ais_bridge.py: a small daemon holding the aisstream.io websocket (free key,
server-side only), tracking every vessel heard (15-min freshness window) and
atomically writing ais_snapshot.json into the web root every 20 s. The
js/layers/ais.js layer polls that static file — no request-path server code,
identical under dev serve.py and prod nginx; rolling query bucket defeats CDN
caching. Verified locally: 15,844 live vessels within minutes of connect —
the Dover Strait separation lanes are visibly full of real traffic; click any
ship for name/MMSI/type/speed/course/status/destination (colored by type:
cargo green, tanker amber, passenger blue, fishing purple, anchored grey).
Live-only (hidden when scrubbed). Demo ships demoted to default-off; the
dormant browser-side AIS scaffold in ships.js stays inert (key would be
browser-exposed — the bridge supersedes it).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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