42 KiB
Claude.md — JQC Developer Reference
Audience: AI assistants and developers working on this codebase.
Purpose: Authoritative reference for architecture, conventions, gotchas, and decisions.
Last reviewed: May 2026 (Phase 18 complete — reported_by on issues, issue_flagged notification prefs, dashboard follow-up query fix, customer join refactor)
Table of Contents
- Project Overview
- Tech Stack
- Repository Layout
- Environment & Configuration
- Database Models
- Role & Permission Matrix
- Blueprint Prefixes & Route Inventory
- Utility Modules
- Mobile API (Phase 7 / Phase A / Phase B)
- iPad Native App
- Notification System
- SLA Engine
- Audit Trail
- PDF Export
- Scheduled Reports
- Rate Limiting
- Alembic Migration Chain
- Frontend Conventions
- Infrastructure
- Known Constraints & Hard Rules
- Change Philosophy
1. Project Overview
JQC (Janitorial Quality Control) is a production-grade, full-stack web application that manages:
- Janitorial service contracts organised as Contracts (Projects) → Facilities → Areas
- Inspection execution against configurable templates with dynamic form builder
- Issue tracking with SLA enforcement, follower subscriptions, and verification workflow
- Customer portal with scoped facility visibility and invitation-based onboarding
- Notification system (in-app + email) driven by an admin-controlled matrix
- Reports — on-demand PDF/CSV scorecards and scheduled email digests
- Audit trail — immutable log of every create/update/delete action
- Mobile API — JWT-authenticated REST layer for the iPad native app
- iPad native app — SwiftUI + SwiftData offline-first inspection tool (Phase A + B + C complete)
The application is actively deployed in production and maintained by a single developer/administrator.
2. Tech Stack
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Language | Python 3.11+ |
| Web framework | Flask (application factory pattern) |
| ORM | Flask-SQLAlchemy (SQLAlchemy 2.x) |
| Database | MySQL (via PyMySQL driver) |
| Auth (web) | Flask-Login + Flask-WTF CSRF |
| Auth (API) | JWT access tokens + opaque refresh tokens (PyJWT) |
| Rate limiting | Flask-Limiter (Redis-backed in production via REDIS_URL; falls back to in-process memory for dev) |
| Migrations | Flask-Migrate / Alembic |
| Flask-Mail (SMTP, background threading) | |
| PDF generation | ReportLab |
| Forms | WTForms + Flask-WTF |
| Templating | Jinja2 |
| Frontend | Bootstrap 5, Chart.js, vanilla JS |
| Server | Gunicorn (sync workers) behind Nginx |
| OS | Ubuntu Linux |
| iPad app | SwiftUI + SwiftData, iOS 17+, Xcode 15+ |
| iPad networking | URLSession async/await + NWPathMonitor |
| iPad auth storage | iOS Keychain (Security.framework) |
| Timezone | All datetimes stored as US/Eastern (naive, via now_eastern()) |
3. Repository Layout
lt_janitorial_quality_control/
├── app/
│ ├── __init__.py # Application factory — limiter, csrf, db, mail, login_manager
│ ├── api/ # Mobile REST API
│ │ ├── __init__.py # api_bp parent blueprint + register_api()
│ │ ├── auth.py # /api/v1/auth/* and /api/v1/devices/*
│ │ ├── facilities.py # /api/v1/facilities/* (Phase A)
│ │ ├── templates.py # /api/v1/templates/* (Phase A)
│ │ ├── inspections.py # /api/v1/inspections/* (Phase B)
│ │ ├── issues.py # /api/v1/issues/* (Phase B)
│ │ ├── photos.py # /api/v1/photos/upload (Phase B)
│ │ ├── decorators.py # @jwt_required
│ │ ├── errors.py # JSON error helpers + error handler registration
│ │ └── jwt_utils.py # generate_access_token()
│ ├── models/
│ │ ├── inspection.py # Inspection now has mobile_local_id column (Phase B)
│ │ ├── issue.py # Issue now has mobile_local_id column (Phase B)
│ │ └── ... # (all other models unchanged)
│ ├── routes/ # (unchanged from Phase 12)
│ ├── static/
│ ├── templates/
│ └── utils/
├── migrations/
│ └── versions/
│ ├── phase1_projects_roles.py
│ ├── phase6_features.py
│ ├── phase7_mobile_api.py
│ ├── phase8_notification_matrix.py
│ ├── phase9_user_full_name.py
│ ├── phase10_customer_password_setup.py
│ ├── phase11_director_role.py
│ ├── phase12_performance_indexes.py
│ └── phase_b_mobile_local_id.py ← HEAD
├── JanitorialQC/ # Xcode iOS project root
│ ├── JanitorialQC.xcodeproj
│ └── JanitorialQC/
│ ├── JQCApp.swift # @main — SwiftData container, env objects
