Move the browser off the VPS to its own unit (#46) (#52)

Closes #46 once deployed.

The headless browser leaves the API stack and becomes its own compose unit
(`chrome/docker-compose.yml`) intended for the home machine, reached over the
tailnet. No fallback sidecar is left on the VPS.

The backend needs no code change — `BROWSER_WS_URL` was already the only
coupling. Its default is now empty rather than a pinned Docker IP, so an
unconfigured or unreachable browser degrades exactly as it always has: plain-TLS
libraries unaffected, kagane/novelfull logged and skipped, stored covers still
served.

### What shipped

- `chrome/docker-compose.yml` + `chrome/.env.example` — the browser unit, with
  the CDP port bound to `${BROWSER_BIND_ADDR}` (no default) and the resource
  limits from the epic: 512 MiB / 1 GiB memory+swap, `oom_score_adj 800`,
  halved CPU weight, shm 1 GiB -> 128 MiB.
- API stack drops the service, its `depends_on` and the `browser` network.
- `bookmark-api` gains the `default` network. Dropping `browser` had left it on
  `db` alone, which is `internal: true` — no published port and, worse, no
  egress for the poller at all. Caught by actually bringing the stack up.
- ADR-0006 for the topology; `DEPLOY.md` §7 for first-time setup of the browser
  machine; `REDEPLOY.md` §8 for its independent update cadence; architecture
  diagrams, config tables and troubleshooting rows across README/AGENTS/env.

### Verified locally

- Browser unit builds and runs: Chrome 151, UA carries no `HeadlessChrome`,
  all limits applied as declared.
- **Live smoke passes through the new unit**: `TestSmokeKaganeImage` fetched
  56710 bytes of `image/webp`, `TestSmokeKaganeGet` got a 200 with a real
  chapter list. The challenge cleared under the reduced 128 MiB shm.
- Bind isolation proven: refused on the host's non-loopback address, accepted
  on the configured one.
- 321 MiB peak of the 512 MiB cap after a full solve; 0 restarts, no OOM kill.
- API stack comes up clean, `/healthz` 200; egress confirmed present on
  `default` and absent on `db`.
- `go test ./...`, `go vet`, `gofmt` clean.

### Left to the operator

Provisioning the home machine, the Tailscale ACL, setting `BROWSER_WS_URL` in
production, and observing acceptance criteria 5-7 (covers with the machine off,
several days of zero OOM/restarts, VPS memory improvement). `DEPLOY.md` §7 now
carries the before/after `free -m` reading those need.

Reviewed-on: #52
Co-authored-by: Sulthan Zaki <sultankiki05@gmail.com>
Co-committed-by: Sulthan Zaki <sultankiki05@gmail.com>
This commit was merged in pull request #52.
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-09 15:28:21 +07:00
committed by sulthan
parent d1800d0707
commit 2a3bb6922d
14 changed files with 481 additions and 138 deletions
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@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
Date: 2026-08-09
Status: accepted
Superseded in part by ADR-0006: the lifecycle below is unchanged, but the
service no longer lives in the API stack and the name `headless-shell` is gone.
## Decision
Keep the `headless-shell` service and its CDP port alive, but start Google Chrome
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
# ADR-0006: The browser runs on the home machine, over the tailnet
Date: 2026-08-09
Status: accepted
## Decision
The headless browser is no longer part of the API stack. It is its own compose
unit (`chrome/docker-compose.yml`), deployed on the home machine, and the API on
the VPS reaches it over the existing tailnet through `BROWSER_WS_URL`. No
fallback sidecar remains on the VPS.
The backend needs no code change for this. The CDP endpoint was already a
configuration seam and the fetcher only ever holds the endpoint URL, so
relocation — and reversal — is one environment variable.
## Why
The sidecar held 471 MiB working set (645 MiB peak) on a 1974 MiB VPS with no
swap, which also hosts Traefik, Gitea and its Postgres. That is 24% of the host
and 86% of this project's memory, for a service that at the time answered zero
requests: the poller's due query joins bookmarks, production held four kagane
series and no bookmarks on any of them, and with no kagane bookmark the web UI
never rendered a kagane cover either.
The home machine has 5.9 GiB of swap and a residential egress, which Cloudflare
scores better than a datacenter IP. Both machines were already on the tailnet.
This move is only safe because covers are persisted (ADR-0005's sibling work,
issue #43/#45) and the browser is on-demand (ADR-0005). Without stored covers a
sleeping home machine would blank the library; without on-demand start the CI
runner that already holds ~1.2 GiB of that box's 1.8 GiB would be squeezed
around the clock.
## Constraints
**`BROWSER_WS_URL` must be the tailnet IP, never a MagicDNS hostname.** Chrome's
DevTools HTTP handler answers `/json/version` with a 500 for any `Host` header
that is not an IP or `localhost`. This is the same trap that previously forced a
pinned Docker IP; the pinned subnet is gone, the constraint is not.
**The CDP port binds to the tailnet address only, never `0.0.0.0`.** CDP
authenticates nothing: whatever reaches the port drives the browser and, through
it, the host. On the VPS the safety came from Docker network membership; the
home machine has a real LAN, so a `0.0.0.0` bind is a hole punched into it. The
bind address is the enforcement and Tailscale device identity plus a per-device
ACL is the policy. `BROWSER_BIND_ADDR` deliberately has no default, so an unset
value fails the deploy instead of publishing CDP to the LAN.
No bearer-token proxy is added in front of CDP. It would only defend against a
device already inside the tailnet, and it would be one more thing between the
poller and a browser that is already hard enough to keep clearing challenges.
**Resource limits are load-bearing, not decorative.** The browser is the
newcomer on that box, not the incumbent. A hard 512 MiB cap with 1 GiB
memory+swap makes Chrome reclaim its own cold pages onto the machine's SATA swap
instead of taking resident memory from the runner; untuned Chrome peaked at
645 MiB cgroup, which is more than is free there. `oom_score_adj` biases the
kernel to kill the browser first and never CI. Reduced CPU weight makes a
challenge solve yield to a running build — cold start degrades to about 3 s at
half a CPU, immaterial against a 45-second challenge budget. The shared-memory
reservation drops from 1 GiB to 128 MiB against a measured 19 MiB peak.
## Consequences
An unreachable browser degrades exactly as an unset `BROWSER_WS_URL` already
does: plain-TLS libraries are unaffected, kagane and novelfull log and skip, the
series waits out its cooldown, and stored covers keep serving. A power outage at
home costs chapter freshness on two sites, never the appearance of the library.
The two units are deployed and updated independently. `REDEPLOY.md` §8 covers
the browser; everything before it covers the API stack. A local `docker compose
up` now brings up two services, not three, and polls kagane only if
`BROWSER_WS_URL` is pointed somewhere.