Remove the empty VITE_API_BASE_URL build arg - it overrode .env.production

The deployed bundle shipped with no API base URL, so every request fell back to
a relative /api/*, which the frontend's nginx forwards to a backend:8000 service
this deployment does not have.

The cause was this Dockerfile. Vite gives a real environment variable precedence
over its .env files, so `ARG VITE_API_BASE_URL=""` followed by `ENV
VITE_API_BASE_URL=$VITE_API_BASE_URL` did not leave the value unset - it set it
to an empty string and overrode .env.production. Nothing about the build says
so; it just quietly produces a bundle with no API host.

Reproduced directly: building with VITE_API_BASE_URL="" in the environment
yields a bundle with no API URL, and building with the variable unset bakes in
https://mcp.nearle.ai.in from .env.production.

The value now comes from .env.production alone. Point a build elsewhere by
editing that file or adding .env.local; both are read by Vite and neither can be
silently empty.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.env.production

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Committed on purpose - see .gitignore.
 #
+# Named .env.production, not .env: Dokploy overwrites .env in the build context
+# from the service's Environment tab (empty when that tab is blank). Vite loads
+# .env.production for production builds and it wins over .env, so this survives.
+#
 # Nothing here is a secret. VITE_API_BASE_URL is inlined into the public JS
 # bundle at build time, so it is readable by anyone who opens the site; keeping
 # it out of git protected nothing and only meant the value had to be remembered

.gitignore

@@ -12,15 +12,22 @@ dist
 dist-ssr
 *.local
 
-# .env is committed here deliberately. It holds only VITE_API_BASE_URL, which
-# Vite inlines into the public bundle anyway - it is visible to anyone who opens
-# the site, so ignoring it protected nothing. Committing it means the deploy
+# .env.production is committed deliberately. It holds only VITE_API_BASE_URL,
+# which Vite inlines into the public bundle anyway - visible to anyone who opens
+# the site - so ignoring it protected nothing, and committing it means the deploy
 # does not depend on remembering a --build-arg.
 #
+# The name matters. Dokploy writes its own .env into the build context from the
+# service's Environment tab after cloning, so a committed .env is silently
+# replaced - with an empty file when that tab is blank, which is exactly what
+# left the deployed bundle with no API URL at all. Vite loads .env.production
+# for production builds and it takes precedence over .env, so this survives.
+#
 # Anything genuinely secret must NOT go in a VITE_-prefixed variable: it would
 # be published in the bundle. Use .env.local (still ignored) for local
 # overrides.
-!.env
+!.env.production
+.env
 .env.local
 
 # Editor directories and files

Dockerfile

@@ -7,21 +7,18 @@ RUN npm ci
 
 COPY . .
 
-# Which origin the built app sends its API calls to.
+# Which origin the built app calls comes from .env.production, committed next to
+# this file, and Vite inlines it at build time.
 #
-# Vite inlines env vars at build time, so this MUST be a build arg - setting it
-# on the running container has no effect, the value is already baked into the
-# JS bundle.
+# There is deliberately no ARG/ENV VITE_API_BASE_URL here. Vite gives a real
+# environment variable precedence over its .env files, so declaring one with an
+# empty default did not "leave it unset" - it actively set the value to an empty
+# string and overrode .env.production. The build succeeded, the bundle shipped
+# with no API base URL, and every request fell back to a relative /api/* that
+# nginx forwards to a backend service this deployment does not have.
 #
-#   docker build --build-arg VITE_API_BASE_URL=https://mcp.nearle.ai.in .
-#
-# Left empty by default, which keeps requests relative and same-origin so the
-# nginx /api/* proxy below serves them. Set it when the API is on its own
-# domain - and add this app's origin to the backend's API_CORS_ORIGINS, or the
-# browser will block the responses.
-ARG VITE_API_BASE_URL=""
-ENV VITE_API_BASE_URL=$VITE_API_BASE_URL
-
+# To point a build somewhere else, edit .env.production, or add .env.local
+# (ignored by git) - both are read by Vite and neither is silently empty.
 RUN npm run build
 
 # ---- Serve stage ----