Error on gateway container when deploying in Google Cloud VM

What Happened?

I have followed all the steps on the Deployment guide (which maybe could use an update) with the latest main version. I am getting the following error when setting up the gateway container, which is preventing the complete deployment of the application:

root@alta-vm:/home/frolesti4_gmail_com/OpenDataCapture# docker logs open-data-capture-gateway-1
Server started at http://localhost:80
Server started at http://localhost:80
ReferenceError: document is not defined
    at Translator.changeLanguage (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31116:5)
    at Translator.replacementMethod (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31087:19)
    at Translator.init (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31130:10)
    at file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:107047:6
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:345:25)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:665:26)
    at async file:///app/dist/main.js:74083:26
[01:06:48.611] ERROR (1): request errored
    req: "GET /"
    res: 500
    responseTime: 549
    err: {
      "type": "Error",
      "message": "failed with status code 500",
      "stack":
          Error: failed with status code 500
              at onResFinished (file:///app/dist/main.js:50710:46)
              at ServerResponse.onResponseComplete (file:///app/dist/main.js:50761:18)
              at ServerResponse.emit (node:events:531:35)
              at onFinish (node:_http_outgoing:1082:10)
              at callback (node:internal/streams/writable:766:21)
              at afterWrite (node:internal/streams/writable:710:5)
              at afterWriteTick (node:internal/streams/writable:696:10)
              at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:89:21)
    }
root@alta-vm:/home/frolesti4_gmail_com/OpenDataCapture#

Is this something known? I am having a lot of issues with the deployment. I was able to deploy it two weeks ago with another version of main, something must have changed.

What Did You Expect?

I expect the gateway container to initiate properly

Operating System

Ubuntu 25.04

Browser (if applicable)

Chrome

Steps to Reproduce

No response

Anything Else?

No response

Thanks for the report. I will have a look now.

This issue should now be fixed in v1.11.2. It was due to a change in one of our libraries. Please update to that version.

@joshunrau

Hi @joshunrau

Thank you for your short response time, it is really appreciated. The thing is that I am still seeing the same error:

[07:01:08.885] ERROR (1): request errored
    req: "GET //core/Datavase/.env"
    res: 500
    responseTime: 1
    err: {
      "type": "Error",
      "message": "failed with status code 500",
      "stack":
          Error: failed with status code 500
              at onResFinished (file:///app/dist/main.js:50710:46)
              at ServerResponse.onResponseComplete (file:///app/dist/main.js:50761:18)
              at ServerResponse.emit (node:events:531:35)
              at onFinish (node:_http_outgoing:1082:10)
              at callback (node:internal/streams/writable:766:21)
              at afterWrite (node:internal/streams/writable:710:5)
              at afterWriteTick (node:internal/streams/writable:696:10)
              at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:89:21)
    }
ReferenceError: document is not defined
    at Translator.changeLanguage (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31116:5)
    at Translator.replacementMethod (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31087:19)
    at Translator.init (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31130:10)
    at file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:107047:6
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:345:25)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:665:26)
    at async file:///app/dist/main.js:74083:26
[07:01:09.153] ERROR (1): request errored
    req: "GET //database/.env"
    res: 500
    responseTime: 1
    err: {
      "type": "Error",
      "message": "failed with status code 500",
      "stack":
          Error: failed with status code 500
              at onResFinished (file:///app/dist/main.js:50710:46)
              at ServerResponse.onResponseComplete (file:///app/dist/main.js:50761:18)
              at ServerResponse.emit (node:events:531:35)
              at onFinish (node:_http_outgoing:1082:10)
              at callback (node:internal/streams/writable:766:21)
              at afterWrite (node:internal/streams/writable:710:5)
              at afterWriteTick (node:internal/streams/writable:696:10)
              at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:89:21)
    }
ReferenceError: document is not defined
    at Translator.changeLanguage (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31116:5)
    at Translator.replacementMethod (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31087:19)
    at Translator.init (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31130:10)
    at file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:107047:6
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:345:25)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:665:26)
    at async file:///app/dist/main.js:74083:26
[07:01:09.410] ERROR (1): request errored
    req: "GET //config/.env"
    res: 500
    responseTime: 3
    err: {
      "type": "Error",
      "message": "failed with status code 500",
      "stack":
          Error: failed with status code 500
              at onResFinished (file:///app/dist/main.js:50710:46)
              at ServerResponse.onResponseComplete (file:///app/dist/main.js:50761:18)
              at ServerResponse.emit (node:events:531:35)
              at onFinish (node:_http_outgoing:1082:10)
              at callback (node:internal/streams/writable:766:21)
              at afterWrite (node:internal/streams/writable:710:5)
              at afterWriteTick (node:internal/streams/writable:696:10)
              at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:89:21)
    }
ReferenceError: document is not defined
    at Translator.changeLanguage (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31116:5)
    at Translator.replacementMethod (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31087:19)
    at Translator.init (file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:31130:10)
    at file:///app/dist/server/entry-server.js:107047:6
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:345:25)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:665:26)
    at async file:///app/dist/main.js:74083:26

When setting up the containers, it looks like it is properly set. But then, eventually this error appears again.

I take it might be an issue of my set up?

I changed the server Linux provider to Ubuntu 22.04 but to no use, I have been following the deployment guides so everything seems to be in place.

In order to provide better support here. Can you please describe the entirety of your setup process, this means:

your (anonymized) environment file
the exact commands you use to launch
the docker compose file

Thanks.

Could you please also confirm that the version is updated to 1.11.2. I replicated this issue on our demo and updating the version fixed it. Did you run docker compose down and then docker compose up -d. I don't think docker compose restart will use the latest images.

GATEWAY_BASE_URL=
curl $GATEWAY_BASE_URL/api/healthcheck | jq .release.version

Hi guys, thank you for your interest!

This is my .env file:

## ---------------------------------
## PRODUCTION
## ---------------------------------

# The domain name to use for your site in the production compose stack
SITE_ADDRESS=myplatform.com
# The domain name to use for the gateway service in the production compose stack
GATEWAY_SITE_ADDRESS=http://gateway.myplatform.com

# The ports to listen on
APP_PORT=5500
PLAYGROUND_PORT=3750
GATEWAY_PORT=3500

# The Docker release to use (latest = stable)
RELEASE_CHANNEL=latest
# The MongoDB version to use
MONGODB_VERSION=7.0

## ---------------------------------
## PRODUCTION + DEVELOPMENT
## ---------------------------------

# The absolute path to the root of the project (i.e., the directory where this file is located)
PROJECT_ROOT=/home/frolesti4_gmail_com/OpenDataCapture

# The value to use for various security purposes.
SECRET_KEY=847dd5abadc2be1f1301f5f15a2c05579d74711f3880bcb18ecb88c0be3a6800

# MongoDB URI not including database name. This will be overriden in production
# by the value defined in docker-compose.yaml. If you are using a remote database in
# development, you should set that here.
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017
MONGO_REPLICA_SET=
MONGO_RETRY_WRITES=
MONGO_WRITE_CONCERN=
MONGO_DIRECT_CONNECTION=

