Make the app runnable in Docker for GUI and CLI

Build one shared container image for the Flask GUI and CLI pipeline, with Playwright, FFmpeg, and spaCy preinstalled so first runs are reliable. Add bootstrap logic for missing runtime files, bind the GUI to 0.0.0.0 in containers, and preserve state through a repo mount.

Constraint: Local development needs a single image that supports both entrypoints without introducing extra services or dependencies.
Rejected: Separate GUI and CLI images | duplicated maintenance and no runtime benefit for this repo.
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Keep runtime state creation in the container bootstrap layer; do not reintroduce host-specific assumptions into GUI startup.
Tested: docker compose build; docker compose run --rm gui python -c '...'; docker compose run --rm cli python -c 'import main'; docker compose up -d gui; curl -I http://localhost:4000
Not-tested: Full end-to-end video generation with live credentials in this environment.

.dockerignore

@@ -1,2 +1,20 @@
-Dockerfile
-results
+.git
+.github
+.omx
+.venv
+venv
+__pycache__
+*.pyc
+*.pyo
+*.pyd
+.pytest_cache
+.mypy_cache
+.ruff_cache
+.DS_Store
+config.toml
+results
+assets/temp
+assets/backgrounds
+video_creation/data/videos.json
+video_creation/data/cookie-threads.json
+out

.gitignore

@@ -242,7 +242,11 @@ reddit-bot-351418-5560ebc49cac.json
 /.idea
 *.pyc
 video_creation/data/videos.json
+video_creation/data/cookie-threads.json
 video_creation/data/envvars.txt
+utils/backgrounds.json
 
 config.toml
 *.exe
+
+.omx

Dockerfile

@@ -1,12 +1,27 @@
-FROM python:3.10.14-slim
+FROM python:3.10-slim-bookworm
 
-RUN apt update
-RUN apt-get install -y ffmpeg
-RUN apt install python3-pip -y
+ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 \
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+    PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=1 \
+    PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/ms-playwright
 
-RUN mkdir /app
-ADD . /app
 WORKDIR /app
-RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
 
-CMD ["python3", "main.py"]
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+        ffmpeg \
+        curl \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+COPY requirements.txt ./
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip \
+    && pip install -r requirements.txt \
+    && python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm
+
+RUN python -m playwright install --with-deps chromium
+
+COPY . .
+
+RUN chmod +x /app/docker-entrypoint.sh
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/sh", "/app/docker-entrypoint.sh"]

GUI.py

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-import webbrowser
-from pathlib import Path
+import os
+import webbrowser
+from pathlib import Path
 
 # Used "tomlkit" instead of "toml" because it doesn't change formatting on "dump"
-import tomlkit
+import tomlkit
 from flask import (
     Flask,
     redirect,
@@ -12,12 +13,16 @@ from flask import (
     url_for,
 )
 
-import utils.gui_utils as gui
-
-# Set the hostname
-HOST = "localhost"
-# Set the port number
-PORT = 4000
+import utils.gui_utils as gui
+from utils.docker_bootstrap import ensure_runtime_state
+
+ensure_runtime_state()
+
+# Set the hostname and port
+HOST = os.environ.get("GUI_HOST", "0.0.0.0")
+PORT = int(os.environ.get("GUI_PORT", "4000"))
+OPEN_BROWSER = os.environ.get("GUI_OPEN_BROWSER", "1").lower() in {"1", "true", "yes", "on"}
+BROWSER_URL = os.environ.get("GUI_BROWSER_URL", f"http://localhost:{PORT}")
 
 # Configure application
 app = Flask(__name__, template_folder="GUI")
@@ -110,7 +115,8 @@ def voices(name):
 
 
 # Run browser and start the app
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    webbrowser.open(f"http://{HOST}:{PORT}", new=2)
-    print("Website opened in new tab. Refresh if it didn't load.")
-    app.run(port=PORT)
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    if OPEN_BROWSER:
+        webbrowser.open(BROWSER_URL, new=2)
+        print("Website opened in new tab. Refresh if it didn't load.")
+    app.run(host=HOST, port=PORT)

README.md

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ The only original thing being done is the editing and gathering of all materials
 
 - Python 3.10
 - Playwright (this should install automatically in installation)
+- Docker and Docker Compose for the container workflow
 
