another fix for human choices

frontend/src/composables/useFightPolling.ts

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ export function useFightPolling(fightId: Ref<string>) {
   async function loadFight(): Promise<string | null> {
     try {
       const res = await fetch(`/api/fights/${fightId.value}`)
+      if (res.status === 429) return null // Rate limited, skip this poll
       if (res.ok) {
         const data = await res.json()
         liveRounds.value = data.rounds?.length || 0

frontend/src/composables/useHumanChallenge.ts

@@ -97,11 +97,19 @@ export function useHumanChallenge(
     }
   }
 
+  let pollBackoff = 0
+
   async function pollForChallenge() {
     if (!myBotId.value) return
     try {
       const res = await fetch(`/api/fights/${fightId.value}/challenge/${myBotId.value}`)
+      if (res.status === 429) {
+        // Back off on rate limit — skip next few polls
+        pollBackoff = Math.min(pollBackoff + 2, 8)
+        return
+      }
       if (!res.ok) return
+      pollBackoff = Math.max(0, pollBackoff - 1) // Recover gradually
       const data = await res.json()
 
       if (data.pending) {
@@ -130,8 +138,12 @@ export function useHumanChallenge(
 
   function startHumanPolling() {
     if (!myBotId.value) return
+    pollBackoff = 0
     void pollForChallenge()
-    humanPollHandle = setInterval(() => { void pollForChallenge() }, 400)
+    humanPollHandle = setInterval(() => {
+      if (pollBackoff > 0) { pollBackoff--; return }
+      void pollForChallenge()
+    }, 800)
   }
 
   function stopHumanPolling() {

frontend/src/pages/FightPage.vue

@@ -197,19 +197,8 @@ function wireSSE() {
       })
       scrollLiveLog()
     },
-    async onHumanChallenge(sseData) {
-      if (myBot.value) {
-        try {
-          const res = await fetch(`/api/fights/${fightId.value}/challenge/${myBot.value.id}`)
-          if (res.ok) {
-            const fullData = await res.json()
-            if (fullData.pending) {
-              handleSSEChallenge(fullData)
-              return
-            }
-          }
-        } catch { /* fall through */ }
-      }
+    onHumanChallenge(sseData) {
+      // SSE now includes choices directly — no secondary fetch needed
       handleSSEChallenge(sseData)
     },
     onRoundEnd(data) {
@@ -539,6 +528,9 @@ async function fightAgain(botId: string) {
   liveHpA.value = 100
   liveHpB.value = 100
   liveCurrentRound.value = 0
+  // Stop ALL old polling/connections before starting new fight
+  stopHumanPolling()
+  stopPolling()
   disconnectSSE()
 
   try {

frontend/src/pages/HumanFightPage.vue

@@ -123,9 +123,15 @@ function handleKeyboard(e: KeyboardEvent) {
   }
 }
 
+let pollBackoff = 0
+
 function startPolling() {
+  pollBackoff = 0
   pollForChallenge()
-  pollHandle = setInterval(pollForChallenge, 600)
+  pollHandle = setInterval(() => {
+    if (pollBackoff > 0) { pollBackoff--; return }
+    pollForChallenge()
+  }, 800)
 }
 
 function stopPolling() {
@@ -172,7 +178,9 @@ async function pollForChallenge() {
 
   try {
     const res = await fetch(`/api/fights/${fightId.value}/challenge/${myBotId.value}`)
+    if (res.status === 429) { pollBackoff = Math.min(pollBackoff + 2, 8); return }
     if (!res.ok) return
+    pollBackoff = Math.max(0, pollBackoff - 1)
     const data = await res.json()
 
     // Reset error tracking on success

server/src/app.ts

@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ app.use('*', secureHeaders({
     scriptSrc: ["'self'", 'blob:'],
     styleSrc: ["'self'", "'unsafe-inline'", 'https://fonts.googleapis.com'],
     imgSrc: ["'self'", 'data:', 'blob:'],
-    connectSrc: ["'self'", 'https://huggingface.co', 'https://*.huggingface.co'],
+    connectSrc: ["'self'", 'https://huggingface.co', 'https://*.huggingface.co', 'https://*.hf.co'],
     fontSrc: ["'self'", 'https://fonts.gstatic.com'],
     workerSrc: ["'self'", 'blob:'],
   } : undefined,
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ app.use('*', secureHeaders({
 app.use('/api/*', bodyLimit({ maxSize: 256 * 1024 }))
 
 // Global rate limit (120/min per IP — generous for polling + signup flows)
-app.use('/api/*', rateLimit(60_000, 120))
+app.use('/api/*', rateLimit(60_000, 300))
 
 // API cache headers
 app.use('/api/*', async (c, next) => {

server/src/engine/human-responses.ts

@@ -190,6 +190,11 @@ const CREATIVE_POOLS: Record<string, { good: string[]; medium: string[]; bad: st
 }
 
 function generateChoices(challenge: Challenge): string[] {
+  // Use pre-built choices from templateToChallenge if available (hand-picked distractors)
+  if (challenge.choices && challenge.choices.length >= 2) {
+    return shuffle([...challenge.choices])
+  }
+
   if (challenge.scoring === 'factual' && challenge.answers && challenge.answers.length > 0) {
     const correct = challenge.answers[0]
     const num = Number(correct)
@@ -237,8 +242,9 @@ export function waitForHumanResponse(
   botId: string,
   challenge: Challenge,
   roundNumber: number,
-): Promise<{ answer: string | null; trashTalk?: string; timedOut: boolean }> {
-  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+): { promise: Promise<{ answer: string | null; trashTalk?: string; timedOut: boolean }>; choices: string[] } {
+  const choices = generateChoices(challenge)
+  const promise = new Promise<{ answer: string | null; trashTalk?: string; timedOut: boolean }>((resolve) => {
     const key = `${fightId}:${botId}`
     const timeoutMs = challenge.timeout_ms || DEFAULT_HUMAN_TIMEOUT_MS
 
@@ -248,8 +254,6 @@ export function waitForHumanResponse(
       resolve({ answer: null, timedOut: true })
     }, timeoutMs)
 
-    const choices = generateChoices(challenge)
-
     pending.set(key, {
       fightId,
       botId,
@@ -267,6 +271,7 @@ export function waitForHumanResponse(
 
     logger.info('human', `waiting: ${key} round=${roundNumber} type=${challenge.type} choices=${choices.length}`)
   })
+  return { promise, choices }
 }
 
 export function submitHumanResponse(

server/src/engine/orchestrator.ts

@@ -269,7 +269,8 @@ async function getBotResponse(
     // before the SSE event tells the frontend to fetch it (fixes race condition
     // where frontend fetched before pending was set → no choices shown)
     const start = Date.now()
-    const resultPromise = waitForHumanResponse(fightId, bot.id, challenge, roundNumber)
+    const { promise: resultPromise, choices } = waitForHumanResponse(fightId, bot.id, challenge, roundNumber)
+    // Include choices directly in SSE so frontend never depends on a secondary fetch
     emit(fightId, 'human_challenge', {
       botId: bot.id,
       round: roundNumber,
@@ -278,6 +279,7 @@ async function getBotResponse(
       prompt: challenge.prompt,
       timeoutMs: challenge.timeout_ms,
       scoring: challenge.scoring,
+      choices,
     })
     const result = await resultPromise
     const elapsed = Date.now() - start