feat!: remove Docker support and related files

Docker workflows don't align with the hackathon development model.
AI-related features depend on MongoDB Atlas due to Vector Search index requirements, which are not available in standard MongoDB instances, making local MongoDB containers insufficient.
Deployment environments vary too widely for a single Docker configuration to be useful or maintainable.

Author: YasharF

.dockerignore

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ The following is a list of various code that you may not potentially be using an
   - Some or all of the last form-group set, which are the social login choices
 - views/account/profile.pug
   - Link/unlink buttons for GitHub, LinkedIn, Steam
-- Remove README, changelog, this guide, Docker-related files if not using them
+- Remove README, changelog and this guide if not using them
 - Create a domain whitelist for your app in Here's developer portal if you are using the HERE Maps API.
 - Add unit tests so you can test and incorporate dependency and upstream updates with less effort. GPT tools may create some good unit tests with very low effort.
 

Dockerfile

@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ I also tried to make it as **generic** and **reusable** as possible to cover mos
   - [JavaScript Date](#-javascript-date-cheatsheet)
   - [Mongoose Cheatsheet](#mongoose-cheatsheet)
 - [Deployment](#deployment)
-- [Docker](#docker)
 - [Production](#production)
 - [Changelog](#changelog)
 - [Contributing](#contributing)
@@ -564,12 +563,9 @@ The metadata for Open Graph is only set up for the home page (`home.pug`). Updat
 | **views/partials**/footer.pug    | Footer partial template.                                             |
 | **views**/layout.pug             | Base template.                                                       |
 | **views**/home.pug               | Home page template.                                                  |
-| .dockerignore                    | Folder and files ignored by docker usage.                            |
 | .env.example                     | Your API keys, tokens, passwords and database URI.                   |
 | .gitignore                       | Folder and files ignored by git.                                     |
 | app.js                           | The main application file.                                           |
-| docker-compose.yml               | Docker compose configuration file.                                   |
-| Dockerfile                       | Docker configuration file.                                           |
 | eslint.config.mjs                | Rules for eslint linter.                                             |
 | package.json                     | NPM dependencies.                                                    |
 | package-lock.json                | Contains exact versions of NPM dependencies in package.json.         |
@@ -1388,28 +1384,6 @@ User.aggregate({ $group: { _id: null, total: { $sum: '$votes' } } }, (err, votes
 
 :top: <sub>[**back to top**](#table-of-contents)</sub>
 
-## Docker
-
-You will need to install docker and docker-compose on your system. If you are using WSL, you will need to install Docker Desktop on Windows and docker-compose on WSL.
-
-- [Docker installation](https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/)
-
-After installing docker, start the application with the following commands :
-
-```
-# To build the project while suppressing most of the build messages
-docker-compose build web
-
-# To build the project without suppressing the build messages or using cached data
-docker-compose build --no-cache --progress=plain web
-
-# To start the application (or to restart after making changes to the source code)
-docker-compose up web
-
-```
-
-To view the app, find your docker IP address + port 8080 ( this will typically be `http://localhost:8080/` ). To use a port other than 8080, you would need to modify the port in app.js, Dockerfile, and docker-compose.yml.
-
 ## Deployment
 
 Using a local instance on your laptop with ngrok is a good solution for your demo during the hackathon, and you wouldn't necessarily need to deploy to a cloud platform. If you wish to have your app run 24x7 for a general audience, once you are ready to deploy your app, you will need to create an account with a cloud platform to host it. There are a number of cloud service providers out there that you can research. Service providers like AWS and Azure provide a free tier of service which can help you get started with just some minor costs (such as traffic overage if any, etc).