From 78785aee42b536aac64d871f8cfe52ff04eece53 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mike Johnston <mike@nervesocket.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:23:26 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] friends query improvement

---
 backend/src/routes/friends.js | 7 ++++++-
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/backend/src/routes/friends.js b/backend/src/routes/friends.js
index 5d9cfa6..14b443b 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/friends.js
+++ b/backend/src/routes/friends.js
@@ -60,10 +60,15 @@ router.get('/', authMiddleware, asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
       FROM challenges c
       INNER JOIN challenge_participants cp ON cp.challenge_id = c.id
       WHERE cp.user_id = ? AND c.created_by != ? AND cp.status = 'accepted'
+      UNION
+      SELECT DISTINCT cp.user_id
+      FROM challenge_participants cp
+      INNER JOIN challenges c ON cp.challenge_id = c.id
+      WHERE c.created_by = ? AND cp.user_id != ? AND cp.status = 'accepted'
     )
     AND u.id NOT IN (${friends.map(() => '?').join(',') || 'NULL'})
     ORDER BY u.username`,
-    [req.user.userId, req.user.userId, req.user.userId, req.user.userId, ...friends.map(f => f.id)]
+    [req.user.userId, req.user.userId, req.user.userId, req.user.userId, req.user.userId, req.user.userId, ...friends.map(f => f.id)]
   );
 
   res.json({