Stabilize Docker startup and runtime proxy

Reduce cold-start stalls by raising the default backend memory limit, bounding heavy feed concurrency, preserving non-empty startup caches, and refreshing working news feeds. Fix the Next API proxy for Docker control-plane writes by stripping unsupported hop/body headers and forwarding small request bodies safely. Keep the dashboard dynamic so production users do not get stuck on a cached startup shell.

frontend/src/app/api/[...path]/route.ts

@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ const STRIP_REQUEST = new Set([
   'transfer-encoding',
   'upgrade',
   'host',
+  'content-length',
+  'expect',
 ]);
 
 // Headers that must not be forwarded back to the browser.
@@ -201,9 +203,10 @@ async function proxy(req: NextRequest, pathSegments: string[]): Promise<NextResp
       cache: 'no-store',
     };
     if (!isBodyless) {
-      requestInit.body = req.body;
-      // Required for streaming request bodies in Node.js fetch
-      requestInit.duplex = 'half';
+      const body = await req.text();
+      if (body.length > 0) {
+        requestInit.body = body;
+      }
     }
     const maxAttempts = isBodyless ? 18 : 1;
     let fetchError: unknown = null;
@@ -214,6 +217,13 @@ async function proxy(req: NextRequest, pathSegments: string[]): Promise<NextResp
         break;
       } catch (error) {
         fetchError = error;
+        if (attempt >= maxAttempts) {
+          console.error('api proxy upstream fetch failed', {
+            method: req.method,
+            target: targetUrl.toString(),
+            error,
+          });
+        }
         if (attempt >= maxAttempts) break;
         await sleep(250);
       }

frontend/src/app/layout.tsx

@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ export const metadata: Metadata = {
   description: 'Advanced Geopolitical Risk Dashboard',
 };
 
+// The dashboard is a live local runtime, not a static landing page. If Next
+// prerenders and caches the initial shell, Docker users can get stuck on the
+// "prioritizing map feeds" markup before client polling ever hydrates.
+export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';
+export const revalidate = 0;
+
 export default function RootLayout({
   children,
 }: Readonly<{