credit-pack hint: patch budget-exceeded message at BUILD time (runtime rootfs is read-only; boot-time patch crashed startup)

Dockerfile

@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@ RUN chmod +x /app/code/start.sh
 # Default config — will be overridden by Cloudron env vars at runtime
 COPY config.yaml /app/data/config.yaml
 
+# Append the co-op credit-pack hint to LiteLLM's hardcoded budget-exceeded
+# messages. Done at BUILD time — the runtime rootfs is read-only under
+# Cloudron, so a boot-time patch would crash the startup script (it did,
+# 2026-10-06). patch_budget_message.py is non-fatal: it exits 0 even when the
+# file/message can't be found, so a future LiteLLM version bump can't take the
+# gateway down.
+COPY patch_budget_message.py /app/code/patch_budget_message.py
+RUN python3 /app/code/patch_budget_message.py
+
 # Override the base image's ENTRYPOINT (which is `litellm`) so our
 # startup script runs instead of being passed as an argument to litellm.
 ENTRYPOINT ["/app/code/start.sh"]

patch_budget_message.py

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+"""Append the co-op credit-pack hint to LiteLLM's hardcoded budget-exceeded messages.
+
+Run at BUILD time (the runtime rootfs is read-only under Cloudron). Non-fatal:
+if the target file or message strings are missing (e.g. after an upstream
+version bump moves or rewrites them), it prints a warning and exits 0 so the
+build — and the gateway — still succeeds. The hint is a nice-to-have, never a
+reason to take the gateway down.
+"""
+import sys
+import glob
+
+HINT = '. You can add credit packs at https://opencollective.com/inference-cooperative'
+
+TEAM_MSG = (
+    'message=f"Budget has been exceeded! Team={team_object.team_id} '
+    'Current cost: {spend}, Max budget: {team_object.max_budget}"'
+)
+KEY_MSG = (
+    'message=f"Budget has been exceeded! Key={key_descriptor} '
+    'Current cost: {spend}, Max budget: {valid_token.max_budget}"'
+)
+
+# Find the proxy auth_checks.py wherever it lives in this image (venv path
+# varies by Python minor version; the running CLI imports from the image's
+# venv). Search the site-packages copies, not the type-stub one under
+# litellm/types/.
+candidates = glob.glob(
+    "/app/.venv/lib/python*/site-packages/litellm/proxy/auth/auth_checks.py"
+)
+
+patched_any = False
+for p in candidates:
+    with open(p) as f:
+        src = f.read()
+
+    if "opencollective.com/inference-cooperative" in src:
+        print(f"INFO: credit-pack hint already present in {p}")
+        continue
+
+    new = src.replace(TEAM_MSG, TEAM_MSG + ' + "' + HINT + '"')
+    new = new.replace(KEY_MSG, KEY_MSG + ' + "' + HINT + '"')
+
+    if new == src:
+        print(f"WARN: budget-exceeded message format changed in {p}; "
+              "hint not applied (non-fatal)", file=sys.stderr)
+        continue
+
+    with open(p, "w") as f:
+        f.write(new)
+    print(f"INFO: patched budget-exceeded messages in {p}")
+    patched_any = True
+
+if not candidates:
+    print("WARN: auth_checks.py not found; hint not applied (non-fatal)",
+          file=sys.stderr)
+elif not patched_any:
+    print("WARN: no budget-exceeded messages patched (non-fatal)",
+          file=sys.stderr)
+
+sys.exit(0)

start.sh

@@ -172,42 +172,4 @@ echo "Tinfoil proxy PID: $TINFOIL_PROXY_PID"
 # Give the proxy a moment to verify the enclave attestation
 sleep 3
 
-# Append a co-op-specific hint to LiteLLM's budget-exceeded messages so a
-# member who hits their limit is told they can top up with a credit pack.
-# LiteLLM hardcodes these strings in
-# litellm/proxy/auth/auth_checks.py (not configurable via env/settings), so we
-# patch the running copy at boot. Idempotent (checks a marker first) and
-# re-applied every start, so it survives upstream file moves on version bumps
-# — unlike the old build-time `RUN sed` CORS patch, which broke silently when
-# LiteLLM relocated the file.
-CREDIT_PACK_HINT='. You can add credit packs at https://opencollective.com/inference-cooperative'
-AUTH_CHECKS_PY="$(python3 -c 'import litellm.proxy.auth.auth_checks as m; print(m.__file__)')"
-if [ -n "$AUTH_CHECKS_PY" ] && ! grep -q "opencollective.com/inference-cooperative" "$AUTH_CHECKS_PY" 2>/dev/null; then
-    echo "Patching budget-exceeded messages with credit-pack hint..."
-    python3 - "$AUTH_CHECKS_PY" <<'PYEOF'
-import sys
-p = sys.argv[1]
-s = open(p).read()
-hint = ". You can add credit packs at https://opencollective.com/inference-cooperative"
-before = s
-# Team budget message (the one that fires for members, enforced at team level)
-s = s.replace(
-    'message=f"Budget has been exceeded! Team={team_object.team_id} Current cost: {spend}, Max budget: {team_object.max_budget}"',
-    'message=f"Budget has been exceeded! Team={team_object.team_id} Current cost: {spend}, Max budget: {team_object.max_budget}" + "' + hint.replace('"', '\\"') + '"',
-)
-# Key budget message (a few keys carry individual max_budget)
-s = s.replace(
-    'message=f"Budget has been exceeded! Key={key_descriptor} Current cost: {spend}, Max budget: {valid_token.max_budget}"',
-    'message=f"Budget has been exceeded! Key={key_descriptor} Current cost: {spend}, Max budget: {valid_token.max_budget}" + "' + hint.replace('"', '\\"') + '"',
-)
-if s != before:
-    open(p, "w").write(s)
-    print("patched")
-else:
-    print("no match (upstream message format changed) — leaving unpatched")
-PYEOF
-else
-    echo "Budget-exceeded hint already applied (or auth_checks.py not found); skipping."
-fi
-
 exec litellm --config "$CONFIG_FILE" --port 4000 --host 0.0.0.0