisting GitHub credentials.
3. Installs dependencies, runs source checks, and builds dist once.
4. Runs the local-production Playwright gate against that existing dist.
5. Creates an immutable ZIP, SHA-256 sidecar, and file inventory, then verifies a local archive round trip.
6. Uploads the package as a required GitHub Actions artifact.
7. Enters the protected frontend-production GitHub environment and rechecks master immediately before deployment.
8. Uploads the ZIP and checksum over certificate-verified explicit FTPS. The uploaded .part files are downloaded and hashed before they are renamed.
9. Uploads an authenticated, bounded-lifetime request into the jailed deployment directory. A root-owned account-scoped activator validates the request and archive, extracts an inactive release, verifies its manifest identity and required files, and replaces current with a local single-filesystem rename.
10. Downloads the extracted tree and compares it byte-for-byte with the validated inventory. Public manifest, asset-integrity, cache-header, API-ping, and role gates then run against the active release. A failed gate asks the same activator to restore the previous immutable target.

The fixed frontend-production concurrency group is not cancellable. A newer push therefore cannot interrupt an in-progress switch or rollback.

GitHub environment

Create the environment frontend-production, restrict deployment branches to protected branches, and keep master protected by the required CI checks. Production approvals can be added as an environment protection rule.

Add these environment secrets:

• PRODUCTION_FTP_HOST
• PRODUCTION_FTP_USER
• PRODUCTION_FTP_PASSWORD
• PRODUCTION_FTP_PATH
• PRODUCTION_ACTIVATION_KEY
• PRODUCTION_CPANEL_USER
• PRODUCTION_CPANEL_API_TOKEN

The API .env contains legacy values under the first four names, but production frontend deployment uses a dedicated cPanel FTP account jailed to /home/truckwash/frontend-deployments. Leave the API .env and the API deployment unchanged.

The cPanel token is separate from the FTP password. Create it in cPanel under Security -> Manage API Tokens for PRODUCTION_CPANEL_USER. The deployment uses the token for fail-closed directory and release-state inspection. It does not use legacy Fileman mutation calls to replace symlinks: on this server those calls can follow the target instead of renaming the link itself. Revoke and rotate the token if it is ever exposed.

Add these environment variables:

• PRODUCTION_CPANEL_API_URL: https://server.red-block.com:2083
• PRODUCTION_CPANEL_PATH: frontend-deployments
• PRODUCTION_FRONTEND_URL: https://truckwash.io

Only PRODUCTION_FRONTEND_URL has the requested https://truckwash.io fallback. The cPanel URL and path deliberately fail closed when absent. The production environment must keep the explicit https://server.red-block.com:2083 cPanel origin: the public origin serves frontend HTML at /json-api/cpanel, while the dedicated TLS origin exposes the cPanel JSON API.

Create the dedicated FTP credentials

1. Open Files -> FTP Accounts in the truckwash cPanel account.
2. Create github-pleno-vue@truckwash.io with a generated, unique password.
3. Set its directory to frontend-deployments, which cPanel resolves to /home/truckwash/frontend-deployments, and leave quota unlimited.
4. Add server.red-block.com as PRODUCTION_FTP_HOST. Do not use truckwash.io: the FTPS certificate is issued to the server hostname.
5. Add the full account login as PRODUCTION_FTP_USER, the generated password as PRODUCTION_FTP_PASSWORD, and / as PRODUCTION_FTP_PATH. / is the root of this jailed FTP account, not the cPanel account home.
6. Verify explicit FTPS login and directory listing before merging. Never copy these frontend-only credentials back into the API .env.

Create the missing cPanel credentials

The API .env supplies only the four FTP values. Create the two cPanel secrets separately; do not reuse the FTP password as an API token.

1. Sign in to the cPanel account that owns the frontend deployment root.
2. Record the exact cPanel account username shown in General Information. Add it to the frontend-production environment as the PRODUCTION_CPANEL_USER secret.
3. Open Security -> Manage API Tokens. If the item is missing, ask the hosting provider to enable API Tokens in WHM Feature Manager.
4. Click Create, name the token github-pleno-vue-production, and choose an expiration date that matches the team's rotation policy. Expiration cannot be edited later, so add a reminder before that date.
5. Click Create, copy the token immediately, and add it to the same GitHub environment as PRODUCTION_CPANEL_API_TOKEN. cPanel will not show the token again after leaving the page.
6. Confirm Yes, I Saved My Token, then close any local plaintext copy after the GitHub secret has been saved.
7. Before merging, run the deployment audit against the configured API origin. It must be able to list PRODUCTION_CPANEL_PATH, current, and immutable releases. Do not broaden the token or deployment root beyond this cPanel account.

The current production token is named github-pleno-vue-production and expires on 20 July 2027 at 23:59:59 server time. Rotate the GitHub environment secret before that date, then revoke the replaced token in cPanel.

In GitHub, navigate to Settings -> Environments -> frontend-production. Use Add secret for credentials and Add variable for the two URLs and the cPanel deployment path. Environment values are available only to the deployment job that names this environment, and configured protection rules are evaluated before its secrets are released.

The existing live-test, Release Manager, and server-version secrets used by release.yml must remain configured. The GitHub-hosted deployment job installs lftp job-locally when needed and installs Playwright Chromium. The workflow also uses Node 22, npm, zip, unzip, GNU find, stat, and sha256sum. The cPanel account host needs /bin/sh, flock, unzip, jq, and sha256sum for the account-scoped activator.

cPanel layout and one-time bootstrap

The production FTP account is jailed directly to the deployment root, so its PRODUCTION_FTP_PATH is /. PRODUCTION_CPANEL_PATH names that same directory relative to the cPanel account home. The helper creates this layout below it:

archives/
releases/
  <commit>-<github-run>-<attempt>/
    dist/
staging/
current -> releases/<release-id>/dist

The domain's document root must resolve to <cPanel account home>/<PRODUCTION_CPANEL_PATH>/current, not to the deployment root itself. This stable document-root path is what makes replacing current atomic: every HTTP request resolves either the complete old release or the complete new release, never a partly uploaded directory.

Before merging the workflow change, perform a one-time bootstrap in cPanel:

1. Back up the existing cPanel webroot and confirm the frontend hostname does not serve API/PHP files from this location.
2. Create archives, releases, and staging below the dedicated deployment root.
3. Put one complete, validated frontend build at releases/<commit>-<build-id>/dist. Its release-manifest.json must contain that full 40-character commit and the same build ID used in the directory name.
4. Create current as a relative symlink to that release's dist directory.
5. Make the frontend domain document root resolve to the stable current path. For a cPanel primary domain whose configured document root remains /home/truckwash/public_html, make public_html a symlink to frontend-deployments/current. Exchange the old directory and prepared symlink atomically, and retain the old directory as a recovery copy.
6. Confirm the release .htaccess contains DirectoryIndex index.html so a symlinked primary-domain root serves the Vue shell instead of a directory listing.
7. Confirm /release-manifest.json, /release-entry.json, a deep Vue route, and the API health request work at PRODUCTION_FRONTEND_URL.
8. Test the cPanel token against the exact host and port. The workflow performs read-only state checks and refuses deployment if current or the captured rollback release is missing.
9. Generate a dedicated 32-byte random activation key. Store its 64-character hexadecimal form in the protected frontend-production environment as PRODUCTION_ACTIVATION_KEY. On the server, install the same value at /etc/pleno-release-activator/truckwash.key, owned by root:truckwash and mode 0440. The FTPS jail must not expose this key.
10. As root, install scripts/release/cpanel-activate.sh out of band at /usr/local/sbin/truckwash-release-activate.sh, owned by root:root and mode 0755. The FTPS principal must not be able to replace or modify this executable. Then install this one truckwash account cron entry without replacing any other account cron lines:

* * * * * /bin/flock -n /home/truckwash/frontend-deployments/.activation.lock /usr/bin/env CPANEL_ACTIVATION_ROOT=/home/truckwash/frontend-deployments CPANEL_ACTIVATION_KEY_FILE=/etc/pleno-release-activator/truckwash.key /bin/sh /usr/local/sbin/truckwash-release-activate.sh >/dev/null 2>&1

