Fix: Database permissions for Hugging Face Spaces deployment

- Use /data directory for HF Spaces persistent storage
- Add DATABASE_PATH environment variable support
- Update Dockerfile to create writable /data directory
- Maintain backward compatibility with local development

Fixes SQLite 'unable to open database file' error on HF Spaces

Dockerfile

@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 # Copy application code
 COPY . .
 
-# Create instance directory for database
-RUN mkdir -p instance
+# Create data directory in a writable location for HF Spaces
+# HF Spaces has persistent storage at /data
+RUN mkdir -p /data && chmod 777 /data
 
 # Hugging Face Spaces uses port 7860
 EXPOSE 7860
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ EXPOSE 7860
 ENV FLASK_ENV=production
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 ENV PORT=7860
+ENV DATABASE_PATH=/data/app.db
 
 # Health check
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=40s --retries=3 \

Dockerfile.hf

@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 # Copy application code
 COPY . .
 
-# Create instance directory for database
-RUN mkdir -p instance
+# Create data directory in a writable location for HF Spaces
+# HF Spaces has persistent storage at /data
+RUN mkdir -p /data && chmod 777 /data
 
 # Hugging Face Spaces uses port 7860
 EXPOSE 7860
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ EXPOSE 7860
 ENV FLASK_ENV=production
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 ENV PORT=7860
+ENV DATABASE_PATH=/data/app.db
 
 # Health check
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=40s --retries=3 \

app/__init__.py

@@ -10,7 +10,16 @@ def create_app():
 
     app = Flask(__name__)
     app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = os.getenv('FLASK_SECRET_KEY', 'dev-secret-key-change-in-production')
-    app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:///participatory_planner.db'
+
+    # Use custom database path if set (for HF Spaces), otherwise use instance folder
+    db_path = os.getenv('DATABASE_PATH')
+    if db_path:
+        # Absolute path for Hugging Face Spaces
+        app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = f'sqlite:///{db_path}'
+    else:
+        # Relative path for local development
+        app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:///participatory_planner.db'
+
     app.config['SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS'] = False
 
     db.init_app(app)