diff --git a/EnvelopeGenerator.Infrastructure/UserPreferencesService.cs b/EnvelopeGenerator.Infrastructure/UserPreferencesService.cs
index a8443a8c..963c24ce 100644
--- a/EnvelopeGenerator.Infrastructure/UserPreferencesService.cs
+++ b/EnvelopeGenerator.Infrastructure/UserPreferencesService.cs
@@ -16,26 +16,31 @@ public sealed class UserPreferencesService(IDistributedCache cache) : IUserPrefe
 {
     private const string KeyPrefix = "signflow.user-preferences:";
 
-    private static string BuildKey(string username) => $"{KeyPrefix}{username}";
+    private static string BuildKey(string id) => $"{KeyPrefix}{id}";
 
     /// <inheritdoc />
-    public async Task<UserPreferencesDto> GetAsync(string username, CancellationToken ct = default)
+    public async Task<UserPreferencesDto> GetOrCreateAsync(string id, CancellationToken ct = default)
     {
-        var json = await cache.GetStringAsync(BuildKey(username), ct);
-
-        if (json is null)
-            return new UserPreferencesDto();
-
-        return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<UserPreferencesDto>(json) ?? new UserPreferencesDto();
+        var json = await cache.GetStringAsync(BuildKey(id), ct);
+        if(json is not null && JsonSerializer.Deserialize<UserPreferencesDto>(json) is UserPreferencesDto pref)
+        {
+            return pref;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // init new
+            await SaveAsync(id, UserPreferencesDto.Default, ct);
+            return UserPreferencesDto.Default;
+        }
     }
 
     /// <inheritdoc />
-    public async Task SaveAsync(string username, UserPreferencesDto preferences, CancellationToken ct = default)
+    public async Task SaveAsync(string id, UserPreferencesDto preferences, CancellationToken ct = default)
     {
         var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(preferences);
 
         // No expiration — preferences are stored indefinitely.
-        await cache.SetStringAsync(BuildKey(username), json, new DistributedCacheEntryOptions(), ct);
+        await cache.SetStringAsync(BuildKey(id), json, new DistributedCacheEntryOptions(), ct);
     }
 }
 #endif