│ ├── ContentView.swift # Auth gate: LoginView ↔ DashboardView
│ ├── Auth/
│ │ ├── AuthManager.swift # Login/logout/restore session, Keychain persistence
│ │ └── KeychainHelper.swift # Security.framework wrapper
│ ├── API/
│ │ ├── APIClient.swift # URLSession + JWT inject + 401 retry + photo upload
│ │ └── APIModels.swift # Codable response DTOs
│ ├── Sync/
│ │ └── SyncManager.swift # NWPathMonitor + outbox queue processor
│ ├── Models/ # SwiftData local models
│ │ ├── LocalFacility.swift
│ │ ├── LocalArea.swift
│ │ ├── LocalTemplate.swift
│ │ ├── LocalInspection.swift
│ │ ├── LocalIssue.swift
│ │ ├── PendingPhoto.swift
│ │ └── SyncQueueEntry.swift
│ ├── Views/
│ │ ├── Auth/
│ │ │ └── LoginView.swift
│ │ ├── Dashboard/
│ │ │ └── DashboardView.swift # Sidebar + all detail views
│ │ └── Inspection/
│ │ ├── StartInspectionView.swift
│ │ ├── ExecuteInspectionView.swift
│ │ ├── FlagIssueView.swift
│ │ └── FormRenderer/
│ │ └── FormFieldView.swift # All field type renderers
│ └── Utils/
│ └── Constants.swift # baseURL, Keychain key strings
├── config.py
├── gunicorn_config.py
├── requirements.txt
├── run.py
└── wsgi.py
4. Environment & Configuration
Required Environment Variables
| Variable | Notes |
|---|---|
SECRET_KEY |
Flask secret — no fallback; startup fails if absent |
DATABASE_URL |
e.g. mysql+pymysql://user:pass@localhost/jqc |
MAIL_SERVER |
SMTP hostname |
MAIL_USERNAME |
SMTP login |
MAIL_PASSWORD |
SMTP password |
MAIL_PORT |
465 (SSL) or 587 (STARTTLS) — auto-selects flags |
APP_BASE_URL |
Full URL for email links |
MAIL_DEFAULT_SENDER |
From address |
DIGEST_SECRET |
Authenticates all cron endpoints |
REDIS_URL |
Optional. When set, Flask-Limiter uses Redis for shared rate-limit counters across Gunicorn workers. |
Email SSL Auto-Detection
MAIL_USE_SSL = _mail_port == 465
MAIL_USE_TLS = not MAIL_USE_SSL
Critical: Never set both to True — Flask-Mail breaks silently.
File Uploads
UPLOAD_FOLDER=app/static/uploads/MAX_CONTENT_LENGTH= 50 MB- Allowed:
png,jpg,jpeg,gif
5. Database Models
User
users: id, username (unique, indexed), full_name, email (unique, indexed),
password_hash, role (ENUM), created_at, active,
password_set, set_password_token (indexed), set_password_token_expires
Role ENUM: admin, director, inspector, project_manager, customer
Key property: display_name → full_name.strip() or falls back to username.
Facility / Area
facilities: id, name, address, contact_person, contact_phone, active, project_id (FK)
areas: id, facility_id (FK), name, area_type
area_type choices: restroom, lobby, hallway, office, kitchen, storage, floor, outdoor, other
Project / CustomerAssignment
projects: id, name, description, project_manager_id, active, created_at
customer_assignments: id, user_id, project_id, facility_id (nullable)
UniqueConstraint(user_id, project_id, facility_id)
Inspection
inspections: id, template_id, facility_id, area_id, inspector_id, inspection_date,
overall_score, status (in_progress/completed/flagged), notes, form_data (JSON),
completed_at, parent_inspection_id (self-FK), follow_up_required, follow_up_note,
mobile_local_id VARCHAR(64) nullable indexed ← Phase B
mobile_local_id: UUID string generated on the iPad. Used for idempotency — if a submission arrives twice (network retry), the server returns the existing record without creating a duplicate. Set NULL for all web-created inspections.
Score rule: Items with score = 0 mean "unanswered" — excluded from calculation entirely.
Issue
issues: id, inspection_id (nullable), area_id, facility_id (nullable), severity (low/medium/high/critical),
description, photo_path, status (open/in_progress/resolved/pending_verification),
assigned_to, reported_by (nullable FK → users, SET NULL on delete),
reported_at, resolved_at, result_notes, result_photos (JSON),
verified_by, verified_at, verification_note, sla_notified,
mobile_local_id VARCHAR(64) nullable indexed ← Phase B
reported_by: Added in phase18. Set at creation time to the user who filed the issue — on the web (current_user.id) and via the mobile API (g.api_user.id). Nullable for backward compatibility; pre-phase18 rows have NULL. Used by GET /api/v1/issues to return issues the inspector created but hasn't been assigned yet.
Notification / NotificationPreference
notifications: id, user_id, title, body, link, is_read, created_at, issue_id,
inspection_id, event_type VARCHAR(50) NULL, digest_pending
notification_preferences: id, user_id, event_type, email_enabled, digest_mode, digest_frequency
event_type: Added in phase17. Stored by notify() and returned by GET /api/v1/notifications so the iPad can categorise alerts. NULL for notifications created before the migration.
NotificationMatrix
notification_matrix: id, event_type, role_key, enabled, custom_emails (JSON)
UniqueConstraint(event_type, role_key)
AuditLog
audit_logs: id, user_id (nullable), username (snapshot), user_role (snapshot),
action, entity_type, entity_id, entity_label, details, created_at (indexed), ip_address
RefreshToken / DeviceToken
api_refresh_tokens: id, user_id, token_hash (SHA-256, unique), device_id, device_name,
created_at, expires_at, revoked
api_device_tokens: id, user_id, device_id, apns_token, device_name, app_version, registered_at
UniqueConstraint(user_id, device_id)
6. Role & Permission Matrix
| Area | admin | director | project_manager | inspector | customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | ✅ full | ✅ full | ✅ full | ✅ limited | ✅ scoped |
| Users | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Notification Matrix | ✅ only | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Customers | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Facilities | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | read | scoped |
| Contracts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | read | scoped |
| Templates | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Inspections (execute) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | read |
| Issues (create/assign) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | read |
| Issues (quick-assign) | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Issue verification | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Reports | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | scoped |
| Scheduled Reports | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Audit Trail | ✅ only | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Mobile API | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Decorator Map
@admin_required # role == 'admin' only
@supervisor_required # role in ('admin', 'director') — name kept to avoid touching 30+ routes
@project_manager_required # role in ('admin', 'director', 'project_manager')
@customer_required # role == 'customer' only
7. Blueprint Prefixes & Route Inventory
| Blueprint | Prefix | Notable routes |
|---|---|---|
auth |
/auth |
/login, /logout, /profile, /users/*, /notification-matrix |
dashboard |
/ |
GET /, /facility-trend (AJAX) |
facilities |
/facilities |
CRUD + area management |
projects |
/projects |
CRUD + customer assignment management |
customers |
/customers |
list, invite, set-password, manage, import CSV |
inspections |
/inspections |
list, start, execute, view, PDF export, flag-issue, save-draft (AJAX), flag-followup, reinspect |
templates |
/templates |
list, create, edit, delete, form editor, preview |
issues |
/issues |
list, view, create, update, verify, comment, follow/unfollow, verification queue, delete, quick-assign |
notifications |
/notifications |
list, mark-read, preferences, send-digest (cron), check-sla (cron), cleanup-tokens (cron) |
audit |
/audit |
list (admin only), view, purge |
reports |
/reports |
index, facility report, scorecard, CSV/PDF export |
scheduled_reports |
/scheduled-reports |
CRUD + manual trigger |
api |
/api/v1 |
parent blueprint |
api_auth |
/api/v1 |
/auth/login, /auth/refresh, /auth/logout, /auth/me, /devices/register |
api_facilities |
/api/v1 |
/facilities, /facilities/<id>/areas |
api_templates |
/api/v1 |
/templates, /templates/<id> |
api_inspections |
/api/v1 |
GET /inspections, POST /inspections, PATCH /inspections/<id> |
api_issues |
/api/v1 |
GET /issues, POST /issues, GET /issues/<id>, PATCH /issues/<id>/status |
api_photos |
/api/v1 |
POST /photos/upload |
api_notifications |
/api/v1 |
GET /notifications, PATCH /notifications/mark-read |
8. Utility Modules
time_utils.py
now_eastern() — always use this, never datetime.utcnow().
audit.py
log_action(action, entity_type, entity_id, entity_label, details) — call after db.session.commit(). This function calls db.session.commit() internally. Calling it before the primary commit will prematurely persist any dirty ORM state in the session.
scope.py
get_customer_scope(user) — returns list[int] facility IDs for customers, None for staff.
forms.py
All WTForms classes. AreaForm.area_type includes floor. UserForm excludes customer role.
notifications.py
notify(), notify_by_matrix(), notify_customers_for_facility() — all email sent in background thread. notify() stores event_type on the Notification record (phase17+) so the mobile API can return it to the iPad for categorisation. flag_followup route calls notify() for the original inspector so they receive a follow-up request notification on the iPad.
sla.py
sla_status(issue) → 'ok' | 'at_risk' | 'breached' | None (resolved).
pdf_export.py
ReportLab-based. 12-column grid must be preserved — never collapse in PDF views.
