What happened?

Hi folks,

I’m packaging OpenMemory for Arch Linux and ran into an issue with the dashboard that looks like an upstream packaging / repo layout problem rather than an Arch-specific one.

What works

• The backend (packages/openmemory-js) builds and runs correctly.
• All /dashboard/* API routes exist and work (e.g. /dashboard/health, /dashboard/stats).
• The repo contains a dashboard/ directory with a Next.js Dockerfile.

Steps to Reproduce

What does not work

The dashboard cannot be built outside Docker because:

• dashboard/package.json is missing from the repository.
• There is no documented build command for the dashboard outside Docker.

As a result

• The dashboard is not installable in distro packages.
• Non-Docker users cannot run the UI at all.
• The backend exposes dashboard APIs, but there is no corresponding UI unless Docker is used.

Evidence

dashboard/Dockerfile expects:

COPY package*.json ./ RUN npm install RUN npm run build

…but dashboard/package.json does not exist in the repository.

The only frontend package with a package.json is:

packages/openmemory-js 

which is the backend, not the dashboard UI.

Resulting ambiguity

It’s currently unclear whether:

• The dashboard source is incomplete / accidentally not committed, or
• The dashboard is meant to be built from another package (but this is undocumented), or
• The dashboard is Docker-only by design (in which case the repo suggests otherwise).

What would unblock downstream packagers

Any one of the following would fix this cleanly:

• Commit the missing dashboard/package.json and lockfile so it can be built natively.

• Document that the dashboard is Docker-only and remove expectations that it exists in non-Docker installs.

• Provide a prebuilt static dashboard artifact that the backend can serve.

• Clarify the intended production deployment model:

  • backend-only?
  • backend + dashboard?
  • Docker-first?

Right now the repo suggests the dashboard is a first-class component, but it’s not actually consumable without Docker.

Happy to help test or validate a fix on the packaging side once the intended layout is clarified.

Component

Frontend (React / UI)

Environment

 /\ evert@Evert / \ ----------- / \ OS: Arch Linux x86_64 / \ Host: ROG Strix G733PYV_G733PYV (1.0) / ,, \ Kernel: Linux 6.18.7-2-cachyos / | | \ Uptime: 2 hours, 57 mins /_-'' ''-_\ Packages: 2100 (pacman), 7 (flatpak) Shell: bash 5.3.9 Display (BenQ EX3210U): 3840x2160 @ 1.1x in 32", 144 Hz [External, HDR] Display (NE173QHM-NZ2): 2560x1440 @ 1.33x in 17", 240 Hz [Built-in] DE: KDE Plasma 6.5.5 WM: KWin (Wayland) Theme: Breeze (Light) Font: Noto Sans (10pt) Terminal: konsole 25.12.1 CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D (32) @ 5.46 GHz GPU 1: AMD Radeon 610M [Integrated] GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU [Discrete] Memory: 11.43 GiB / 62.00 GiB (18%) Disk (/): 101.20 GiB / 200.00 GiB (51%) - btrfs Disk (/home): 2.72 TiB / 3.40 TiB (80%) - btrfs Local IP: 192.168.88.132 Battery: 65% (AC Connected) Locale: en_GB.UTF-8 

Relevant log output

# (none)

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