diff --git a/src/app/index.coffee b/src/app/index.coffee
index cc8ab91734..9eeb2a7dfe 100644
--- a/src/app/index.coffee
+++ b/src/app/index.coffee
@@ -71,28 +71,7 @@ get '/', (page, model, next) ->
 
     model.set '_view', _view
 
-    ## Task List Cleanup
-    # FIXME temporary hack to fix lists (Need to figure out why these are happening)
-    # FIXME consolidate these all under user.listIds so we can set them en-masse
-    _.each ['habit','daily','todo','reward'], (type) ->
-      path = "#{type}Ids"
-
-      # 1. remove duplicates
-      # 2. restore missing zombie tasks back into list
-      where = {type:type}
-      taskIds =  _.pluck( _.where(userObj.tasks, where), 'id')
-      union = _.union userObj[path], taskIds
-
-      # 2. remove empty (grey) tasks
-      preened = _.filter(union, (val) -> _.contains(taskIds, val))
-
-      # There were indeed issues found, set the new list
-      user.set(path, preened) if _.size(preened) != _.size(userObj[path])
-
-    ## Notifiations
-    unless userObj.notifications?.kickstarter?
-      user.set('notifications.kickstarter', 'show')
-
+    schema.updateUser(user, userObj)
     setupListReferences(model)
     setupModelFns(model)
 
diff --git a/src/app/schema.coffee b/src/app/schema.coffee
index f60700673f..f591bfee85 100644
--- a/src/app/schema.coffee
+++ b/src/app/schema.coffee
@@ -1,21 +1,22 @@
 content = require './content'
 moment = require 'moment'
 _ = require 'underscore'
+derby = require 'derby'
 
-module.exports.userSchema = ->
+module.exports.newUserObject = ->
   # deep clone, else further new users get duplicate objects
   newUser = require('lodash').cloneDeep
     lastCron: 'new' #this will be replaced with `+new Date` on first run
     balance: 2
     stats: { money: 0, exp: 0, lvl: 1, hp: 50 }
     items: { itemsEnabled: false, armor: 0, weapon: 0 }
+    notifications: { kickstarter: 'show' }
     preferences: { gender: 'm', armorSet: 'v1' }
     tasks: {}
     habitIds: []
     dailyIds: []
     todoIds: []
     rewardIds: []
-
   for task in content.defaultTasks
     guid = task.id = require('racer').uuid()
     newUser.tasks[guid] = task
@@ -24,4 +25,31 @@ module.exports.userSchema = ->
       when 'daily' then newUser.dailyIds.push guid
       when 'todo' then newUser.todoIds.push guid
       when 'reward' then newUser.rewardIds.push guid
-  return newUser
\ No newline at end of file
+  return newUser
+
+module.exports.updateUser = (user, userObj) ->
+  user.set 'notifications.kickstarter', 'show' unless userObj.notifications?.kickstarter?
+
+  # Preferences, including API key
+  # Some side-stepping to avoid unecessary set (one day, model.update... one day..)
+  prefs = _.clone(userObj.preferences)
+  _.defaults prefs, { gender: 'm', armorSet: 'v1', api_token: derby.uuid() }
+  user.set 'preferences', prefs unless _.isEqual(prefs, userObj.preferences)
+
+  ## Task List Cleanup
+  # FIXME temporary hack to fix lists (Need to figure out why these are happening)
+  # FIXME consolidate these all under user.listIds so we can set them en-masse
+  _.each ['habit','daily','todo','reward'], (type) ->
+    path = "#{type}Ids"
+
+    # 1. remove duplicates
+    # 2. restore missing zombie tasks back into list
+    where = {type:type}
+    taskIds =  _.pluck( _.where(userObj.tasks, where), 'id')
+    union = _.union userObj[path], taskIds
+
+    # 2. remove empty (grey) tasks
+    preened = _.filter(union, (val) -> _.contains(taskIds, val))
+
+    # There were indeed issues found, set the new list
+    user.set(path, preened) if _.size(preened) != _.size(userObj[path])
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/server/index.coffee b/src/server/index.coffee
index fb7d9ac9c5..1ac2071144 100644
--- a/src/server/index.coffee
+++ b/src/server/index.coffee
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ strategies =
 options =
   domain: process.env.BASE_URL || 'http://localhost:3000'
   allowPurl: true
-  schema: require('../app/schema').userSchema()
+  schema: require('../app/schema').newUserObject()
 
 mongo_store = new MongoStore {url: process.env.NODE_DB_URI}, ->
   expressApp