perf(cache): mtime-based CSS cache-bust token

deployment_timestamp was int(time.time()) per-request, giving every
page load a new ?v=... query string on custom.css. Cloudflare treats
each unique URL as a new resource, so the CSS was fetched from the VM
on every page load — 64 KB over the wire per navigation.

Token now tied to static/css/custom.css mtime. The URL only changes
when the CSS actually changes, so Cloudflare can hold the file for
its full 4h TTL. Degraded-mode fallback preserves today's behaviour
if the file isn't on disk.

3 new CacheBustTokenTests; all 68 tests pass.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CLAUDE.md

@@ -242,16 +242,18 @@ change when the file does.
 <link rel="stylesheet" href="{% static 'css/custom.css' %}?v={{ deployment_timestamp|default:'1' }}">
 ```
 
-`deployment_timestamp` comes from `core/context_processors.py::project_context` as
+`deployment_timestamp` comes from `core/context_processors.py::project_context`
-`int(time.time())` — meaning every Django request generates a new query-string value.
+via `_compute_cache_bust_token()` — returns the mtime of
-Cloudflare treats each new `?v=...` value as a new URL → `cf-cache-status: MISS` →
+`static/css/custom.css` as an integer. The token only changes when the
-fresh fetch from the VM. Users always see the latest CSS as soon as the Django
+CSS file is modified, so Cloudflare's edge cache holds each version for
-process restarts.
+its full 4h TTL and repeat page loads in a session hit the browser
-
+cache (304 Not Modified). Deploys that include a CSS change bump the
-**Trade-off**: because the timestamp changes every second, CDN cache-hit rate on
+mtime → new token → cache busts. Pre-24-Apr-2026 this was
-CSS is effectively zero. For a low-traffic app this is fine. If traffic grows,
+`int(time.time())` per-request, which defeated the CDN cache entirely
-consider switching to a file-mtime-based token so the URL only changes when the
+(effectively 0% hit rate on CSS). Degraded-mode fallback: if
-CSS actually changes.
+`custom.css` isn't on disk (e.g., fresh container before
+`collectstatic`), the function falls back to the old per-request
+timestamp rather than crashing.
 
 ### The pitfall this replaced
 Pre-Apr 2026, the template used `{{ request.timestamp|default:'1.0' }}`. But

core/context_processors.py

@@ -1,13 +1,44 @@
+# === core/context_processors.py ===
+# Globals injected into every template render.
+#
+# `deployment_timestamp` is a cache-bust token on our CSS URL. Historically
+# it was `int(time.time())` — a new value every second — which defeated
+# Cloudflare's edge cache because every page load saw a different `?v=...`
+# string. We now tie the token to `custom.css`'s mtime, so the URL
+# changes ONLY when the CSS actually changes. Cloudflare can hold the
+# file for its full 4h TTL, and users on repeat visits hit the browser
+# cache (304 Not Modified).
 import os
 import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from django.conf import settings
+
+# Path to the file whose mtime drives the cache-bust token. Module-level
+# constant so tests can monkey-patch it to simulate "file missing".
+_CSS_PATH_FOR_TOKEN = Path(settings.BASE_DIR) / 'static' / 'css' / 'custom.css'
+
+
+def _compute_cache_bust_token():
+    """Return an integer cache-bust token.
+
+    Normal path: returns the CSS file's mtime (an integer).
+    Fallback: if the file can't be stat'd (doesn't exist / permission
+    error / disk issue), returns the current wall-clock time in seconds
+    — that degrades to the PRE-FIX behaviour (new token per request)
+    rather than crashing the whole request cycle.
+    """
+    try:
+        return int(os.path.getmtime(_CSS_PATH_FOR_TOKEN))
+    except (OSError, FileNotFoundError):
+        return int(time.time())
+
 
 def project_context(request):
-    """
+    """Adds project-specific environment variables to the template context globally."""
-    Adds project-specific environment variables to the template context globally.
-    """
     return {
         "project_description": os.getenv("PROJECT_DESCRIPTION", ""),
         "project_image_url": os.getenv("PROJECT_IMAGE_URL", ""),
-        # Used for cache-busting static assets
+        # Cache-busts static assets — see _compute_cache_bust_token().
-        "deployment_timestamp": int(time.time()),
+        "deployment_timestamp": _compute_cache_bust_token(),
     }

core/tests.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import datetime
 from decimal import Decimal
 
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django.urls import reverse
@@ -1237,3 +1238,44 @@ class AdjustmentsTabTests(TestCase):
         self.assertIn((self.team.id, self.w2.id), pair_set)
         self.assertIn((self.team2.id, self.w1.id), pair_set)
         self.assertIn((self.team2.id, self.w2.id), pair_set)
+
+
+# === Cache-bust token tests ===
+# The deployment_timestamp context variable controls the ?v=... query
+# string on our CSS URL. It MUST only change when custom.css changes
+# — otherwise Cloudflare cache-HIT rate on the CSS drops to zero and
+# every page reload re-fetches 64 KB from the VM.
+
+class CacheBustTokenTests(TestCase):
+    """Regression tests for the mtime-based cache-bust token."""
+
+    def test_token_is_an_integer(self):
+        """Token must be int (templates cast to str; float would show a dot)."""
+        from core.context_processors import project_context
+        ctx = project_context(request=None)
+        self.assertIsInstance(ctx['deployment_timestamp'], int)
+
+    def test_token_is_stable_across_two_calls(self):
+        """Critical property: two back-to-back calls return the same
+        token — because custom.css hasn't changed between them. This
+        is the entire point of the mtime-based approach."""
+        from core.context_processors import project_context
+        t1 = project_context(request=None)['deployment_timestamp']
+        t2 = project_context(request=None)['deployment_timestamp']
+        self.assertEqual(t1, t2)
+
+    def test_token_falls_back_if_file_missing(self):
+        """If static/css/custom.css is somehow missing (fresh
+        container pre-collectstatic), we must NOT crash. We fall back
+        to int(time.time()) so every page still renders."""
+        import core.context_processors as cp
+        original = cp._compute_cache_bust_token
+        try:
+            # Monkey-patch so the function sees a guaranteed-missing path.
+            cp._CSS_PATH_FOR_TOKEN = cp.Path('/definitely/does/not/exist.css')
+            # Should return an int and NOT raise.
+            token = cp._compute_cache_bust_token()
+            self.assertIsInstance(token, int)
+        finally:
+            # Reset the module-level cache so other tests get the real value.
+            cp._CSS_PATH_FOR_TOKEN = cp.Path(settings.BASE_DIR) / 'static' / 'css' / 'custom.css'