Fix onboarding background reply outside conversations context

api/_lib/db.ts

@@ -57,6 +57,24 @@ export async function getCityById(id: string) {
   return rows[0] || null
 }
 
+export async function getOrCreateCityByName(name: string) {
+  const normalizedName = name.trim().replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+
+  const { rows: existing } = await pool.query(
+    'SELECT * FROM cities WHERE lower(name) = lower($1) LIMIT 1',
+    [normalizedName]
+  )
+  if (existing[0]) return existing[0]
+
+  const { rows } = await pool.query(
+    `INSERT INTO cities (name, country, description, status)
+     VALUES ($1, $2, $3, 'active')
+     RETURNING *`,
+    [normalizedName, 'Unknown', 'User-added city']
+  )
+  return rows[0]
+}
+
 // ============================================
 // Quests
 // ============================================

bot/conversations/onboarding.ts

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import type { Conversation } from '@grammyjs/conversations'
 import type { BotContext } from '../types.js'
 
 type BotConversation = Conversation<BotContext, BotContext>
-import { getActiveCities, findUserByTelegramId } from '../../api/_lib/db.js'
+import { getOrCreateCityByName, findUserByTelegramId } from '../../api/_lib/db.js'
 import { t, getLang } from '../i18n/index.js'
 import { createQuestFromOnboarding } from '../services/quest.service.js'
 
@@ -19,24 +19,50 @@ const PACE_MAP: Record<string, string> = {
   active: 'active',
 }
 
+async function sendTelegramMessage(
+  chatId: number,
+  text: string,
+  extra?: Record<string, unknown>
+) {
+  const token = process.env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN
+  if (!token) throw new Error('TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN is not set')
+
+  const response = await fetch(`https://api.telegram.org/bot${token}/sendMessage`, {
+    method: 'POST',
+    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+    body: JSON.stringify({
+      chat_id: chatId,
+      text,
+      ...extra,
+    }),
+  })
+
+  if (!response.ok) {
+    const body = await response.text()
+    throw new Error(`Telegram sendMessage failed (${response.status}): ${body}`)
+  }
+}
+
 export async function onboardingConversation(conversation: BotConversation, ctx: BotContext) {
   const lang = getLang(ctx.from?.language_code)
 
-  // Step 1: City selection
+  // Step 1: City input
-  const cities = await conversation.external(() => getActiveCities())
+  await ctx.reply(t(lang, 'choose_city'))
 
-  const cityButtons = cities.map((city: { id: string; name: string }) => ([
+  let cityName = ''
-    { text: city.name, callback_data: `city_${city.id}` }
+  while (true) {
-  ]))
+    const cityResponse = await conversation.waitFor('message:text')
+    const input = cityResponse.message.text.trim().replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+    if (input.length >= 2 && !input.startsWith('/')) {
+      cityName = input
+      break
+    }
+    await ctx.reply(t(lang, 'invalid_city'))
+  }
 
-  await ctx.reply(t(lang, 'choose_city'), {
+  const city = await conversation.external(() => getOrCreateCityByName(cityName))
-    reply_markup: { inline_keyboard: cityButtons },
+  const cityId = city.id
-  })
+  cityName = city.name
-
-  const cityResponse = await conversation.waitForCallbackQuery(/^city_/)
-  const cityId = cityResponse.callbackQuery!.data!.replace('city_', '')
-  const cityName = cities.find((c: { id: string }) => c.id === cityId)?.name || 'Unknown'
-  await cityResponse.answerCallbackQuery()
 
   // Step 2: Number of days
   await ctx.reply(t(lang, 'choose_days'))
@@ -155,8 +181,16 @@ export async function onboardingConversation(conversation: BotConversation, ctx:
     return
   }
 
-  const result = await conversation.external(() =>
+  const chatId = ctx.chat?.id
-    createQuestFromOnboarding({
+  if (!chatId) {
+    await ctx.reply('Something went wrong. Please try /start again.')
+    return
+  }
+
+  // Run heavy generation in background so webhook handlers can return quickly.
+  void (async () => {
+    try {
+      const result = await createQuestFromOnboarding({
         userId,
         cityId,
         cityName,
@@ -166,10 +200,9 @@ export async function onboardingConversation(conversation: BotConversation, ctx:
         userComment,
         lang,
       })
-  )
 
       if (!result) {
-    await ctx.reply('Something went wrong. Please try /start again.')
+        await sendTelegramMessage(chatId, 'Something went wrong. Please try /start again.')
         return
       }
 
@@ -180,12 +213,21 @@ export async function onboardingConversation(conversation: BotConversation, ctx:
         description: result.description,
       }) + (isHttps ? '' : `\n\n🔗 ${appUrl}`)
 
-  await ctx.reply(
+      await sendTelegramMessage(chatId, questText, isHttps ? {
-    questText,
-    isHttps ? {
         reply_markup: {
-        inline_keyboard: [[ { text: t(lang, 'open_quest'), web_app: { url: appUrl } } ]],
+          inline_keyboard: [[{ text: t(lang, 'open_quest'), web_app: { url: appUrl } }]],
         },
-    } : {}
+      } : {})
-  )
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.error('Background quest creation failed:', error)
+      try {
+        await sendTelegramMessage(chatId, 'Something went wrong. Please try /start again.')
+      } catch (sendError) {
+        console.error('Failed to send fallback error message:', sendError)
+      }
+    }
+  })()
+
+  // Conversation finishes immediately; final quest message will be sent by background task.
+  return
 }

bot/i18n/en.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ Let's begin! Where are you headed?`,
   welcome_back: `Welcome back! You have an active quest in {city}. Open the app to continue.`,
 
   // Onboarding
-  choose_city: 'Choose a city for your adventure:',
+  choose_city: 'Which city are you planning your quest in? Type the city name.',
+  invalid_city: 'Please enter a valid city name (at least 2 characters).',
   choose_days: 'How many days are you planning? (1-30)',
   invalid_days: 'Please enter a number from 1 to 30.',
   choose_companions: 'Who are you traveling with?',

bot/i18n/ru.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ export const ru: Record<string, string> = {
   welcome_back: `С возвращением! У тебя есть активный квест по городу {city}. Открой приложение, чтобы продолжить.`,
 
   // Onboarding
-  choose_city: 'Выбери город для приключения:',
+  choose_city: 'В каком городе планируешь квест? Напиши название города.',
+  invalid_city: 'Введи корректное название города (минимум 2 символа).',
   choose_days: 'На сколько дней планируешь поездку? (1-30)',
   invalid_days: 'Введи число от 1 до 30.',
   choose_companions: 'С кем путешествуешь?',