diff --git a/packages/app/src/db/crud/user.ts b/packages/app/src/db/crud/user.ts
index 48d92afd..b29afacf 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/db/crud/user.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/db/crud/user.ts
@@ -39,14 +39,14 @@ export async function readUserById(id: string): Promise<User | undefined> {
 export async function createUser(userInsert: UserInsert): Promise<User> {
   // this is done in transaction to avoid race condition when creating user, for conflicts on authId
   return await db.transaction(async (trx) => {
-    // First try to find the user by authId
+    // Also check by email to handle edge cases
     const [existingUser] = await trx
       .select()
       .from(user)
       .where(
         and(
-          eq(user.authId, userInsert.authId),
           eq(user.email, userInsert.email),
+          eq(user.authId, userInsert.authId),
         ),
       )
       .execute();
@@ -59,13 +59,13 @@ export async function createUser(userInsert: UserInsert): Promise<User> {
     const [insertedUser] = await trx
       .insert(user)
       .values(userInsert)
-      .returning()
       .onConflictDoUpdate({
-        target: [user.email],
+        target: [user.authId],
         set: {
-          authId: userInsert.authId,
+          email: userInsert.email,
         },
       })
+      .returning()
       .execute();
 
     return insertedUser;
diff --git a/packages/app/src/lib/auth.ts b/packages/app/src/lib/auth.ts
index 90f765d9..27d17188 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/lib/auth.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/lib/auth.ts
@@ -77,15 +77,50 @@ export const getServerUser = async (): Promise<User> => {
     throw new Error(" New user has no email address");
   }
 
-  const createdUser = await createUser({
-    email,
-    authId,
-    firstName: clerkUser.firstName || "",
-    lastName: clerkUser.lastName || "",
-    picture: clerkUser.imageUrl,
-    privacyPolicyAcceptedAt: new Date(),
-    termsOfUseAcceptedAt: new Date(),
-  });
+  // Retry mechanism for race conditions when creating new users
+  let createdUser: User | undefined;
+  let retryCount = 0;
+  const maxRetries = 3;
+
+  while (retryCount < maxRetries) {
+    try {
+      createdUser = await createUser({
+        email,
+        authId,
+        firstName: clerkUser.firstName || "",
+        lastName: clerkUser.lastName || "",
+        picture: clerkUser.imageUrl,
+        privacyPolicyAcceptedAt: new Date(),
+        termsOfUseAcceptedAt: new Date(),
+      });
+      break; // Success, exit the retry loop
+    } catch (error: any) {
+      retryCount++;
+
+      // If it's a duplicate key error and we haven't exceeded max retries, try again
+      if (retryCount < maxRetries) {
+        // Wait a bit before retrying (exponential backoff)
+        await new Promise((resolve) =>
+          setTimeout(resolve, Math.pow(2, retryCount) * 100),
+        );
+
+        // Check if user was created by another request in the meantime
+        const existingUser = await readUserByAuthId(authId);
+        if (existingUser) {
+          createdUser = existingUser;
+          break;
+        }
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      // If it's not a duplicate key error or we've exceeded retries, rethrow
+      throw error;
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (!createdUser) {
+    throw new Error("Failed to create user after multiple attempts");
+  }
 
   // Identify newly created user in PostHog
   await identifyUserServer(createdUser, {