9. Mobile API (Phase 7 / Phase A / Phase B / Phase C)
CSRF Exemption Pattern — Critical
csrf.exempt(api_bp) does NOT cascade to sub-blueprints. Flask-WTF's _is_exempt() checks the leaf blueprint object. Each child blueprint must be exempted individually in app/__init__.py:
from app.api import register_api, api_bp
from app.api.auth import bp as _api_auth_bp
from app.api.facilities import bp as _api_facilities_bp
from app.api.templates import bp as _api_templates_bp
from app.api.inspections import bp as _api_inspections_bp
from app.api.issues import bp as _api_issues_bp
from app.api.photos import bp as _api_photos_bp
from app.api.notifications import bp as _api_notifications_bp
csrf.exempt(_api_auth_bp)
csrf.exempt(_api_facilities_bp)
csrf.exempt(_api_templates_bp)
csrf.exempt(_api_inspections_bp)
csrf.exempt(_api_issues_bp)
csrf.exempt(_api_photos_bp)
csrf.exempt(_api_notifications_bp)
register_api(app)
Every new Phase D+ blueprint must add its own csrf.exempt() line here before register_api(app). Failing to do so produces a "The CSRF token is missing." error on all POST requests to that blueprint.
Auth Flow
POST /api/v1/auth/login→ access token (60 min JWT) + refresh token (30 day opaque hex)- Bearer token on every request
POST /api/v1/auth/refresh→ token rotation (old revoked, new issued)POST /api/v1/auth/logout→ revokes refresh token
Rate Limits
| Endpoint | Limit |
|---|---|
POST /api/v1/auth/login |
10/min, 3/sec |
POST /api/v1/auth/refresh |
30/min, 5/sec |
Phase A Endpoints
| Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|
GET /api/v1/facilities |
jwt_required | All active facilities scoped to user |
GET /api/v1/facilities/<id>/areas |
jwt_required | Areas for a facility |
GET /api/v1/templates |
jwt_required | Template list (summary, no form_schema) |
GET /api/v1/templates/<id> |
jwt_required | Full template with form_schema |
Customer role is blocked from template endpoints (_ALLOWED_ROLES check). Facility endpoints honour get_customer_scope().
Phase B Endpoints
| Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|
POST /api/v1/inspections |
jwt_required | Create inspection; idempotent via mobile_local_id |
PATCH /api/v1/inspections/<id> |
jwt_required | Update inspection (draft → completed) |
POST /api/v1/issues |
jwt_required | Create issue; idempotent via mobile_local_id |
POST /api/v1/photos/upload |
jwt_required | Multipart photo upload; returns server_path |
Phase C Endpoints
| Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|
GET /api/v1/inspections |
jwt_required | Inspector's own inspection history (paginated) |
GET /api/v1/issues |
jwt_required | Issues assigned to current user (inspectors); all non-resolved (admin/director/PM) |
GET /api/v1/issues/<id> |
jwt_required | Single issue detail — inspectors scoped to assigned only |
PATCH /api/v1/issues/<id>/status |
jwt_required | Update issue status — inspectors scoped to assigned only |
GET /api/v1/notifications |
jwt_required | Unread notifications for current user; accepts ?since=<ISO 8601> |
PATCH /api/v1/notifications/mark-read |
jwt_required | Mark list of notification IDs as read |
Issue API Scope Rules
- Inspector:
GET /issuesreturns issues whereassigned_to == current_user.idORreported_by == current_user.id. This ensures issues the inspector created on the iPad appear even before a director assigns them.GET /issues/<id>andPATCH /issues/<id>/statusenforce the same combined check. - Admin / Director / Project Manager:
GET /issuesreturns all non-resolved issues (default) or filtered by?status=. _issue_payload()returns:id,status,severity,description,assigned_to,facility_id,facility_name,reported_at,resolved_at,mobile_local_id,photo_path,result_photos.
Notification API — OperationalError Safety
GET /api/v1/notifications wraps the ORM query in try/except sqlalchemy.exc.OperationalError. If the event_type column does not yet exist (phase17 migration not run), it falls back to a raw-SQL query that omits the column and returns "event_type": null. This keeps the endpoint functional before and after the migration.
Idempotency Pattern
All Phase B write endpoints accept mobile_local_id (UUID string from device). On receipt:
existing = Model.query.filter_by(mobile_local_id=mobile_local_id).first()
if existing:
return api_ok({'id': existing.id, 'duplicate': True})
This protects against double-submission when the network fails after the server commits but before the device receives the response. Web-created records have mobile_local_id = NULL.
