Onboarding — Technical Reference

← Back to Onboarding

Where this lives

Backend

• apps/backend/graphql/resolvers/user-social.resolver.js — completeOnboarding(interests) mutation (enforces the 5-follow minimum, sets isOnboardingCompleted)
• apps/backend/graphql/resolvers/user-search-discovery.resolver.js — interestSuggestions(limit, interests) query
• apps/backend/data-access-services/user/user.access-service.js — getUsersByInterests() (interest overlap), getSuggestedUsers() (broad top-up)
• apps/backend/data-access-services/user/user-follow.access-service.js — getFollowingCount() used by the 5-follow gate

Frontend

• apps/frontend-nextjs/src/page-components/OnboardingPage.tsx — the two-step flow (interests → follow ≥5) + search box + logout
• apps/frontend-nextjs/src/app/onboarding/page.tsx — route
• apps/frontend-nextjs/src/components/ProtectedRoute.tsx — the gate (redirects unfinished users to /onboarding, renders nothing meanwhile)
• apps/frontend-nextjs/src/components/Login.tsx — post-login redirect sends unfinished users straight to /onboarding
• apps/frontend-nextjs/src/lib/interests.ts — shared interest catalog (slugs + labels)

Technical implementation checklist

• completeOnboarding(interests: [String!]): User! — requires getFollowingCount(userId) >= 5 server-side, sets isOnboardingCompleted + onboardingCompletedAt, stores interests
• interestSuggestions(limit, interests): [User!]! — uses passed interests (live during onboarding) or the viewer's stored interests; tops up with getSuggestedUsers so the list is never short
• Persistent gate — ProtectedRoute redirects when user.isOnboardingCompleted === false (flag comes from the login/register payload; re-login re-triggers it)
• isOnboardingCompleted added to the login / 2FA-verify / OAuth (Firebase, Apple, phone, passkey) user selections in Login.tsx; the Register mutation doesn't request the field, so Login.tsx defaults it to false there (new accounts always need onboarding)

GraphQL

type Query {
  interestSuggestions(limit: Int, interests: [String!]): [User!]!
}

type Mutation {
  completeOnboarding(interests: [String!]): User!
}

type User {
  isOnboardingCompleted: Boolean!   # self-only
  # ...
}

Notes

• Interests are stored on user.interests (text[]) — the Sequelize model attribute is interestTags (field interests) to avoid colliding with the existing Interest many-to-many association named interests.
• Reuses the existing is_onboarding_completed column, so there is no migration for the gate itself; the user.interests column ships in 20260721120000-add-interests-to-user.