# An email address to be used for mailto links on the website
CONTACT_EMAIL=support@douglasneuroinformatics.ca
# A link to the documentation page
DOCS_URL=https://opendatacapture.org/docs
# A link to the repository containing the source code for the platform
GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/DouglasNeuroInformatics/OpenDataCapture
# Whether or not the gateway should be activated
GATEWAY_ENABLED=true
# A link to the license governing distribution of the platform and all derivative work
LICENSE_URL=https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
# The interval (in miliseconds) at which the API will attempt to resync with the gateway
GATEWAY_REFRESH_INTERVAL=10000
# The path to the SQLite file for the gateway (e.g., file:/path/to/database.db)
GATEWAY_DATABASE_URL=file:/home/frolesti4_gmail_com/OpenDataCapture/apps/gateway/data/gateway.db
# The api key used internally in communication between the gateway and core API - minimum length of 32
GATEWAY_API_KEY=7ecdd2acd73c65a6921d59a19faa6e12cd26c276a4f6dfdf09619bdfc8e259ec
# Whether 'debug' level logs should be enabled
DEBUG=false
# Whether 'verbose' level logs should be enabled
VERBOSE=false
# Enable rate limitting
THROTTLER_ENABLED=true
# Disable iteration for password hashing (not recommended for production)
# See https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/sp800-63b.html
# DANGEROUSLY_DISABLE_PBKDF2_ITERATION=

## ---------------------------------
## DEVELOPMENT
## ---------------------------------

# The port to use for the NestJS development server
API_DEV_SERVER_PORT=5500
# The port to use for the Astro (outreach website) development server
OUTREACH_DEV_SERVER_PORT=4000
# The port for the playground
PLAYGROUND_DEV_SERVER_PORT=3750
# The port to use for the gateway development server
GATEWAY_DEV_SERVER_PORT=3500
# The port to use for the Vite (full web app) development server
WEB_DEV_SERVER_PORT=3000
# Set an arbitrary delay (in milliseconds) for all responses (useful for testing suspense)
API_RESPONSE_DELAY=
# If set to 'true' and NODE_ENV === 'development', then login is automated
VITE_DEV_BYPASS_AUTH=false
# The username to use if VITE_DEV_BYPASS_AUTH is set to true
VITE_DEV_USERNAME=admin
# The password to use if VITE_DEV_BYPASS_AUTH is set to true
VITE_DEV_PASSWORD=Password12345678
# The base url for requests, which is overridden by reverse proxy in compose stack
API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5500
# The number of miliseconds to delay the result of HTTP requests in development
VITE_DEV_NETWORK_LATENCY=0
# Whether to force clear queries when the pathname changes
VITE_DEV_FORCE_CLEAR_QUERY_CACHE=false
# Whether to disable tutorial in dev mode
VITE_DEV_DISABLE_TUTORIAL=false
# Plausable analytics config (optional, set both to an empty string to disable)
PLAUSIBLE_BASE_URL=
PLAUSIBLE_WEB_DATA_DOMAIN=

TURBO_CACHE_DIR=".turbo"



This is the docker-compose.yaml file (untouched)

