A service/job's env is now exactly its defaults.env — castle injects no hidden
convention vars. Values support ${port}/${data_dir}/${name} placeholders
(resolved at deploy, alongside ${secret:…}), so a program's own env var names
map to castle's computed values without hardcoding.
Why: the auto-injected <PREFIX>_PORT/<PREFIX>_DATA_DIR were a guess at the
program's env names — right for castle-scaffolded services, dead weight for
adopted ones (lakehouse carried two dead vars; notification-bridge/backup jobs
too). They also weren't visible in the config editor (computed at deploy), which
was the source of the 'four env vars but the UI shows none' mystery.
- core: resolve_env_vars gains a context (${port}/${data_dir}/${name});
deploy builds env from defaults.env only — no <PREFIX>_* injection, no
port_env. Removed the port_env field and the dead _env_prefix helper.
- cli: 'service/job create' gains repeatable --env KEY=VALUE (replaces
--port-env); 'program create' scaffolds <PREFIX>_PORT/_DATA_DIR: ${…} for new
daemons.
- app: removed the 'Port env' field; the Environment editor (defaults.env) is
the single place, with a placeholder hint.
- live migration: central-context/castle-api/power-graph/protonmail mapped their
real vars explicitly; lakehouse → just LAKEHOUSED_DAEMON_PORT: ${port}, data
stays in ~/.lakehoused. Verified all services healthy on their ports, dead
vars gone, zero failed units.
- docs: registry.md/design.md/stack guides + findings updated to the explicit
model.
core 94 / cli 24 / api 52 green; ruff + app build clean.
Driven by adopting lakehouse (an existing daemon that bundles its own SPA) —
see docs/findings-lakehouse.md.
#3 deploy reloads the gateway. castle deploy regenerated the Caddyfile but
left the running Caddy on the old config, so new proxy routes were silently
dead. Deploy now reloads the gateway when it's running.
#1 castle expose <program>. Turns an adopted program into a service
(run/port/health/proxy/systemd) in one command — the missing
daemon-to-service step. Flags: --port --health --path --run --port-env
--host --no-proxy.
#2 port_env mapping. A service can declare expose.http.internal.port_env so
castle sets the env var the program actually reads (e.g. lakehoused reads
LAKEHOUSED_DAEMON_PORT, not castle's convention LAKEHOUSE_PORT). Castle now
genuinely drives an adopted daemon's bind port.
#4a auto-base for react-vite. The build passes VITE_BASE = the gateway serve
prefix (/<name>/, or / for castle-app); vite.config reads it. A castle-built
frontend now works at its subpath with no hand-tuned base. castle-app's
vite.config updated as the reference.
#4b host-based routing. proxy.caddy.host routes a whole hostname to the backend
root via a host matcher inside the :9000 site, so a root-based SPA (base="/")
serves unchanged — the fix for proxying an app castle can't rebuild. Caddyfile
now emits 'auto_https off' (HTTP-only gateway on a non-standard port).
Nit: activate skips the editable reinstall when the tool is already on PATH.
Tests: core 94, cli 24, api 52; ruff + app build clean. Verified live: lakehouse
runs under systemd, API at /lakehouse, full UI (SPA boots) via host routing.