 ## Installation 👩‍💻
 
@@ -66,6 +67,44 @@ The only original thing being done is the editing and gathering of all materials
     python -m playwright install-deps
     ```
 
+## Docker
+
+The repository now includes a shared image plus Compose services for the GUI and CLI.
+
+Build the image:
+
+```sh
+docker compose build
+```
+
+Start the GUI:
+
+```sh
+docker compose up gui
+```
+
+Open `http://localhost:4000` in your browser.
+
+Run the CLI pipeline:
+
+```sh
+docker compose run --rm cli
+```
+
+Run the CLI for a specific post:
+
+```sh
+docker compose run --rm cli python main.py <post_id>
+```
+
+Stop the GUI and remove the Compose stack:
+
+```sh
+docker compose down
+```
+
+The repo root is bind-mounted into the container so `config.toml`, `results/`, `assets/temp/`, and the runtime JSON files persist across rebuilds and repeated runs.
+
 ---
 
 **EXPERIMENTAL!!!!**

build.sh

@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-docker build -t rvmt .
+set -eu
+docker compose build

docker-compose.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+services:
+  gui:
+    build:
+      context: .
+    image: videomakerbot:latest
+    command: ["python", "GUI.py"]
+    ports:
+      - "4000:4000"
+    environment:
+      GUI_HOST: "0.0.0.0"
+      GUI_PORT: "4000"
+      GUI_OPEN_BROWSER: "0"
+      GUI_BROWSER_URL: "http://localhost:4000"
+    volumes:
+      - ./:/app
+    shm_size: "1gb"
+
+  cli:
+    build:
+      context: .
+    image: videomakerbot:latest
+    command: ["python", "main.py"]
+    environment:
+      PYTHONUNBUFFERED: "1"
+    volumes:
+      - ./:/app
+    shm_size: "1gb"

docker-entrypoint.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+
+python -m utils.docker_bootstrap
+
+exec "$@"

run.sh

@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-docker run -v $(pwd)/out/:/app/assets -v $(pwd)/.env:/app/.env -it rvmt
+set -eu
+docker compose run --rm cli "$@"

utils/cleanup.py

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def cleanup(reddit_id) -> int:
     Returns:
         int: How many files were deleted
     """
-    directory = f"../assets/temp/{reddit_id}/"
+    directory = f"assets/temp/{reddit_id}/"
     if exists(directory):
         shutil.rmtree(directory)
 

utils/docker_bootstrap.py

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+"""Container bootstrap helpers for first-run runtime state."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any, Dict
+
+import tomlkit
+
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+
+def _default_from_template(node: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    defaults: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+    for key, value in node.items():
+        if isinstance(value, dict) and "optional" in value:
+            if "default" in value:
+                defaults[key] = value["default"]
+            else:
+                value_type = value.get("type")
+                if value_type == "bool":
+                    defaults[key] = False
+                elif value_type in {"int", "float"}:
+                    defaults[key] = 0
+                else:
+                    defaults[key] = ""
+        elif isinstance(value, dict):
+            defaults[key] = _default_from_template(value)
+    return defaults
+
+
+def _ensure_json(path: Path, content: str) -> None:
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    if not path.exists():
+        path.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+def _ensure_config(path: Path) -> None:
+    if path.exists():
+        return
+
+    template_path = ROOT / "utils/.config.template.toml"
+    template = tomlkit.loads(template_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    defaults = _default_from_template(template)
+    path.write_text(tomlkit.dumps(defaults), encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+def ensure_runtime_state() -> None:
+    """Create runtime files and directories expected by the app."""
+    for relative in (
+        "assets/temp",
+        "assets/backgrounds/audio",
+        "assets/backgrounds/video",
+        "results",
+        "video_creation/data",
+    ):
+        (ROOT / relative).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
+    _ensure_config(ROOT / "config.toml")
+    _ensure_json(ROOT / "video_creation/data/videos.json", "[]\n")
+    _ensure_json(ROOT / "utils/backgrounds.json", "{}\n")
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    ensure_runtime_state()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()

utils/videos.py

@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 
 
 def check_done(
-    redditobj: Submission,
-) -> Submission:
+    redditobj: "Submission",
+) -> "Submission":
     # don't set this to be run anyplace that isn't subreddit.py bc of inspect stack
     """Checks if the chosen post has already been generated