fix: Prevent /static and /uploads paths from falling through to React catch-all

server/index.js

@@ -36,10 +36,15 @@ app.use(cors());
 app.use(express.json());
 app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
 
-// Static file serving
+// Static asset routes — registered BEFORE React catch-all so they are
+// resolved directly and never fall through to index.html
 app.use('/uploads', express.static(UPLOAD_PATH));
 app.use('/static', express.static(STATIC_PATH));
 
+// Explicit 404 for missing asset files so the catch-all never intercepts them
+app.use('/uploads', (req, res) => res.status(404).json({ error: 'Upload not found' }));
+app.use('/static', (req, res) => res.status(404).json({ error: 'Static asset not found' }));
+
 // API Routes
 app.use('/api/dogs', require('./routes/dogs'));
 app.use('/api/litters', require('./routes/litters'));
@@ -53,11 +58,15 @@ app.get('/api/health', (req, res) => {
 });
 
 // Serve React frontend in production
+// The catch-all is intentionally placed AFTER all asset/API routes above.
+// express.static(clientBuildPath) handles real build assets (JS/CSS chunks).
+// The scoped '*' only fires for HTML5 client-side routes (e.g. /dogs, /litters).
 if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
   const clientBuildPath = path.join(__dirname, '../client/dist');
   app.use(express.static(clientBuildPath));
-  
+
-  app.get('*', (req, res) => {
+  // Only send index.html for non-asset, non-api paths
+  app.get(/^(?!\/(api|static|uploads)\/).*$/, (req, res) => {
     res.sendFile(path.join(clientBuildPath, 'index.html'));
   });
 }