1 files changed, 28 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/packages/meshbay-node/src/meshbay_node/ops.py b/packages/meshbay-node/src/meshbay_node/ops.py
index 6d53edb..7a8e8ac 100644
--- a/packages/meshbay-node/src/meshbay_node/ops.py
+++ b/packages/meshbay-node/src/meshbay_node/ops.py
@@ -180,6 +180,34 @@ async def create_invite(state: dict, group_id: str, username: str, *,
             raise OpError(f"Unknown user {username!r}: {e}", status=404) from e
         user_id = account["user_id"]
 
+    # Hub membership first, and fatal if it fails.
+    #
+    # `/v1/groups/mine` joins `GroupMember`, so someone who was never registered
+    # does not see the group at all and can never redeem the code. Creating the
+    # invite first and tolerating a failed registration — which is what this did
+    # — hands the operator a code that cannot work, and says nothing. Worse, an
+    # unreachable hub raised *after* the roster write, leaving a valid code
+    # nobody was ever given; every retry left another.
+    #
+    # Registering before the roster write means a failure costs nothing: no code
+    # exists to be orphaned. A membership row without an invite is harmless —
+    # without the code there is still no group key.
+    #
+    # The endpoint is idempotent (`if not mem: db.add(...)`, no 409), so the SPA
+    # registering the same membership again right after `createInvite`
+    # (group-settings.js) costs nothing either.
+    #
+    # Skipped only when there is no username to register with: the MNP path
+    # allows an empty one (`username || ''` in transport.js), and there the SPA
+    # is the one that registers.
+    if username:
+        try:
+            await _hub(state).add_group_member(group_id, username)
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise OpError(
+                f"Could not register {username!r} on the hub, so the invite "
+                f"could not be redeemed: {e}", status=502) from e
+
     config = state.get("config")
     ttl = (config.node.invite_ttl_hours if config else 168) * 3600
     code = await roster.create_invite(
@@ -191,13 +219,6 @@ async def create_invite(state: dict, group_id: str, username: str, *,
         username=username,
     )
 
-    hub = _hub(state)
-    try:
-        await hub.add_group_member(group_id, username)
-    except Exception:
-        log.warning("Could not register %s as hub member of %s",
-                    username, group_id[:8])
-
     invites = await roster.list_invites()
     expires = next((i["expires_at"] for i in invites
                     if i["user_id"] == user_id