feat(devenv): MCP dev hot-reload with image-based approach (#145)

Add mcp-build.sh that compiles the MCP binary and packages it as an
OCI image layer on top of the base rootfs, imported directly into
containerd. Air triggers rebuild on code changes, cleaning stale
containers automatically.

Consolidate dev-only files (Dockerfiles, entrypoint, config, build
script) into devenv/ to separate dev tooling from production artifacts.
Skip image pull when already imported to speed up dev startup.

.air.toml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ root = "."
 tmp_dir = "tmp"
 
 [build]
-cmd = "go build -o ./tmp/memoh-server ./cmd/agent/main.go"
+cmd = "go build -o ./tmp/memoh-server ./cmd/agent/main.go && sh devenv/mcp-build.sh"
 bin = "./tmp/memoh-server"
 args_bin = ["serve"]
 include_ext = ["go", "toml"]

AGENTS.md

@@ -125,18 +125,11 @@ Memoh/
 ├── db/                         # Database
 │   ├── migrations/             #   SQL migration files
 │   └── queries/                #   SQL query files (sqlc input)
-├── conf/                       # Configuration templates
-│   ├── app.example.toml        #   Default configuration template
-│   ├── app.dev.toml            #   Development configuration
-│   ├── app.docker.toml         #   Docker deployment configuration
-│   ├── app.apple.toml          #   macOS (Apple Virtualization) configuration
-│   └── app.windows.toml        #   Windows configuration
-├── devenv/                     # Development environment (docker-compose for local infra)
-├── docker/                     # Docker build & runtime (Dockerfiles, entrypoints, nginx)
+├── conf/                       # Configuration templates (app.example.toml, app.docker.toml)
+├── devenv/                     # Dev environment (docker-compose, dev Dockerfiles, app.dev.toml, mcp-build.sh)
+├── docker/                     # Production Docker build & runtime (Dockerfiles, entrypoints, nginx.conf)
 ├── docs/                       # Documentation site
-├── scripts/                    # Utility scripts
-├── assets/                     # Static assets (images, etc.)
-├── data/                       # Runtime data directory
+├── scripts/                    # Utility scripts (db, release, install)
 ├── docker-compose.yml          # Docker Compose orchestration (production)
 ├── mise.toml                   # mise tasks and tool version definitions
 ├── sqlc.yaml                   # sqlc code generation config

