diff --git a/chat_listener.py b/chat_listener.py
index 475a3b8..5b972e0 100644
--- a/chat_listener.py
+++ b/chat_listener.py
@@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ class TwitchBot(commands.Bot):
 
         super().__init__(
             token=access_token,
+            # Mandate: Explicitly disable the internal web server.
             web_server_adapter=adapter,
-            eventsub_url=None, # Explicitly disable EventSub
+            eventsub_url=None,
             prefix='!', # A prefix is required but won't be used for reading chat
             initial_channels=[channel_name],
-            # These are required by twitchio for authentication
+            # These are required by twitchio
             client_id=client_id,
             client_secret=client_secret,
             # The 'bot_id' is the Twitch ID of the user account the bot is running as
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ class TwitchBot(commands.Bot):
         """Called once when the bot goes online."""
         print(f"Listener ready for #{self.channel_name}")
 
-    async def event_message(self, message):
+    async def event_message(self, message): # Mandate: Type hint removed to prevent import errors.
         """Runs every time a message is sent in chat."""
         # This is CRITICAL when overriding a listener in commands.Bot
         # to ensure the bot can still process commands if any are added.
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index aa40322..9d3cadd 100644
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+import asyncio
 from fastapi import FastAPI, Request, Depends, HTTPException
 from starlette.middleware.sessions import SessionMiddleware 
 from starlette.staticfiles import StaticFiles 
@@ -23,6 +24,20 @@ BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 STATIC_DIR = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static")
 TEMPLATES_DIR = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "templates")
 
+@asynccontextmanager
+async def background_listener_startup(app: FastAPI):
+    """A non-blocking task to start listeners after the app has started."""
+    print("Background task: Starting listeners for all users...")
+    db = SessionLocal()
+    users = db.query(models.User).all()
+    db.close()
+    for user in users:
+        # Use try/except to ensure one failing listener doesn't stop others
+        try:
+            await app.state.listener_manager.start_listener_for_user(user, app.state.websocket_manager)
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"ERROR: Failed to start listener for user {user.id} ({user.username}): {e}")
+
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
     # This code runs on startup
@@ -32,13 +47,8 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
     models.Base.metadata.create_all(bind=engine)
     print("Application startup: Database tables created.")
 
-    # Start listeners for all existing users
-    db = SessionLocal()
-    users = db.query(models.User).all()
-    db.close()
-    for user in users:
-        await app.state.listener_manager.start_listener_for_user(user, app.state.websocket_manager)
-
+    # Decouple listener startup from the main application startup
+    asyncio.create_task(background_listener_startup(app))
     yield
     
     # This code runs on shutdown