feat: add is_chat field to board memory and task_id to approvals, update pagination and response models

backend/app/core/config.py

@@ -1,11 +1,20 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Self
+
+from pydantic import model_validator
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
 
+BACKEND_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]
+DEFAULT_ENV_FILE = BACKEND_ROOT / ".env"
+
 
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
     model_config = SettingsConfigDict(
-        env_file=".env",
+        # Load `backend/.env` regardless of current working directory.
+        # (Important when running uvicorn from repo root or via a process manager.)
+        env_file=[DEFAULT_ENV_FILE, ".env"],
         env_file_encoding="utf-8",
         extra="ignore",
     )
@@ -30,5 +39,13 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     log_format: str = "text"
     log_use_utc: bool = False
 
+    @model_validator(mode="after")
+    def _defaults(self) -> Self:
+        # In dev, default to applying Alembic migrations at startup to avoid schema drift
+        # (e.g. missing newly-added columns).
+        if "db_auto_migrate" not in self.model_fields_set and self.environment == "dev":
+            self.db_auto_migrate = True
+        return self
+
 
 settings = Settings()