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ mise run dev:restart -- server  # Restart a specific service
 ## Project Layout
 
 ```
-conf/       — Configuration templates (app.example.toml, app.dev.toml, app.docker.toml)
-devenv/     — Containerized development environment (docker-compose)
-docker/     — Docker build & runtime (Dockerfiles, entrypoints)
+conf/       — Configuration templates (app.example.toml, app.docker.toml)
+devenv/     — Dev environment (docker-compose, dev Dockerfiles, app.dev.toml, mcp-build.sh)
+docker/     — Production Docker build & runtime (Dockerfiles, entrypoints)
 cmd/        — Go application entry points
 internal/   — Go backend core code
 agent/      — Agent Gateway (Bun/Elysia)

conf/app.example.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Memoh configuration template
 # Copy to config.toml and adjust values for your environment.
-# For local development, use: cp conf/app.dev.toml config.toml
+# For local development, use: cp devenv/app.dev.toml config.toml
 
 [log]
 level = "info"

devenv/Dockerfile.server

@@ -1,5 +1,28 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
 
+# ---- Stage 1: Assemble MCP image rootfs (runtime deps only, no Go binary) ----
+FROM alpine:latest AS mcp-rootfs
+
+RUN apk add --no-cache grep curl bash
+RUN apk add --no-cache nodejs npm
+RUN apk add --no-cache python3 && \
+    curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh && \
+    ln -sf /root/.local/bin/uv /usr/local/bin/uv && \
+    ln -sf /root/.local/bin/uvx /usr/local/bin/uvx
+
+COPY cmd/mcp/template /opt/mcp-template
+
+RUN printf '#!/bin/sh\n\
+[ -e /app/mcp ] || { mkdir -p /app; [ -f /opt/mcp ] && cp -a /opt/mcp /app/mcp 2>/dev/null || true; }\n\
+if [ -x /app/mcp ]; then exec /app/mcp "$@"; fi\n\
+exec /opt/mcp "$@"\n' > /opt/entrypoint.sh && chmod +x /opt/entrypoint.sh
+
+RUN tar -cf /tmp/rootfs.tar \
+    --exclude='./proc' --exclude='./sys' --exclude='./dev' \
+    --exclude='./tmp' --exclude='./run' \
+    -C / .
+
+# ---- Stage 2: Dev server image ----
 FROM golang:1.25-alpine
 
 WORKDIR /workspace
@@ -50,7 +73,10 @@ RUN printf '%s\n' \
   '  ]' \
   '}' > /etc/cni/net.d/10-memoh.conflist
 
-COPY docker/server-dev-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
+# Raw MCP rootfs for mcp-build.sh to package with compiled binary
+COPY --from=mcp-rootfs /tmp/rootfs.tar /opt/images/memoh-mcp-rootfs.tar
+
+COPY devenv/server-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
 RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
 
 VOLUME ["/var/lib/containerd", "/opt/memoh/data"]

devenv/docker-compose.yml

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ services:
   deps:
     build:
       context: ..
-      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.web.dev
+      dockerfile: devenv/Dockerfile.web
     container_name: memoh-dev-deps
     working_dir: /workspace
     command: ["pnpm", "install"]
@@ -50,13 +50,13 @@ services:
   migrate:
     build:
       context: ..
-      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.server.dev
+      dockerfile: devenv/Dockerfile.server
     container_name: memoh-dev-migrate
     working_dir: /workspace
     entrypoint: []
     command: ["go", "run", "./cmd/agent/main.go", "migrate", "up"]
     environment:
-      CONFIG_PATH: /workspace/conf/app.dev.toml
+      CONFIG_PATH: /workspace/devenv/app.dev.toml
     volumes:
       - ..:/workspace
       - go_mod_cache:/go/pkg/mod
@@ -71,14 +71,14 @@ services:
   server:
     build:
       context: ..
-      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.server.dev
+      dockerfile: devenv/Dockerfile.server
     container_name: memoh-dev-server
     working_dir: /workspace
     privileged: true
     pid: host
     command: ["air", "-c", ".air.toml"]
     environment:
-      CONFIG_PATH: /workspace/conf/app.dev.toml
+      CONFIG_PATH: /workspace/devenv/app.dev.toml
     volumes:
       - ..:/workspace
       - go_mod_cache:/go/pkg/mod
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ services:
   web:
     build:
       context: ..
-      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.web.dev
+      dockerfile: devenv/Dockerfile.web
     container_name: memoh-dev-web
     working_dir: /workspace/packages/web
     command: ["pnpm", "dev"]

devenv/mcp-build.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Build MCP binary, package as containerd image, and import.
+# Called by air after server build — safe to skip outside dev container.
+set -e
+
+MCP_IMAGE="${MCP_IMAGE:-docker.io/memohai/mcp:latest}"
+MCP_BINARY="/opt/memoh/data/.dev/mcp"
+BASE_ROOTFS="/opt/images/memoh-mcp-rootfs.tar"
+
+[ -f "$BASE_ROOTFS" ] || exit 0
+command -v ctr >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