Photo Upload Flow
Photos are uploaded before the inspection or issue is submitted:
- iPad calls
POST /api/v1/photos/uploadwith multipart image - Server saves to
app/static/uploads/inspection_photos/orissue_photos/ - Returns
{ "server_path": "uploads/inspection_photos/uuid.jpg" } - iPad includes
server_pathin the subsequent inspection/issue POST
Score Calculation (Server-Side)
app/api/inspections.py::_compute_score() mirrors routes/inspections.py::_compute_score_from_form() exactly:
- Rating value
0= unanswered → excluded from total - pass_fail accepted values:
pass,yes,ok,good,acceptable,compliant - Returns
float0–100 orNoneif no scoreable fields
10. iPad Native App
Platform
- Language: Swift 5.10+
- UI: SwiftUI (iPad-only, all four orientations)
- Local DB: SwiftData (iOS 17+ required)
- Networking: URLSession async/await
- Connectivity: NWPathMonitor (Network.framework)
- Token storage: iOS Keychain (Security.framework)
- Xcode: 15+
Offline-First Architecture
The app follows the outbox pattern — every inspector action writes to SwiftData first; the server is a secondary destination.
Inspector action → SwiftData write (always succeeds) → SyncQueue entry
↓
NWPathMonitor detects reconnect
↓
SyncManager.triggerSync()
1. Upload pending photos
2. Submit completed inspections
3. Submit pending issues
4. Pull fresh reference data
SwiftData Models
| Model | Purpose |
|---|---|
LocalFacility |
Cached facility reference data (read-only on device) |
LocalArea |
Cached area reference data |
LocalTemplate |
Cached template + formSchemaJSON (raw JSON string) |
LocalInspection |
Inspector-created inspection records |
LocalIssue |
Issues flagged during inspections |
PendingPhoto |
Photos awaiting upload; tracks localFilePath → serverPath |
SyncQueueEntry |
Outbox queue (currently unused directly — filtering done in Swift) |
LocalInspection Status Flow
"draft" → "completed" → "synced"
→ "failed" (after 5 retries)
syncStatus is separate from status:
status: inspector workflow statesyncStatus: server submission state ("pending"|"synced"|"failed")
SyncManager Key Behaviours
- Fetch-then-filter pattern: All
processPhotoQueue,processInspectionQueue,processIssueQueuefetch all records and filter in Swift rather than using#Predicatewith string literals. This avoids a SwiftData#Predicatemacro type-inference bug with string comparisons across model boundaries. - Sequential reference data fetch:
pullReferenceData()uses sequentialawait(notasync let) to avoid Swift 6 actor-isolation warnings onDecodablestructs. - Photo-before-inspection ordering:
processPhotoQueueruns beforeprocessInspectionQueue. An inspection is only submitted after all itspendingPhotoshaveuploadStatus == "uploaded"or"failed". - Retry limit: 5 retries per item before marking
syncStatus = "failed". pullAssignedIssues(): FetchesGET /api/v1/issuesand upserts into SwiftData keyed byserverId. Records pulled from server carrysyncStatus = "synced"andinspectionLocalId = ""soprocessIssueQueuenever re-submits them. Deletion pass runs after upsert — records withsyncStatus == "synced"ANDinspectionLocalId == ""whoseserverIdis absent from the server response are deleted. This removes issues that were reassigned to another inspector. The empty-response case is not short-circuited, so unassignment is always handled.- Notification polling:
pollNotifications()is called at the end of everytriggerSync()and also on a 60-secondTask.sleeploop started bystartPollTask(). UseslastNotificationFetchas a cursor (?since=param) so only new notifications are fetched. Marks fetched IDs read on server after local delivery. Task.sleepnotTimer.scheduledTimer:Timer.scheduledTimerrequiresRunLoop.mainto be ticking; inside a Swift ConcurrencyTask { @MainActor }blockRunLoop.currentis notRunLoop.mainand the timer fires never. Always useTask.sleepfor periodic work in SyncManager.
APIClient Key Behaviours
- 401 auto-retry: On a 401 response,
refreshAccessToken()is called once and the original request is retried. If refresh fails,APIError.notAuthenticatedis thrown. - Keychain token storage:
kSecAttrAccessibleAfterFirstUnlock— tokens survive device reboot, accessible for background sync. - Photo upload: Multipart
form-databuilt manually (no third-party library). Boundary is a UUID string.
