panel/DEPLOYMENT_TIMEZONE_FIX.md

Quick Deployment Guide - Timezone Fix

For Production Server

1. SSH into your server where Docker is running

2. Navigate to project directory

   cd /path/to/panel
   

3. Pull latest code (includes timezone fixes)

   git pull origin main
   

4. Stop running containers

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml down
   

5. Rebuild Docker images (this is critical - it bakes in the timezone configuration)

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml build --no-cache
   

6. Start containers

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
   

7. Verify timezone is correct

   # Check container timezone
   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec app date
   # Should show Polish time with CEST/CET timezone
   
   # Example output:
   # Sat Oct  4 19:45:00 CEST 2025
   

8. Test the fix

   • Post a new note at a known time (e.g., 19:45)
   • Verify it displays the same time (19:45)
   • Test both project notes and task notes

What Changed

Code Changes

• ✅ Fixed datetime('now', 'localtime') in all database queries
• ✅ Updated display formatters to use Europe/Warsaw timezone
• ✅ Fixed note display in components

Docker Changes (Critical!)

• ✅ Set ENV TZ=Europe/Warsaw in Dockerfile
• ✅ Configured system timezone in containers
• ✅ Added TZ environment variable to docker-compose files

Why Rebuild is Necessary

The timezone configuration is baked into the Docker image during build time:

• ENV TZ=Europe/Warsaw - Set during image build
• RUN ln -snf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$TZ /etc/localtime - Executed during image build

Just restarting containers (docker-compose restart) will NOT apply these changes!

Troubleshooting

If times are still wrong after deployment:

1. Verify you rebuilt the images

   docker images | grep panel
   # Check the "CREATED" timestamp - should be recent
   

2. Check if container has correct timezone

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec app date
   

   Should show Polish time, not UTC!

3. Check SQLite is using correct time

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec app node -e "const db = require('better-sqlite3')('./data/database.sqlite'); console.log(db.prepare(\"SELECT datetime('now', 'localtime') as time\").get());"
   

   Should show current Polish time

4. Force rebuild if needed

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml down
   docker system prune -f
   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml build --no-cache
   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
   

Expected Behavior After Fix

Before Fix (Docker in UTC):

User posts note at 10:30 Poland time
→ Docker sees 08:30 UTC as "local time"
→ SQLite stores: 08:30
→ Display shows: 08:30 ❌ (2 hours off!)

After Fix (Docker in Europe/Warsaw):

User posts note at 10:30 Poland time
→ Docker sees 10:30 Poland time as "local time"
→ SQLite stores: 10:30
→ Display shows: 10:30 ✅ (correct!)

Important Notes

1. Old notes: Notes created before this fix may still show incorrect times (they were stored in UTC)
2. New notes: All new notes after deployment will show correct times
3. Audit logs: Continue to work correctly (they always used ISO format)
4. Zero downtime: Can't achieve - need to stop/rebuild/start containers

Quick Check Command

After deployment, run this one-liner to verify everything:

docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec app sh -c 'date && node -e "console.log(new Date().toLocaleString(\"pl-PL\"))"'

Both outputs should show the same Polish time!