Fix permissions handling and surface write errors to the UI

- Server attempts chmod on data dir at startup if not writable
- All write routes now catch errors and return 500 with a readable message
- Added /api/health endpoint to diagnose mount issues
- Frontend propagates server errors to a visible banner

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01DReRqHxSYuVfCzTzQGD9hZ

server.js

@@ -8,6 +8,17 @@ const DATA_DIR = process.env.DATA_DIR || path.join(__dirname, 'data');
 const DATA_FILE = path.join(DATA_DIR, 'prayers.json');
 const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4000;
 
+// Ensure data directory exists and is writable on startup
+try {
+  fs.mkdirSync(DATA_DIR, { recursive: true });
+  fs.accessSync(DATA_DIR, fs.constants.W_OK);
+  console.log(`Data directory ready: ${DATA_DIR}`);
+} catch (err) {
+  console.error(`WARNING: Data directory not writable: ${DATA_DIR} — ${err.message}`);
+  // Attempt chmod in case it's a simple permission gap
+  try { fs.chmodSync(DATA_DIR, 0o755); } catch {}
+}
+
 app.use(cors());
 app.use(express.json());
 app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'build')));
@@ -26,32 +37,53 @@ function writePrayers(prayers) {
   fs.writeFileSync(DATA_FILE, JSON.stringify(prayers, null, 2));
 }
 
+app.get('/api/health', (req, res) => {
+  let writable = false;
+  try { fs.accessSync(DATA_DIR, fs.constants.W_OK); writable = true; } catch {}
+  res.json({ ok: writable, dataDir: DATA_DIR, dataFile: DATA_FILE });
+});
+
 app.get('/api/prayers', (req, res) => {
   res.json(readPrayers());
 });
 
 app.post('/api/prayers', (req, res) => {
-  const prayers = readPrayers();
-  const prayer = req.body;
-  prayers.unshift(prayer);
-  writePrayers(prayers);
-  res.status(201).json(prayer);
+  try {
+    const prayers = readPrayers();
+    const prayer = req.body;
+    prayers.unshift(prayer);
+    writePrayers(prayers);
+    res.status(201).json(prayer);
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error('Write failed:', err.message);
+    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Could not save prayer. Check data directory permissions.' });
+  }
 });
 
 app.put('/api/prayers/:id', (req, res) => {
-  const prayers = readPrayers();
-  const idx = prayers.findIndex(p => p.id === req.params.id);
-  if (idx === -1) return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Not found' });
-  prayers[idx] = { ...prayers[idx], ...req.body };
-  writePrayers(prayers);
-  res.json(prayers[idx]);
+  try {
+    const prayers = readPrayers();
+    const idx = prayers.findIndex(p => p.id === req.params.id);
+    if (idx === -1) return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Not found' });
+    prayers[idx] = { ...prayers[idx], ...req.body };
+    writePrayers(prayers);
+    res.json(prayers[idx]);
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error('Write failed:', err.message);
+    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Could not save prayer. Check data directory permissions.' });
+  }
 });
 
 app.delete('/api/prayers/:id', (req, res) => {
-  const prayers = readPrayers();
-  const filtered = prayers.filter(p => p.id !== req.params.id);
-  writePrayers(filtered);
-  res.status(204).end();
+  try {
+    const prayers = readPrayers();
+    const filtered = prayers.filter(p => p.id !== req.params.id);
+    writePrayers(filtered);
+    res.status(204).end();
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error('Write failed:', err.message);
+    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Could not delete prayer. Check data directory permissions.' });
+  }
 });
 
 // Serve React for all other routes
@@ -59,4 +91,4 @@ app.get('*splat', (req, res) => {
   res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'build', 'index.html'));
 });
 
-app.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`));
+app.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}, data: ${DATA_FILE}`));