core/src/diagnostics/doctor.ts

@@ -905,17 +905,25 @@ function databaseTransportCheck(
   }
 }
 
+/** Doctor reads only its own process's environment, so it says so: run as the reference
+ * deployment's `migrate`, it is given the API's values by the proxy overlay, but run any other way
+ * it may be checking a configuration the API is not running. */
+const CLIENT_ADDRESS_SCOPE =
+  "Checked: the environment Doctor runs with. In the reference deployment `migrate` is given the API's client-address values; a running API's own value is shown by `docker compose exec api printenv EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_MODE`.";
+
 function clientAddressCheck(input: ClientAddressConfigInput | undefined): DoctorCheck {
   try {
     const config = createClientAddressConfig(input, TRUSTED_CLIENT_ADDRESS_HEADER);
     if (config.mode === "direct") {
       return freezeCheck("identity.client-address", "pass", "Direct client-address mode", [
         "Trusts only the actual immediate socket peer for rate limiting; no forwarded header is trusted.",
+        CLIENT_ADDRESS_SCOPE,
       ]);
     }
     return freezeCheck("identity.client-address", "pass", "Trusted-proxy client-address mode", [
       `Trusts header "${config.header}" only from a request whose immediate socket peer matches one of ${config.trustedProxies.length} configured trusted ${plural(config.trustedProxies.length, "proxy")}.`,
       "The reverse proxy must overwrite (never append to) this header, and the origin must not be reachable except through it.",
+      CLIENT_ADDRESS_SCOPE,
     ]);
   } catch (error) {
     const code =
@@ -926,7 +934,7 @@ function clientAddressCheck(input: ClientAddressConfigInput | undefined): Doctor
       "identity.client-address",
       "failure",
       "Client-address configuration invalid",
-      [`[${code}] Configured client-address values failed validation.`],
+      [`[${code}] Configured client-address values failed validation.`, CLIENT_ADDRESS_SCOPE],
     );
   }
 }

core/tests/doctor-report.test.ts

@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ Identity
     Identity runtime configuration (signing key, base URL, trusted origins) is not set.
   ✓ Direct client-address mode
     Trusts only the actual immediate socket peer for rate limiting; no forwarded header is trusted.
+    Checked: the environment Doctor runs with. In the reference deployment \`migrate\` is given the API's client-address values; a running API's own value is shown by \`docker compose exec api printenv EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_MODE\`.
 
 Object storage
   ○ Object storage not configured

deploy/README.md

@@ -440,6 +440,14 @@ for a development checkout, not for the image.
 `migrate` has `profiles: ["ops"]`, so `up` never starts it. It never restarts, has no health check,
 and its default command is the read-only plan. **Nothing applies migrations automatically.**
 
+Run operator commands with the same Compose files as the stack. `COMPOSE_FILE` in `deploy/.env`
+(set in [`env/compose.env.example`](env/compose.env.example)) does that for every plain
+`docker compose` command below. It matters for Doctor in particular: Doctor checks the
+client-address configuration of the process it runs in. The proxy overlay gives `migrate` the
+API's trusted-proxy settings, so Doctor reports what the API runs. Without the overlay, Doctor
+reports direct mode for an API that trusts its proxy. The running API's own value is shown by
+`docker compose exec api printenv EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_MODE`.
+
 | Task | Command (from `deploy/`) |
 | --- | --- |
 | Plan migrations (read-only) | `docker compose run --rm migrate` |

deploy/compose.proxy.yaml

@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@
 # its lower half; the proxy (and the tunnel connector, if used) take addresses from the upper half,
 # which Docker never hands to another container.
 
+# Exactly one trusted peer: this proxy. Set from the same variable that fixes the proxy's address,
+# so the two cannot drift apart. These override any value in ekklesia.env.
+x-ekklesia-client-address: &ekklesia-client-address
+  EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_MODE: trusted-proxy
+  EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_HEADER: x-forwarded-for
+  EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_TRUSTED_PROXIES: ${EKKLESIA_PROXY_ADDRESS:-10.249.250.254}/32
+
 services:
   proxy:
     image: caddy:2.11.4-alpine@sha256:6aeddd44c3078b0f9a35206472a11420648a79c184603ef95957d0a20044cb2b
@@ -59,12 +66,12 @@ services:
   api:
     networks:
       edge: {}
-    environment:
-      # Exactly one trusted peer: this proxy. Set here from the same variable that fixes the proxy's
-      # address, so the two cannot drift apart. These override any value in ekklesia.env.
-      EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_MODE: trusted-proxy
-      EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_HEADER: x-forwarded-for
-      EKKLESIA_CLIENT_ADDRESS_TRUSTED_PROXIES: ${EKKLESIA_PROXY_ADDRESS:-10.249.250.254}/32
+    environment: *ekklesia-client-address
+
+  # Operator commands (migrations, Doctor) run as `migrate`. It gets the API's client-address
+  # configuration too, so that Doctor checks what the API actually runs rather than an empty one.
+  migrate:
+    environment: *ekklesia-client-address
 
   object-storage:
     networks:

deploy/env/compose.env.example

@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 # Compose reads automatically from this directory. Nothing here is a secret; secrets live in the
 # per-service files under EKKLESIA_ENV_DIR.
 
+# Which Compose files make up this installation, so that every plain `docker compose …` command
+# run from this directory, operator commands through `migrate` included, sees the same services and
+# settings as the running stack. Add compose.tunnel.yaml if you use the tunnel connector. Without
+# the proxy overlay here, Doctor checks a `migrate` that lacks the API's client-address settings.
+COMPOSE_FILE=compose.yaml:compose.proxy.yaml
+
 # The image to run, by registry, name, and tag (or digest). Required.
 EKKLESIA_IMAGE=