Merge pull request #215 from AAdewunmi/feat/document-deployment-steps

Feat/document deployment steps

Author: AAdewunmi

docs/deployment.md

@@ -1,8 +1,16 @@
-# Production Deployment
+# ReturnHub Deployment
 
-This repository defaults to `config.settings.dev` when `DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE`
-is unset. Production deployment should override that explicitly in the
-deployment platform, not through ad hoc shell exports.
+## Purpose
+
+This document defines the production-like deployment path for ReturnHub using
+Docker, Gunicorn, Nginx, and PostgreSQL. The goal is not to support every
+hosting platform abstraction. The goal is to make one clear operator path that
+can be followed locally, in staging, or in a VM-based deployment with minimal
+translation.
+
+This repository defaults to `config.settings.dev` when
+`DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE` is unset. Production deployment should override that
+explicitly in the deployment platform, not through ad hoc shell exports.
 
 ## Required selection
 
@@ -14,37 +22,93 @@ DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.production
 
 This is the single explicit switch that enables the production settings module.
 
-## Recommended production env template
+## Required environment variables
 
 Use [production.env.example](../production.env.example) as the deployment-facing
-template for production configuration.
+template and create a real `production.env` file for the Compose-based
+production stack.
+
+The current production settings in this repo read `POSTGRES_*` values directly.
+They do not currently read `DATABASE_URL`, so `DATABASE_URL` is not part of the
+required env contract here.
+
+For the repo's canonical Compose-based production-like stack, `POSTGRES_HOST`
+should be `db` so the web container connects to the Compose database service.
+
+Minimum aligned example:
+
+```bash
+DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.production
+DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=replace-with-a-strong-secret
+DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS=your-domain.example.com
+DJANGO_CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=https://your-domain.example.com
+POSTGRES_DB=returnhub
+POSTGRES_USER=returnhub
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=replace-with-a-production-password
+POSTGRES_HOST=db
+POSTGRES_PORT=5432
+RELEASE_VERSION=2026.03.09
+```
 
-Key values:
+Local or staging production-like verification may also override security flags
+when HTTPS termination is not in place yet. For example:
 
-- `DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.production`
-- `DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=<strong secret>`
-- `DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS=<public hostnames>`
-- `DJANGO_CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=<https origins>`
-- `POSTGRES_*` database connection values
-- `RELEASE_VERSION=<deployment identifier>`
+```bash
+DJANGO_SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT=0
+DJANGO_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=0
+DJANGO_CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE=0
+DJANGO_SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS=0
+```
 
-For the repo's Compose-based production stack, create a real `production.env`
-from that template and set `POSTGRES_HOST=db` so the web container connects to
-the Compose `db` service. The production Compose stack builds `Dockerfile.prod`,
-which installs `requirements/prod.txt` instead of the dev dependency set.
+The production Compose stack builds `Dockerfile.prod`, which installs
+`requirements/prod.txt` instead of the dev dependency set.
+
+## Canonical compose path
 
 ```bash
 cp production.env.example production.env
 docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up --build -d
 ```
 
+The canonical production-like stack is:
+
+- `db`
+- `web`
+- `nginx`
+
+## Operator sequence
+
+Use this exact sequence to move from image build to a healthy application:
+
+1. Create and review `production.env` from `production.env.example`.
+2. Start the stack:
+
+   ```bash
+   docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up --build -d
+   ```
+
+3. Confirm the services are running:
+
+   ```bash
+   docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml ps
+   ```
+
+4. Verify the app process is using `config.settings.production`.
+5. Verify `/api/health/` returns a healthy readiness payload.
+6. Verify the landing page responds through Nginx with the expected security headers.
+
+The application should be considered healthy only after the entrypoint has
+completed Django checks, migrations, and `collectstatic`, and after Gunicorn and
+Nginx are both serving requests successfully.
+
 ## Verification
 
 After deployment, verify that the process is using the production settings
 module:
 
 ```bash
-python manage.py shell -c "from django.conf import settings; print(settings.SETTINGS_MODULE)"
+docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec web \
+  python manage.py shell -c "from django.conf import settings; print(settings.SETTINGS_MODULE)"
 ```
 
 Expected output:
@@ -56,17 +120,30 @@ config.settings.production
 Verify the readiness endpoint exposes the deployed release identifier:
 
 ```bash
-curl -s https://your-domain.example.com/api/health/ | python -m json.tool
+curl -s http://127.0.0.1/api/health/ | python -m json.tool
 ```
 
 Expected result:
 
 - response contains `"status": "ok"` when the app is healthy
 - response contains `"release": "<your deployed RELEASE_VERSION>"`
 
+Verify the landing page headers through the reverse proxy:
+
+```bash
+curl -I http://127.0.0.1/
+```
+
+Expected result includes:
+
+- `X-Frame-Options: DENY`
+- `Referrer-Policy: same-origin`
+- `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff`
+
 ## Notes
 
 - Keep `.env.example` for local development only.
+- Keep `production.env.example` as the template for the production-like stack.
 - Do not rely on one-off `export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=...` commands during deploy.
 - Keep production-only behavior in `config/settings/production.py`.
 - Keep `Dockerfile.prod` and `requirements/prod.txt` as the production image path.