name: open-data-capture
volumes:
  caddy_data:
services:
  caddy:
    image: caddy:2.7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - ${APP_PORT}:80
    environment:
      - SITE_ADDRESS
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile
      - caddy_data:/data
    profiles:
      - '' #load by default without having to specify docker compose --profile
      - gateway
      - fullstack
      - nogateway
  api:
    image: ghcr.io/douglasneuroinformatics/open-data-capture-api:${RELEASE_CHANNEL}
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./apps/api/Dockerfile
      args:
        - RELEASE_VERSION
    depends_on:
      - mongo
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - GATEWAY_INTERNAL_NETWORK_URL=http://gateway:80
      - MONGO_REPLICA_SET=rs0
      - MONGO_RETRY_WRITES=true
      - MONGO_WRITE_CONCERN=majority
      - MONGO_DIRECT_CONNECTION=true
      - MONGO_URI=mongodb://mongo:27017
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - DANGEROUSLY_DISABLE_PBKDF2_ITERATION
      - DEBUG
      - GATEWAY_API_KEY
      - GATEWAY_ENABLED
      - GATEWAY_REFRESH_INTERVAL
      - GATEWAY_SITE_ADDRESS
      - SECRET_KEY
      - THROTTLER_ENABLED
      - VERBOSE
    expose:
      - 80
    profiles:
      - '' #load by default without having to specify docker compose --profile
      - fullstack
      - nogateway
  gateway:
    image: ghcr.io/douglasneuroinformatics/open-data-capture-gateway:${RELEASE_CHANNEL}
    build:
      args:
        - RELEASE_VERSION
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./apps/gateway/Dockerfile
    ports:
      - ${GATEWAY_PORT}:80
    expose:
      - 80
    profiles:
      - '' #load by default without having to specify docker compose --profile
      - gateway
      - fullstack
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - GATEWAY_API_KEY
    volumes:
      - ./sqlite:/app/sqlite
  web:
    image: ghcr.io/douglasneuroinformatics/open-data-capture-web:${RELEASE_CHANNEL}
    build:
      args:
        - RELEASE_VERSION
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./apps/web/Dockerfile
    environment:
      - API_BASE_URL=/api
      - CONTACT_EMAIL
      - DOCS_URL
      - GITHUB_REPO_URL
      - LICENSE_URL
      - GATEWAY_ENABLED
      - PLAUSIBLE_BASE_URL
      - PLAUSIBLE_WEB_DATA_DOMAIN
    expose:
      - 80
    profiles:
      - '' #load by default without having to specify docker compose --profile
      - fullstack
      - nogateway
    restart: unless-stopped
  mongo:
    image: mongo:${MONGODB_VERSION}
    command: ['--replSet', 'rs0', '--bind_ip_all', '--port', '27017']
    expose:
      - 27017
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: echo "try { rs.status() } catch (err) { rs.initiate({_id:'rs0',members:[{_id:0,host:'localhost:27017'}]}) }" | mongosh --port 27017 --quiet
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 30s
      start_period: 0s
      start_interval: 1s
      retries: 30
    volumes:
      - ./mongo/config:/data/configdb
      - ./mongo/data:/data/db
    profiles:
      - '' #load by default without having to specify docker compose --profile
      - fullstack
      - nogateway
  playground:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./apps/playground/Dockerfile
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
    ports:
      - '3750:80'
    restart: unless-stopped
    profiles:
      - fullstack
      - playground

This is my /etc/caddy/Caddyfile:

{
  email my@mail.com 
}

myplatform.com {
  reverse_proxy localhost:5500
}

gateway.myplatform.com {
  reverse_proxy localhost:3500
}

I have been following the guide step by step. I set up a VM in Google Cloud, install Linux, Docker and Caddy. Then, I clone my forked repository, execute the generate-env script succesfully and change the .env to point into my domain. Then execute docker compose up -d. At first, it looks like the gateway is properly listening to the localhost:80 port, but eventually this error appears when executing docker logs open-data-capture-gateway-1.

Is there anything I am missing?

did you try doing a docker compose pull?

Triaging upstream: deployment/runtime versions have changed substantially since this issue was opened. Is this gateway startup error still reproducible on the current version in Google Cloud VM? If so, please add current logs and deployment details.

Closing as irrelevant: the underlying SSR bug (document is not defined) was fixed in v1.11.2. The residual report traced to the reporter's stale deployment config (old compose format, missing services) rather than a defect in the current stack, and a maintainer already flagged this as likely stale with no reply since.

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

Error on gateway container when deploying in Google Cloud VM #1203

What Happened?

What Did You Expect?

Operating System

Browser (if applicable)

Steps to Reproduce

Anything Else?

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Error on gateway container when deploying in Google Cloud VM #1203

Description

What Happened?

What Did You Expect?

Operating System

Browser (if applicable)

Steps to Reproduce

Anything Else?

Activity

joshunrau commented on Oct 1, 2025

joshunrau commented on Oct 1, 2025

frolesti commented on Oct 1, 2025

frolesti commented on Oct 1, 2025

gdevenyi commented on Oct 1, 2025

joshunrau commented on Oct 1, 2025

frolesti commented on Oct 1, 2025

thomasbeaudry commented on Oct 2, 2025

gdevenyi commented on Jun 9, 2026

joshunrau commented on Sep 16, 2026

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions