MetroStar · jbouder · Nov 6, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025
diff --git a/app/main.py b/app/main.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import logging
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from fastapi import FastAPI
 from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
+from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse
 
 from app.admin.router import router as admin_router
 from app.applicants.router import router as applicants_router
@@ -33,6 +35,35 @@
 Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)
 logger.info("Database tables created")
 
+# Cache for landing page template
+_landing_page_template: str = ""
+
+
+@app.on_event("startup")
+async def startup_event():
+    """Validate application configuration and load required resources."""
+    global _landing_page_template
+
+    # Load landing page template - fail fast if not available
+    html_path = Path(__file__).parent / "templates" / "index.html"
+    try:
+        _landing_page_template = html_path.read_text()
+        logger.info("Landing page template loaded successfully from %s", html_path)
+    except FileNotFoundError as exc:
+        logger.critical("Landing page template not found at %s", html_path)
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Required template file not found: {html_path}") from exc
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.critical("Failed to load landing page template: %s", e)
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to load required template: {e}") from e
+
+
+# Root endpoint with API documentation links
+@app.get("/", response_class=HTMLResponse, include_in_schema=False)
+def root():
+    """Render an HTML page with links to API documentation."""
+    return _landing_page_template
+
+
 # Add routes
 app.include_router(cases_router)
 app.include_router(applicants_router)

diff --git a/app/templates/index.html b/app/templates/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
+    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
+    <title>Comet API</title>
+    <link
+      rel="icon"
+      type="image/png"
+      href="https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/img/favicon.png"
+    />
+    <style>
+      body {
+        font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto,
+          Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, sans-serif;
+        display: flex;
+        justify-content: center;
+        align-items: center;
+        min-height: 100vh;
+        margin: 0;
+        background: #0f1419;
+      }
+      .container {
+        background: rgba(30, 41, 51, 0.8);
+        border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1);
+        padding: 2rem 4rem 4rem 4rem;
+        border-radius: 10px;
+        box-shadow: 0 10px 40px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
+        text-align: center;
+        max-width: 600px;
+        width: 90%;
+      }
+      h1 {
+        color: #ffffff;
+        margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
+        font-weight: 600;
+        font-size: 2rem;
+      }
+      p {
+        color: #b8c5d0;
+        margin-bottom: 2rem;
+        line-height: 1.6;
+      }
+      .links {
+        display: flex;
+        flex-direction: column;
+        gap: 1rem;
+      }
+      a {
+        display: block;
+        padding: 1rem 2rem;
+        background: #6ee7b7;
+        color: #0f1419;
+        text-decoration: none;
+        border-radius: 5px;
+        font-weight: 600;
+        transition: all 0.3s ease;
+      }
+      a:hover {
+        background: #5cd3a3;
+        transform: translateY(-2px);
+        box-shadow: 0 5px 15px rgba(110, 231, 183, 0.4);
+      }
+    </style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    <div class="container">
+      <h1>🚀 Welcome to the Comet API!</h1>
+      <p>Choose your preferred documentation format:</p>
+      <div class="links">
+        <a href="/docs">📘 Swagger UI</a>
+        <a href="/redoc">📗 ReDoc</a>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </body>
+</html>