Creating Your Account

Two sign-up methods

FanPoolHQ uses NextAuth under the hood and supports two ways to create an account:

• Email and password. Open the sign-up page at /auth/signup, enter your email, pick a password, and confirm. FanPoolHQ stores a salted password hash — never the plain password — and sends a verification email through Resend.
• Google OAuth. Click Continue with Google on the sign-in page. Google handles authentication and returns your verified email and display name to FanPoolHQ. You skip the verification email step because Google has already proven the address.

Either method creates the same User record in FanPoolHQ, so you can mix and match later: an account that signed up with email can also link Google, and vice versa, from the Settings page.

Email verification

If you signed up with email and password, FanPoolHQ puts your account in an unverified state until you click the link in the verification email:

1. FanPoolHQ sends an email with a one-time, expiring verification link.
2. Click the link within the validity window.
3. Your account flips to verified and you can immediately join leagues, post in the forum, and receive notifications.

If the email does not arrive, check your spam folder. From the sign-in page you can also request a new verification email — FanPoolHQ rate-limits this to a few attempts per day to avoid abuse.

Profile basics

Right after sign-up, FanPoolHQ lands you on the Settings page so you can fill in:

• Display name. What other GMs see in the forum, trade dialogs, and standings. Keep it readable.
• Avatar (optional). A small image hosted on Vercel Blob; PNG or JPEG, ideally square. Skip this if you want — FanPoolHQ falls back to a generated initials badge.
• Favorite NHL team (optional). Sets the theme for the Franchise page and personalizes a few widgets. You can change this any time.
• Language. English or French. FanPoolHQ remembers your choice across sessions.
• Theme. Light or dark. The dark theme is built with Tailwind's selector mode, so it covers every page.
• Notification preferences. Per-event toggles for email and in-app notifications.

What to do next