fix: remove WhiteNoise middleware in dev settings

WhiteNoise intercepts all /static/ requests and serves from STATIC_ROOT.
Without collectstatic that directory is empty, so every asset 404s regardless
of the storage backend. Remove it from MIDDLEWARE in development so Django's
runserver handles static files natively (DEBUG=True is enough).

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

config/settings/development.py

@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ DEBUG = True
 
 INTERNAL_IPS = ["127.0.0.1"]
 
-# Use plain static file storage in dev — CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage
+# In dev, drop WhiteNoise from middleware and use plain static file storage.
-# (set in base.py) requires collectstatic to have been run and will 404 on
+# WhiteNoise serves from STATIC_ROOT which is empty without collectstatic,
-# every asset otherwise.
+# so it intercepts every /static/ request and returns nothing.
+# Django's runserver handles static files natively when DEBUG=True.
+MIDDLEWARE = [m for m in MIDDLEWARE if m != "whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware"]
 STATICFILES_STORAGE = "django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage"
 
 try: