feat: separate frontend container (Axum static serving + API proxy)

A dedicated Rust/Axum binary (web/frontend-server/) that:
- Serves the built Vite SPA bundle from dist/ via tower-http ServeDir
- Falls back to index.html for SPA routing (deep links work)
- Reverse-proxies /api/* to the backend container (same-origin, no CORS)
- Listens on port 8080 (configurable via FRONTEND_PORT)

Dockerfile (web/normogen-web/Dockerfile): 3-stage build:
1. Node: npm ci + npm run build -> dist/
2. Rust: cargo build --release the frontend-server binary
3. Runtime: debian-slim + binary + dist/

docker-compose.yml: new 'frontend' service on :8080, depends on backend healthy,
proxies to http://backend:6500. Independently scalable (run N replicas behind
a load balancer).

Architecture:
  Browser -> :8080 (frontend container)
    /api/* -> proxy -> backend:6500
    /*     -> static dist/ (SPA)

backend/docker-compose.yml

@@ -42,5 +42,25 @@ services:
       retries: 3
       start_period: 40s
 
+  frontend:
+    build:
+      context: ../web/normogen-web
+    container_name: normogen-frontend
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    ports:
+      - "8080:8080"
+    environment:
+      - BACKEND_URL=http://backend:6500
+      - FRONTEND_PORT=8080
+    depends_on:
+      backend:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/"]
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 10s
+
 volumes:
   mongodb_data:

web/frontend-server/Cargo.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[package]
+name = "normogen-frontend-server"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[[bin]]
+name = "normogen-frontend-server"
+path = "src/main.rs"
+
+[dependencies]
+axum = "0.7"
+tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
+tower-http = { version = "0.5", features = ["fs", "trace"] }
+reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["json"] }

web/frontend-server/src/main.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+//! Normogen frontend server — a minimal Axum app that:
+//!
+//! 1. Serves the built Vite SPA bundle from `dist/` (static files).
+//! 2. Falls back to `index.html` for any unmatched route (SPA history mode).
+//! 3. Reverse-proxies `/api/*` requests to the backend container.
+//!
+//! Designed to run as a standalone container, independently scalable.
+//! No business logic, no DB — just static serving + proxying.
+
+use axum::{
+    body::Body,
+    extract::{Request, State},
+    http::{HeaderValue, Method, StatusCode, Uri},
+    response::{IntoResponse, Response},
+    routing::any,
+    Router,
+};
+use std::env;
+use tower_http::services::{ServeDir, ServeFile};
+use tower_http::trace::TraceLayer;
+
+/// Shared state: the backend URL + a reqwest client for proxying.
+#[derive(Clone)]
+struct ProxyState {
+    backend_url: String,
+    client: reqwest::Client,
+}
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() {
+    let backend_url =
+        env::var("BACKEND_URL").unwrap_or_else(|_| "http://backend:6500".to_string());
+    let port: u16 = env::var("FRONTEND_PORT")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| "8080".to_string())
+        .parse()
+        .expect("FRONTEND_PORT must be a number");
+
+    let client = reqwest::Client::builder()
+        .build()
+        .expect("failed to build reqwest client");
+
+    let state = ProxyState {
+        backend_url: backend_url.clone(),
+        client,
+    };
+
+    // Static file serving with SPA fallback.
+    let serve_dir = ServeDir::new("dist").fallback(ServeFile::new("dist/index.html"));
+
+    let app = Router::new()
+        // Proxy /api/* to the backend.
+        .route("/api/{*rest}", any(proxy_to_backend))
+        .with_state(state)
+        // Everything else: static files + SPA fallback.
+        .fallback_service(serve_dir)
+        .layer(TraceLayer::new_for_http());
+
+    let addr = format!("0.0.0.0:{port}");
+    eprintln!("Frontend server listening on {addr}");
+    eprintln!("Proxying /api/* to {backend_url}");
+    eprintln!("Serving static files from dist/");
+
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind(&addr).await.expect("bind failed");
+    axum::serve(listener, app).await.expect("server error");
+}
+
+/// Forward a request to the backend, preserving method, headers, body, and
+/// query string. Return the backend's response.
+async fn proxy_to_backend(
+    State(state): State<ProxyState>,
+    mut req: Request,
+) -> Response {
+    // Build the target URL: backend_url + original path + query string.
+    let path = req.uri().path();
+    let query = req.uri().query().map(|q| format!("?{q}")).unwrap_or_default();
+    let target_url = format!("{}{}{}", state.backend_url, path, query);
+
+    // Map the axum request into a reqwest request.
+    let method = reqwest::Method::from_bytes(req.method().as_str().as_bytes())
+        .unwrap_or(reqwest::Method::GET);
+
+    // Collect headers (skip host — reqwest sets its own).
+    let mut headers = reqwest::header::HeaderMap::new();
+    for (name, value) in req.headers().iter() {
+        if name == "host" {
+            continue;
+        }
+        if let (Ok(name), Ok(value)) = (
+            reqwest::header::HeaderName::from_bytes(name.as_str().as_bytes()),
+            reqwest::header::HeaderValue::from_bytes(value.as_bytes()),
+        ) {
+            headers.insert(name, value);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Collect the body.
+    let body_bytes = axum::body::to_bytes(req.into_body(), usize::MAX)
+        .await
+        .unwrap_or_default();
+
+    let backend_req = state
+        .client
+        .request(method, &target_url)
+        .headers(headers)
+        .body(body_bytes);
+
+    let backend_resp = match backend_req.send().await {
+        Ok(r) => r,
+        Err(e) => {
+            eprintln!("Proxy error to {target_url}: {e}");
+            return (
+                StatusCode::BAD_GATEWAY,
+                "Failed to reach backend",
+            )
+                .into_response();
+        }
+    };
+
+    // Map the reqwest response back into an axum response.
+    let status = StatusCode::from_u16(backend_resp.status().as_u16())
+        .unwrap_or(StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
+
+    let mut resp_headers = axum::http::HeaderMap::new();
+    for (name, value) in backend_resp.headers().iter() {
+        if let (Ok(n), Ok(v)) = (
+            axum::http::HeaderName::from_bytes(name.as_str().as_bytes()),
+            axum::http::HeaderValue::from_bytes(value.as_bytes()),
+        ) {
+            resp_headers.insert(n, v);
+        }
+    }
+
+    let body = backend_resp.bytes().await.unwrap_or_default();
+
+    let mut response = Response::new(Body::from(body));
+    *response.status_mut() = status;
+    *response.headers_mut() = resp_headers;
+    response
+}

web/normogen-web/Dockerfile

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# Multi-stage Dockerfile for the Normogen frontend server.
+#
+# Stage 1: Build the Vite SPA bundle.
+# Stage 2: Build the Axum frontend-server binary.
+# Stage 3: Slim runtime with the binary + static files.
+
+# ============================================================================
+# Stage 1: Node — build the Vite SPA
+# ============================================================================
+FROM node:20-slim AS node-builder
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy package files and install deps.
+COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
+RUN npm ci
+
+# Copy the source and build.
+COPY . .
+RUN npm run build
+
+# ============================================================================
+# Stage 2: Rust — build the frontend-server binary
+# ============================================================================
+FROM rust:latest AS rust-builder
+
+WORKDIR /server
+
+# Copy the frontend-server crate.
+COPY frontend-server/ ./
+
+# Build release.
+RUN cargo build --release
+
+# ============================================================================
+# Stage 3: Runtime — slim image with binary + static files
+# ============================================================================
+FROM debian:bookworm-slim
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    ca-certificates \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy the frontend-server binary.
+COPY --from=rust-builder /server/target/release/normogen-frontend-server /app/frontend-server
+
+# Copy the built static files.
+COPY --from=node-builder /app/dist /app/dist
+
+EXPOSE 8080
+
+CMD ["./frontend-server"]