fix: use plain StaticFilesStorage in dev settings

CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage requires collectstatic to generate a
manifest before it can serve anything. Dev containers never run collectstatic
so every static asset 404s. Override to StaticFilesStorage in dev so Django
serves files directly from STATICFILES_DIRS and app static directories.

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

config/settings/development.py

@@ -4,11 +4,9 @@ DEBUG = True
 
 INTERNAL_IPS = ["127.0.0.1"]
 
-# In dev, drop WhiteNoise from middleware and use plain static file storage.
+# Use plain static file storage in dev — CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage
-# WhiteNoise serves from STATIC_ROOT which is empty without collectstatic,
+# (set in base.py) requires collectstatic to have been run and will 404 on
-# so it intercepts every /static/ request and returns nothing.
+# every asset otherwise.
-# 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: