fix: default strict_gates=False for cloud, create PDK_ROOT dir in container

Dockerfile

@@ -37,7 +37,10 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade pip && \
 COPY . .
 
 # Create runtime directories that the build pipeline writes into
-RUN mkdir -p /app/designs /app/artifacts
+# PDK_ROOT must exist so startup_self_check passes (actual PDK files not needed for cloud LLM builds)
+RUN mkdir -p /app/designs /app/artifacts /app/pdk
+
+ENV PDK_ROOT=/app/pdk
 
 # HuggingFace Spaces runs as non-root user 1000
 RUN useradd -m -u 1000 appuser && chown -R appuser:appuser /app

server/api.py

@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ class BuildRequest(BaseModel):
     max_retries: int = 5
     show_thinking: bool = False
     min_coverage: float = 80.0
-    strict_gates: bool = True
+    strict_gates: bool = False
     pdk_profile: str = "sky130"
     max_pivots: int = 2
     congestion_threshold: float = 10.0