# NGIE-AI Production Readiness Audit

Audit date: July 7, 2026  
Release target: v1 Internal Production Release  
Scope: Platform API, local frontend dashboard, deployment artifacts, operational controls  
Authentication: disabled by release decision  
Business logic changed: no

## Executive Summary

NGIE-AI has been prepared for an internal production release serving approved ecosystem websites only.

The release adds operational hardening, deployment documentation, Docker support, GitHub Actions deployment automation, environment-variable configuration, health checks, CORS allow-listing, API rate limiting, production request logging, and graceful shutdown handling.

This is not a public production release. Authentication remains disabled, so the platform must be protected by DNS, HTTPS, approved origins, network policy, and internal operational controls.

## Production Readiness Results

| Area | Status | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ubuntu deployment guide | Ready | `docs/PRODUCTION_DEPLOYMENT.md` |
| Deployment checklist | Ready | `docs/DEPLOYMENT_CHECKLIST.md` |
| Docker support | Ready | `docker/api.Dockerfile`, `docker/frontend.Dockerfile`, `docker/docker-compose.yml` |
| Environment variables | Ready | `.env.example`, `docker/.env.example` |
| Production logging | Ready | API JSONL logs under `reports/logs/` |
| Health checks | Ready | API `/health`, `/health/live`, `/health/ready`; frontend `/api/health` |
| CORS allow-list | Ready | `NGIE_CORS_ORIGINS` |
| API rate limiting | Ready | `NGIE_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS`, `NGIE_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS` |
| Graceful shutdown | Ready | API handles `SIGTERM` and `SIGINT` |
| GitHub Actions | Ready | `.github/workflows/internal-production-deploy.yml` |
| DNS and SSL documentation | Ready | Included in production guide |
| Authentication | Deferred | Intentionally disabled for internal v1 |

## Validation Evidence

Commands run:

```text
npm run api:test
npm run modules:test
npm run workflow:test
npm run workflow:validate
cd frontend && npm run lint
cd frontend && npm run build
cd frontend && npm run typecheck
```

Results:

```text
api:test          12 passed
modules:test       7 passed
workflow:test      3 passed
workflow:validate  passed
frontend lint      passed
frontend build     passed
frontend typecheck passed after Next route types were refreshed by build
```

## Controls Added

### API Environment Configuration

The Platform API now reads:

- `NGIE_API_HOST`
- `NGIE_API_PORT`
- `NGIE_CORS_ORIGINS`
- `NGIE_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS`
- `NGIE_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS`
- `NGIE_LOG_DIR`
- `NODE_ENV`

### CORS

Browser requests with unapproved `Origin` headers receive `403`.

### Rate Limiting

The API uses a local in-memory request bucket per client address. This is acceptable for internal v1 on a single server.

### Logging

API requests are logged as JSONL to:

```text
reports/logs/platform-api.log
```

Runtime `.log` files are ignored by Git.

### Health Checks

API:

- `/health`
- `/health/live`
- `/health/ready`

Frontend:

- `/api/health`

### Graceful Shutdown

The Platform API handles `SIGTERM` and `SIGINT`, closes the HTTP server, and forces shutdown after a timeout if needed.

## Known Internal v1 Limitations

- Authentication is disabled.
- Rate limiting is in-memory and resets on process restart.
- No centralized log aggregation is configured yet.
- Docker image optimization can be improved later.
- Deployment workflow assumes systemd services already exist on the Ubuntu server.
- The frontend still reads local repository files directly; this is acceptable for the internal local-first architecture but should be revisited before multi-tenant deployment.

## Release Recommendation

Approved for internal v1 deployment after:

1. Production `.env` is configured with real approved domains.
2. DNS records are pointed to the Ubuntu server.
3. SSL certificates are issued and verified.
4. GitHub deployment secrets are configured.
5. Operators accept the authentication-disabled internal release boundary.