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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)

  1. From ab-mac (no local SQLite): alai mc list returns live tasks
  2. From ANVIL: node ~/system/tools/mc.js list still works (backward compat)
  3. POST to mc-api: task appears in both mc.js list AND cloud Postgres within 2s
  4. Postgres automated backup: verify restore of 100-row sample matches source
  5. 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

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