Taster Booking Flow

Once a parent has been sent a booking invite email, they follow the link to /book/:token where they select a session date and confirm their booking. The booking API (POST /api/booking) validates the request against several business rules before creating the booking.

End-to-end flow

Validation chain

The booking handler runs seven sequential checks before creating a booking. Each returns an appropriate error code on failure.

Session date validation

validateSessionDate() in src/lib/business/age.ts checks three things:

1. The date string parses to a valid date
2. The date falls on a valid session day for the age group (e.g. Tuesday for taster groups)
3. The date is strictly in the future (not today)

Session days are stored as a JSON array in age_groups.session_days (e.g. ["Tuesday"]). This means session days are fully configurable without code changes.

Age eligibility check

If the enquiry has a DOB, the system verifies the athlete is actually in the correct age group for the chosen date:

function isAgeGroupEligible(dob, sessionDate, ageGroup): boolean {
  const athleticsAge = ageForAthletics(dob, sessionDate);
  return athleticsAge >= ageGroup.age_min_aug31
      && athleticsAge <= ageGroup.age_max_aug31;
}

The athletics age uses the UK standard: age on 31 August of the season the session falls in.

Capacity management

Capacity is checked against the age_groups.capacity_per_session value:

const capacity = ageGroup.capacity_per_session ?? parseInt(config.capacity_per_slot, 10);
const currentCount = await countBookingsForDateAndGroup(date, ageGroup.id, env);
if (currentCount >= capacity) {
  return err('This session is full', 409, 'SLOT_FULL');
}

The count query only includes bookings with status IN ('confirmed', 'attended') — cancelled and no-show bookings free up their slots.

Admin override

Admins can pass an optional age_group_id in the booking request to override the DOB-based resolution. This is used when a parent needs to be placed in a different group or when DOB is missing.

Confirmation email

After a successful booking, a confirmation email is sent using the booking_confirmation template. It includes:

• Formatted session date (e.g. “Tuesday, 14 October 2026”)
• Session time
• Age group label
• Venue name and address
• Google Calendar deep-link — pre-filled with title, date/time, location, and description

The calendar URL is built by buildGoogleCalendarUrl() in src/lib/business/booking.ts:

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  action: 'TEMPLATE',
  text: `EGAC Taster Session — ${ageGroup.label}`,
  dates: `${startUtc}/${endUtc}`,   // ISO format without separators
  location: venueName,
  details: `EGAC taster session for ${ageGroup.label}`,
});
return `https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?${params}`;

Booking page (/book/:token)

The Astro page at src/pages/book/[token].astro handles the client-side UX:

1. Loads the invite by token — shows an error if not found or expired
2. Displays a list of upcoming valid session dates (up to weeks_ahead_booking weeks ahead)
3. On date selection, POSTs to /api/booking with the token and date
4. Shows the confirmation details on success

7-day reminder

A cron job (POST /api/cron/send-reminders, runs Tuesdays at 18:00 UTC) sends a reminder email to all parents with confirmed bookings exactly 7 days from the run date. It checks enquiry.events for a prior reminder_sent event tied to the same booking_id before sending, making it fully idempotent.

Attendance recording

After a session, admins can record attendance via PATCH /api/admin/bookings/:id/attendance:

• Updates booking.status to attended or no_show
• Appends attendance_recorded event to the enquiry
• If attended: triggers a membership invite (creates membership_otp, sends membership_invite email)