The workflow can upload release data and bounded-lifetime request files, but it cannot replace the root-owned executable or read the activation key. The script authenticates each bounded-lifetime request with HMAC-SHA-256, accepts only strict filename components and hashes, validates the archive and manifest, runs a disposable local symlink preflight, journals the prior pointer for crash recovery, and writes a request-specific result. It runs as truckwash; it does not need root or a shell credential in GitHub. The host must provide /bin/sh, flock, openssl, unzip, jq, and sha256sum.

The automatic deployer intentionally refuses to create the first current pointer. This prevents a missing or misconfigured bootstrap from turning the first automated run into an unreviewed production cutover.

Auditing or restoring the primary webroot

Use the protected cPanel Root Audit and Restore workflow if the primary domain starts showing a directory index or returns 404 for files that cPanel lists in public_html. The audit mode is read-only: it reports the exact public_html entry, whether the internal current link can serve the required release files, domain document roots, and retained recovery candidates without printing the cPanel token. API2 does not expose a documented symlink-target field, so the audit deliberately reports rootTargetVerified: false instead of claiming that an arbitrary public_html link follows current; the live HTTP checks remain the source of truth for service health. The audit fails closed if any domain record lacks an identity or document root, and restore is blocked while an addon or subdomain is rooted below public_html.

If the regression followed the one-time webroot exchange and both the active webroot and selected recovery are physical directories, select restore and copy one exact recovery entry from the audit, including the retained public_html.before-atomic-* entry created by the bootstrap when applicable. The workflow requires the typed phrase RESTORE <recovery> TO public_html STATE <state-token>, using the exact token string from that audit. The token is an optimistic-concurrency guard over the cPanel metadata visible to the audit; it is not a content hash or a substitute for validating the selected recovery. Restore also rejects an unreadable physical directory. Restore also rejects symbolic-link roots and recoveries because legacy cPanel Fileman may follow their targets rather than rename the links. It renames the current physical entry to a run-specific public_html.failed-* path, restores the retained entry, and checks /, /index.html, /release-manifest.json, and a deep Vue route. If any mutation response is lost or any check fails, it reconciles the observed account-home entries and reinstates the pre-restore cPanel state. It never deletes the recovery or displaced webroot, and reports manual intervention if the expected entries cannot be proven after compensation.

Caching and compatibility

The release .htaccess gives exact eight-character Vite-fingerprinted assets a one-year immutable policy. index.html, release metadata, web manifests, and service-worker control files always revalidate. The deployer retains at least the active and rollback releases and keeps five recent release directories by default (RELEASE_RETAIN_COUNT can be set from 2 through 25). Once a release falls outside that validated retention set, its directory and matching ZIP and checksum are removed over FTPS. Cleanup failure is reported without rolling back an otherwise verified deployment.

Because the document root switches as one symlink, an already-loaded page may still request an asset from its previous release after activation. The current implementation keeps previous release directories for rollback, but does not publish their asset paths through the new current pointer. Treat long-lived open-tab compatibility as a separate CDN/shared-assets enhancement if product usage requires it; the deployment itself does not serve mixed files.

Failure and rollback behavior

• Any error before the symlink rename leaves the current release untouched.
• The deploy helper immediately verifies the public release after the rename. A failure restores the captured previous release.
• A later public or credentialed Playwright failure runs the explicit rollback step with the previous immutable target emitted by the deploy step.
• A stale workflow run exits before activation when master has advanced.
• Release Manager is record-only (auto_sync: false); it no longer deploys the frontend through the API/Coolify path.

For manual rollback from a controlled runner, provide the same GitHub environment settings plus the target recorded in the successful deployment:

RELEASE_ROLLBACK_TARGET=releases/<release-id>/dist npm run release:deploy:cpanel:rollback

Never point this command outside releases/<release-id>/dist; the helper rejects path traversal and operations outside the configured deployment root.