Editor stuck at "Loading editor…": built bundle in dist/ is never served (/assets/editor.js 404s)

[mmoren10]

Summary

On a self-hosted instance started with npm run serve, the document editor never boots — it hangs at "Loading editor…". The built editor bundle produced by npm run build is written to dist/, but the server only serves static assets from public/, so /assets/editor.js returns 404.

Environment

• Self-hosted, npm run serve (API + editor on :4000)
• Accessed via http://localhost:4000/d/<slug>?token=<accessToken>
• Version: fb25787 ("Sync Proof SDK with latest shared collab fixes")

Root cause

• npm run build = vite build && node scripts/finalize-web-build.mjs. Vite emits the bundle to dist/assets/editor.js, and dist/index.html references <script defer src="./assets/editor.js">.
• server/share-web-routes.ts:600 serves the SPA by reading dist/index.html and rewriting "./ → "/, so the browser requests /assets/editor.js.
• But server/index.ts:49 mounts only public/:

  app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'public')));

  There is no static mount for dist/, and scripts/finalize-web-build.mjs does not copy dist/assets/* into public/ (it only rewrites index.html and writes a manifest).
• Net: /assets/editor.js (and the presence-color PNGs blue.png, lime.png, …) live in dist/assets/ but are never served → 404 → the SPA shell loads but the editor JS never does.

Reproduction

git clone https://github.com/EveryInc/proof-sdk && cd proof-sdk
npm install && npm run build && npm run serve
# create a doc
curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:4000/documents -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"title":"t","markdown":"# hi"}'
# the bundle the editor needs:
curl -i http://localhost:4000/assets/editor.js        # -> HTTP/1.1 404
ls dist/assets/editor.js                               # -> exists (2.8 MB)
ls public/assets/editor.js                             # -> No such file

Open /d/<slug>?token=… in a browser → stuck at "Loading editor…".

Suggested fix

Either:

1. Mount the build output in server/index.ts (one line), e.g.

   app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'public')));
   app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'dist'))); // serve built bundle

   (public stays authoritative; dist fills the editor.js gap and stays fresh after every build), or
2. Have scripts/finalize-web-build.mjs copy dist/assets/* (and the favicons) into public/assets/.

Option 1 is preferable since it avoids stale copies after rebuilds.

Found while debugging a self-hosted instance with Claude Code.