FormFieldView — Supported Field Types
All types from the web app's INPUT_FIELD_TYPES set are rendered:
| Type | SwiftUI renderer |
|---|---|
text, email |
TextField |
textarea |
TextEditor |
number |
TextField + .decimalPad |
date |
DatePicker |
checkbox |
Toggle |
checkbox_group |
Custom multi-select buttons |
radio |
Custom radio buttons |
select |
Picker(.menu) |
rating |
Custom star rating (tap same star to clear) |
pass_fail |
Two-button Pass/Fail control |
signature |
PKCanvasView (PencilKit) |
image |
UIImagePickerController sheet → local file save |
table |
Grid of TextField |
section, label |
Display-only Text |
Known iOS-Specific Constraints
| # | Constraint | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | import Combine required for @Published |
Swift 5.9+ does not auto-import Combine; ObservableObject without it causes build errors |
| 2 | NavigationSplitView — no selection: binding |
init(selection:content:) unavailable on iPadOS 17; use List with manual Button + @State var selectedTab |
| 3 | #Predicate — no string literal comparisons across model boundaries |
SwiftData macro type-inference bug; fetch all + filter in Swift instead |
| 4 | async let — Swift 6 actor-isolation warnings on Decodable |
Use sequential await calls for reference data fetches |
| 5 | PencilKit requires framework linkage | Add PencilKit.framework under Target → Frameworks, Libraries, and Embedded Content |
| 6 | Free Apple ID provisioning expires every 7 days | Rebuild with ⌘R while iPad is connected; SwiftData persists across reinstalls |
| 7 | kSecAttrAccessibleAfterFirstUnlock for background sync |
Tokens must be readable when the app is woken by BGTaskScheduler |
11. Notification System
Event Constants (app/models/notification.py)
EVENT_ISSUE_ASSIGNED = 'issue_assigned'
EVENT_ISSUE_STATUS = 'issue_status'
EVENT_ISSUE_COMMENT = 'issue_comment'
EVENT_ISSUE_FOLLOW = 'issue_follow_update'
EVENT_INSPECTION_DONE = 'inspection_completed'
EVENT_SLA_ALERT = 'sla_alert'
EVENT_ISSUE_FLAGGED = 'issue_flagged' ← added; must be in ALL_EVENT_TYPES
EVENT_CUSTOMER_INSPECTION_DONE = 'customer_inspection_completed'
EVENT_CUSTOMER_ISSUE_UPDATED = 'customer_issue_updated'
ALL_EVENT_TYPES is the authoritative dict for the preferences UI. Every event_type string passed to notify() or notify_by_matrix() must have a matching entry here — missing entries cause that event to be invisible in the preferences form.
Cron Endpoints (all require token=DIGEST_SECRET)
| Endpoint | Purpose | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
POST /notifications/send-digest |
Digest email delivery | 0 7 * * * |
POST /notifications/check-sla |
SLA breach/at-risk alerts | */30 * * * * |
POST /notifications/cleanup-tokens |
Purge expired API tokens | 0 3 * * * |
12. SLA Engine
| Severity | Window | At-Risk |
|---|---|---|
| critical | 4h | 3h |
| high | 24h | 18h |
| medium | 72h | 54h |
| low | 168h | 126h |
issue.sla_notified prevents duplicate cron notifications.
13. Audit Trail
- Admin-only at
/audit/— director is excluded - Actions:
CREATE,UPDATE,DELETE,LOGIN,LOGOUT,EXPORT - Mobile API routes call
log_action()for all create/update operations - Immutable — never updated or deleted through the application
14. PDF Export
ReportLab — app/utils/pdf_export.py. 12-column grid must be preserved — do not collapse in print/PDF.
15. Scheduled Reports
Types: summary, facility, issues. Frequencies: daily, weekly, monthly.
Cron: POST /scheduled-reports/run?secret=<DIGEST_SECRET>
16. Rate Limiting
limiter = Limiter(
key_func = get_remote_address,
default_limits = [],
storage_uri = os.environ.get('REDIS_URL', 'memory://'),
)
Production: Set REDIS_URL=redis://127.0.0.1:6379/0. Counters shared across all Gunicorn workers.
17. Alembic Migration Chain
phase1_projects_roles → phase6_features → phase7_mobile_api → phase8_notification_matrix
→ phase9_user_full_name → phase10_customer_password_setup → phase11_director_role
→ phase12_performance_indexes → phase_b_mobile_local_id
→ phase13_issue_facility → phase14_facility_created_at
→ phase15_audit_log_indexes → phase16_notifications_columns
→ phase17_notification_event_type
→ phase18_issue_reported_by ← HEAD
phase_b_mobile_local_id
Adds mobile_local_id VARCHAR(64) NULL + index to both inspections and issues.
Uses INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS and INFORMATION_SCHEMA.STATISTICS existence checks — safe to re-run.
phase13_issue_facility
Adds nullable facility_id FK column to issues; back-fills from areas.facility_id; makes area_id nullable.
Uses direct ALTER TABLE + INFORMATION_SCHEMA checks — safe to re-run.
phase14_facility_created_at
Adds nullable created_at DATETIME column to facilities.
Uses direct ALTER TABLE + INFORMATION_SCHEMA check — safe to re-run.
phase15_audit_log_indexes
Adds individual indexes on audit_logs.action and audit_logs.entity_type.
Uses INFORMATION_SCHEMA.STATISTICS existence checks — safe to re-run.
phase16_notifications_columns
Ensures digest_pending TINYINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 and inspection_id INT NULL FK exist on the notifications table. Both columns are defined in the model but were absent from any prior migration because the notifications table predates the chain. Uses INFORMATION_SCHEMA existence checks — safe to re-run.
phase17_notification_event_type
Adds event_type VARCHAR(50) NULL to the notifications table. Required for GET /api/v1/notifications to return event type to the iPad so it can categorise alerts. The API endpoint catches OperationalError and falls back to raw SQL before this migration runs. Uses INFORMATION_SCHEMA existence check — safe to re-run.
phase18_issue_reported_by
Adds reported_by INT NULL FK → users.id ON DELETE SET NULL to the issues table. Allows the mobile API to return issues the inspector created (but hasn't been assigned) alongside their assigned issues. Nullable — pre-phase18 rows have NULL and surface only via the assigned_to path. Uses INFORMATION_SCHEMA existence and constraint checks — safe to re-run.
MySQL ENUM Change Protocol (3 steps — always follow)
-- 1. Expand
ALTER TABLE users MODIFY COLUMN role ENUM('admin','supervisor','director',...) NOT NULL;
-- 2. Migrate
UPDATE users SET role = 'director' WHERE role = 'supervisor';
-- 3. Contract
ALTER TABLE users MODIFY COLUMN role ENUM('admin','director',...) NOT NULL;
MySQL Compatibility Rules
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS— not supported on MySQL < 8.0.12. Always useINFORMATION_SCHEMA.STATISTICScheck first.batch_alter_table— SQLite-only workaround; do not use for MySQL migrations. Use directALTER TABLEstatements.- Migration deploy order: Always run
flask db upgradewith the oldapp/__init__.pystill in place if the new version imports models that reference columns the migration would add. Swap__init__.pyafter the migration succeeds.
Deprecated SQLAlchemy Patterns
# WRONG
Model.query.get(id)
# CORRECT
obj = db.session.get(Model, id)
if obj is None: abort(404)
18. Frontend Conventions
Active Nav Tab
Detected via request.endpoint.startswith('<blueprint>.') in each nav <a> tag.
Display Names
Always use user.display_name in templates — never .username for display purposes.
Status Label Map
| DB value | Displayed as |
|---|---|
completed |
Submitted |
in_progress |
In Progress |
flagged |
Flagged |
open |
Open |
resolved |
Resolved |
pending_verification |
Pending Verification |
Forms
- Flask-WTF CSRF auto-applied to all web forms
- Never nest
<form>tags — browsers silently discard inner forms
Real-Time
SSE banned. All "live" updates use polling.
19. Infrastructure
Gunicorn
bind = "127.0.0.1:8000"
workers = multiprocessing.cpu_count() * 2 + 1
worker_class = "sync"
timeout = 30
Application Logging
RotatingFileHandler→logs/jqc.log(5 × 5 MB)StreamHandler→ stdout (journalctl)- Format:
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] LEVEL in module: message
Nginx
client_max_body_size 50M- Passes
X-Forwarded-For
Recommended Cron Schedule
0 7 * * * curl -s -X POST https://your-domain.com/notifications/send-digest \
-d "token=SECRET&frequency=daily"
*/30 * * * * curl -s -X POST https://your-domain.com/notifications/check-sla \
-d "token=SECRET"
0 3 * * * curl -s -X POST https://your-domain.com/notifications/cleanup-tokens \
-d "token=SECRET"
0 8 * * * curl -s -X POST https://your-domain.com/scheduled-reports/run \
-d "secret=SECRET"
20. Known Constraints & Hard Rules
| # | Rule | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No SSE | Exhausted Gunicorn sync worker pool |
| 2 | now_eastern() always |
utcnow() caused incorrect SLA cutoffs |
| 3 | 3-step MySQL ENUM changes | Skipping causes data loss |
| 4 | Port 465 → SSL; 587 → STARTTLS | Both True breaks Flask-Mail |
| 5 | csrf.exempt() on each child blueprint individually |
csrf.exempt(api_bp) does NOT cascade; Flask-WTF checks leaf blueprint object only |
| 6 | supervisor_required name preserved |
Renaming would touch 30+ route decorators |
| 7 | Score 0 = unanswered | Excluded from calculation — not the same as scoring zero |
| 8 | 12-column grid in PDF | Must not collapse in print/PDF |
| 9 | No nested <form> tags |
Browsers silently discard inner forms |
| 10 | log_action() after db.session.commit() |
Entity ID must exist before audit capture |
| 11 | db.session.get(Model, id) not Model.query.get(id) |
SQLAlchemy 2.x deprecation |
| 12 | filter() before limit() |
SQLAlchemy ordering requirement |
| 13 | Bulk queries in customer list | Per-customer loops cause N+1 |
| 14 | Email in background thread | Never block HTTP response |
| 15 | Open-redirect guards | safe_redirect_url() in app/utils/decorators.py — the single canonical utility, imported by both auth.py and customers.py |
| 16 | CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS not on MySQL < 8.0.12 |
Use INFORMATION_SCHEMA.STATISTICS check |
| 17 | batch_alter_table is SQLite-only |
Use direct ALTER TABLE for MySQL migrations |
| 18 | Set REDIS_URL in production |
memory:// is per-process; Gunicorn needs Redis for accurate shared counters |
| 19 | "Project" → "Contract" is UI-only | Backend identifiers unchanged |
| 20 | display_name not username in templates |
Respects full_name; username is login identity only |
| 21 | mobile_local_id idempotency on all mobile write endpoints |
Network retries must not create duplicate records |
| 22 | Photo upload before inspection/issue submission | Server path must be known before the parent record is created |
| 23 | Migration deploy before new app/__init__.py |
New init imports models referencing new columns; columns must exist first |
| 24 | import Combine required in iOS files using @Published |
Swift 5.9+ does not auto-import Combine |
| 25 | No selection: binding on NavigationSplitView |
init(selection:content:) unavailable on iPadOS 17 |
| 26 | SwiftData #Predicate — fetch all + filter in Swift for string comparisons |
Macro type-inference bug with string literals across model type boundaries |
| 27 | Sequential await for reference data fetches in SyncManager |
async let causes Swift 6 actor-isolation warnings on Decodable structs |
| 28 | hmac.compare_digest() for token comparison |
Prevents timing oracle attacks |
| 29 | get_customer_scope() uses bulk project query |
Replaces per-assignment loop |
| 30 | CSV exports always call log_action(ACTION_EXPORT, ...) |
Data exports are compliance-relevant audit events |
| 31 | Do NOT add an explicit Issue.area relationship |
Area.issues declares backref='area', supplying Issue.area automatically. A second declaration on Issue raises ConflictingBackreferences at startup. The dependency is documented here; do not "fix" it by adding an explicit relationship. |
| 32 | Do not sync an issue when its parent LocalInspection.syncStatus == "failed" |
Submitting without inspection_id creates orphaned server records; mark issue "failed" instead |
| 33 | f-string fallback strings must use double-quotes inside single-quoted f-strings | Python 3.11 raises SyntaxError on nested same-delimiter quotes; use "\u2014" not '—' inside f'...' |
| 34 | computeScore field ID must be cast explicitly: String → as? String, Int → as? Int then String(n) |
Optional.map on Any? returns Optional(value) not value; the old guard-let produced "Optional(5)" as the lookup key, so all integer-ID field scores were silently 0 |
| 35 | Strip local:// photo paths from formData before submitInspection |
A failed photo upload leaves "local://..." in formData; JSONSerialization drops non-serialisable values silently, which is worse than an empty string on the server |
| 36 | notify() must always receive event_type |
Without it the mobile API returns null for event type and the iPad cannot categorise the alert banner |
| 37 | flag_followup calls notify() for the original inspector |
Without this, the inspector receives no follow-up request notification on any channel |
| 38 | GET /api/v1/notifications catches OperationalError |
If phase17 migration hasn't run, the ORM query fails at the SQL layer because event_type is in the SELECT but not in the DB; getattr() does NOT protect against this — only a try/except does |
| 39 | Issue API scope: inspectors see assigned OR reported issues | GET /issues, GET /issues/<id>, PATCH /issues/<id>/status all enforce assigned_to == user.id OR reported_by == user.id for the inspector role. Pre-phase18 rows with reported_by = NULL surface only via assigned_to. |
| 40 | _issue_payload() must return photo_path and result_photos |
iPad pullAssignedIssues stores these in photoServerPaths for display via AsyncImage; omitting them means server-created issues show no photos |
| 41 | log_action() commits internally — always call after db.session.commit() |
audit.py calls db.session.commit() to write the AuditLog row; calling it mid-transaction prematurely commits dirty session state. Snapshot any label strings needed for the audit call before the main commit if they come from ORM objects that may expire. |
| 42 | ~Inspection.follow_ups.any() not == None for dynamic relationships |
follow_ups is lazy='dynamic'; comparing to None does not generate a "has no rows" predicate. Use ~.any() which emits a proper NOT EXISTS subquery. |
| 43 | issues.index() outerjoin must precede all filters |
outerjoin(Area, Issue.area_id == Area.id) is unconditional at the top of the query. Both the customer-scope block and the facility_filter block reference Area.facility_id; without a prior join the facility_filter path generates a cartesian product for non-customer users. |
21. Change Philosophy
- Surgical, additive patches — smallest possible change to achieve the goal
- Preserve all routes, function names, variable names unless explicitly directed otherwise
- Never remove existing functionality unless explicitly directed
- Log all create/update/delete actions via
log_action() - Migration existence checks — all migrations safe to re-run
- Full file contents for 1–3 file changes; deployment map for larger changesets
- Explicit deploy instructions — migration steps separated from code steps
- Root cause analysis on errors — never apply temporary workarounds