+
+mkdir -p "$(dirname "$MCP_BINARY")"
+
+OLD_HASH=$(sha256sum "$MCP_BINARY" 2>/dev/null | cut -d' ' -f1)
+go build -o "$MCP_BINARY" ./cmd/mcp || exit 0
+NEW_HASH=$(sha256sum "$MCP_BINARY" | cut -d' ' -f1)
+
+[ "$OLD_HASH" = "$NEW_HASH" ] && exit 0
+
+echo "[mcp-dev] Binary changed, rebuilding MCP image..."
+
+WORK=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf "$WORK"' EXIT
+
+# Layer 1: base rootfs (symlink to avoid copying the large file)
+LAYER1_SHA=$(sha256sum "$BASE_ROOTFS" | cut -d' ' -f1)
+mkdir -p "$WORK/$LAYER1_SHA"
+ln -s "$BASE_ROOTFS" "$WORK/$LAYER1_SHA/layer.tar"
+
+# Layer 2: compiled binary overlay
+mkdir -p "$WORK/overlay/opt"
+cp "$MCP_BINARY" "$WORK/overlay/opt/mcp"
+chmod +x "$WORK/overlay/opt/mcp"
+tar -cf "$WORK/layer2.tar" -C "$WORK/overlay" opt
+LAYER2_SHA=$(sha256sum "$WORK/layer2.tar" | cut -d' ' -f1)
+mkdir -p "$WORK/$LAYER2_SHA"
+mv "$WORK/layer2.tar" "$WORK/$LAYER2_SHA/layer.tar"
+
+# OCI image config
+ARCH=$(uname -m)
+case "$ARCH" in aarch64|arm64) ARCH="arm64" ;; x86_64|amd64) ARCH="amd64" ;; esac
+
+printf '{"architecture":"%s","os":"linux","created":"1970-01-01T00:00:00Z","config":{"Entrypoint":["/opt/entrypoint.sh"],"WorkingDir":"/app","Env":["PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"]},"rootfs":{"type":"layers","diff_ids":["sha256:%s","sha256:%s"]},"history":[{"created":"1970-01-01T00:00:00Z","comment":"memoh-mcp rootfs"},{"created":"1970-01-01T00:00:00Z","comment":"memoh-mcp binary"}]}' \
+    "$ARCH" "$LAYER1_SHA" "$LAYER2_SHA" > "$WORK/config.json"
+
+CONFIG_SHA=$(sha256sum "$WORK/config.json" | cut -d' ' -f1)
+mv "$WORK/config.json" "$WORK/$CONFIG_SHA.json"
+
+printf '[{"Config":"%s.json","RepoTags":["%s"],"Layers":["%s/layer.tar","%s/layer.tar"]}]' \
+    "$CONFIG_SHA" "$MCP_IMAGE" "$LAYER1_SHA" "$LAYER2_SHA" > "$WORK/manifest.json"
+
+# -h follows symlinks (layer 1 is symlinked to avoid copying)
+tar -chf "$WORK/memoh-mcp.tar" -C "$WORK" manifest.json "$CONFIG_SHA.json" "$LAYER1_SHA/" "$LAYER2_SHA/"
+
+# Replace image in containerd
+ctr -n default images rm "$MCP_IMAGE" 2>/dev/null || true
+ctr -n default images import --all-platforms "$WORK/memoh-mcp.tar" 2>&1 || true
+
+# Clean old MCP containers so they recreate with new image
+for c in $(ctr -n default containers ls -q 2>/dev/null | grep "^mcp-"); do
+  ctr -n default tasks kill "$c" 2>/dev/null || true
+  ctr -n default tasks delete "$c" 2>/dev/null || true
+  ctr -n default containers delete "$c" 2>/dev/null || true
+done
+
+echo "[mcp-dev] Done. Containers will auto-recreate with new image."

devenv/server-entrypoint.sh

@@ -28,8 +28,14 @@ if ! ctr version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   echo "ERROR: containerd not responsive after 30s"
   exit 1
 fi
+echo "containerd is running (pid $CONTAINERD_PID)"
 
-echo "containerd is ready, starting server command..."
+# Build MCP binary and import as containerd image
+echo "Building MCP image..."
+(cd /workspace && sh devenv/mcp-build.sh)
+echo "MCP image ready."
+
+echo "Starting server..."
 
 trap 'kill ${SERVER_PID:-0} 2>/dev/null || true; kill ${CONTAINERD_PID:-0} 2>/dev/null || true; wait' TERM INT
 

internal/mcp/manager.go

@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ func (m *Manager) lockContainer(containerID string) func() {
 func (m *Manager) Init(ctx context.Context) error {
 	image := m.imageRef()
 
+	if _, err := m.service.GetImage(ctx, image); err == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	_, err := m.service.PullImage(ctx, image, &ctr.PullImageOptions{
 		Unpack:      true,
 		Snapshotter: m.cfg.Snapshotter,

mise.toml

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ description = "Start development environment"
 run = """
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
-cp conf/app.dev.toml config.toml
+cp devenv/app.dev.toml config.toml
 docker compose -f devenv/docker-compose.yml up --build
 """
 
@@ -69,6 +69,15 @@ run = "docker compose -f devenv/docker-compose.yml logs -f"
 description = "Restart a service (usage: mise run dev:restart -- server)"
 run = "docker compose -f devenv/docker-compose.yml restart $@"
 
+[tasks."mcp:build"]
+description = "Manually build MCP dev binary (normally auto-triggered by air)"
+run = """
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+docker compose -f devenv/docker-compose.yml exec server \
+  sh -c 'cd /workspace && sh devenv/mcp-build.sh'
+"""
+
 [tasks.db-up]
 description = "Initialize and Migrate Database"
 run = "scripts/db-up.sh"
@@ -116,6 +125,6 @@ depends = [
 run = """
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
-cp conf/app.dev.toml config.toml
+cp devenv/app.dev.toml config.toml
 echo '✓ Setup complete! Run: mise run dev'
 """