Phase 2 — MC + HiveMind API

Phase 2 — MC + HiveMind API 
 Timeline: Weeks 1-2 
 Goal: Mission Control and HiveMind leave ANVIL and become cloud-hosted APIs. This is the biggest architectural change — SQLite becomes Postgres, local scripts become REST calls. 
 MC Task: #8495 
 Proveo Owner: Angie Jones 
 Status: PREVIEW — Kelsey working in parallel 

 Why Second 
 MC and HiveMind are the nervous system. Once they are cloud-hosted, every other phase can run from any machine without touching ANVIL. 

 Deliverables 
 
 mc-api.js: Express-based REST API wrapping current mc.js logic
 
 GET /tasks , POST /tasks , PATCH /tasks/:id , GET /stats 
 Postgres driver (pg) replacing SQLite 
 Schema migration: 8378 tasks, 127 open — pg-migrate from SQLite dump 
 
 
 hivemind-api.js: REST + optional WebSocket for pub/sub
 
 Postgres backend (hivemind schema) 
 
 
 Docker images for both, pushed to Azure Container Registry 
 Azure Container Apps: deploy mc-api and hivemind-api
 
 Consumption plan (serverless, scale-to-zero when no traffic) 
 Min replicas: 1 (so cold start is 2-4s max, not 30s+) 
 Memory: 0.5GB each, vCPU: 0.25 each 
 
 
 Azure Database for Postgres Flexible Server: Burstable B1ms
 
 Region: swedencentral 
 mission_control DB + hivemind DB on same instance 
 Automated backups (7-day retention, included in cost) 
 
 
 Update mc.js client wrapper: detect ALAI_MC_URL env var, proxy to API if set
 
 Backward compatible: if no ALAI_MC_URL , still uses local SQLite (ANVIL stays working) 
 
 
 

 Cost Estimate 
 
Container Apps (2 apps, ~5h/day active, consumption plan):
 ~$1.50/month per app = $3/month total
 (Free grant: 180,000 vCPU-s/month covers most light usage)

Azure Postgres B1ms: ~$22-24/month (swedencentral, Flexible Server)
Azure Container Registry Basic: $5/month

Total Phase 2 additions: ~$30-32/month
 

 Rollback Plan 
 mc.js still reads local SQLite if ALAI_MC_URL is not set. If Postgres or Container Apps fail, unset ALAI_MC_URL on ANVIL and operations continue locally. SQLite is kept in parallel for 30 days post-migration before decommission. 

 Proveo Validation Criteria 
 Test Owner: Angie Jones (Proveo) 
 
 From ab-mac (no local SQLite): alai mc list returns live tasks 
 From ANVIL: node ~/system/tools/mc.js list still works (backward compat) 
 POST to mc-api: task appears in both mc.js list AND cloud Postgres within 2s 
 Postgres automated backup: verify restore of 100-row sample matches source 
 Container App scales to zero after 10min idle, cold starts under 5s 
 

 Detailed Implementation 
 Kelsey Hightower (FlowForge) is implementing Azure Container Apps + Postgres in parallel. Full runbook will be linked here once ready. 

 
 Credit: ALAI, 2026