Gemini – Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

To help you decide how I should “remember” your technical preferences, think of it as setting the standard operating procedure (SOP) for how we build and troubleshoot your stack.

When we talk about “Internal Understanding” and “Runtime Configuration,” we are choosing between three distinct ways of managing your environment.

1. The “Static” Method (Environment Variables)

This is what you have now: variables defined in .env-prod and baked into docker-compose.yml.

• How it works: You change a value in Vault/.env, then run docker compose up.
• Pros: Truth is in the config files; survives a complete system power-down.
• Cons: Requires a restart. If you have 3 web replicas, they all blink out and back in.
• Best for: API Keys, DB Passwords, Port numbers.

2. The “Ephemeral” Method (File-Based)

This is what you’re doing with maintenance.enable.

• How it works: You touch or rm a file inside a container.
• Pros: Instant. No restart required. Very easy to script in run.sh.
• Cons: Not persistent. If the container crashes or Watchtower updates it, the file vanishes, and your “Maintenance Mode” accidentally turns off.
• Best for: Short-term toggles (like “Pause Nginx while I swap a DB”).

3. The “Dynamic” Method (State-Based / Redis)

This is the “Preferences” pattern we just discussed.

• How it works: A “source of truth” lives in Redis. The App and the CLI both talk to Redis to see how they should behave.
• Pros: Instant and Persistent. It survives a container restart because Redis is a separate volume. It works across all 3 web replicas simultaneously.
• Cons: Requires a small amount of extra code in your Flask app to “check” Redis.
• Best for: Debug mode toggles, Admin-level features, “Message of the Day.”

How I can “Remember” this for you

I can adapt my future suggestions based on which of these you prefer. Here are the three ways I can categorize your “Developer Persona”: