docs/ARCHITECTURE.md

@@ -1259,7 +1259,11 @@ eligible installed PWA (standalone web + confirmed email) **background-preloads*
 — on lobby entry and on a variant-preference change — through the same three-tier loader, retried
 with backoff and honouring the session miss-breaker; the move generator, the loader and the preload
 orchestration stay in lazy chunks. A first-lobby preload failure shows a *poor-connection* notice in
-the ad-banner slot. A **cold launch already in offline mode** boots from the persisted session and
+the ad-banner slot. Flipping the Settings toggle **to** offline runs that same cache-first fetch
+bounded by a ~5 s UI wait (`raceOfflineReady` + the lazy `dict/offlineready`): it enters offline only
+once every enabled variant is ready, otherwise it stays online with a *needs internet* note while the
+fetch finishes in the background (the next flip is then instant). A **cold launch already in offline
+mode** boots from the persisted session and
 profile (the profile is saved on every online adopt/refresh) — `bootstrap` skips the session
 adoption and profile fetch that would otherwise hang with no network, and lands straight in the
 offline lobby; without a cached profile (an install that was never online) it drops the sticky flag

docs/FUNCTIONAL.md

@@ -265,8 +265,11 @@ Only **vs_ai** games are playable — New Game creates a device-local game again
 plays entirely in the browser with no backend. Local games are kept on the device, visible only in
 offline mode, and never sync to the account. So a game can be created and played with no connection,
 the app quietly preloads the dictionaries for the player's enabled variants while still online, and
-(once installed) launches from a precached shell even with no network. The mode is device-scoped and
-sticky across launches.
+(once installed) launches from a precached shell even with no network. Switching **to** offline first
+checks that the enabled variants' dictionaries are on the device — if any are missing it fetches them
+and waits briefly, and if they cannot be readied it stays online with a short *needs internet* note
+(the download keeps running in the background, so a later switch is instant). The mode is
+device-scoped and sticky across launches.
 
 The app also **enters offline mode on its own** when it cannot reach the network. On a cold launch
 with no connection it switches to offline for that session; when the device is online but the gateway

docs/FUNCTIONAL_ru.md

@@ -270,8 +270,11 @@ e-mail) либо ввод фразы. Активные игры форфейтя
 целиком в браузере без бэкенда. Локальные игры хранятся на устройстве, видны только в офлайн-режиме и
 никогда не синхронизируются с аккаунтом. Чтобы игру можно было создать и сыграть без связи, приложение
 заранее, пока ещё онлайн, подгружает словари включённых игроком вариантов и (после установки)
-запускается из прекешированного шелла даже без сети. Режим привязан к устройству и сохраняется между
-запусками.
+запускается из прекешированного шелла даже без сети. Переключение **в** офлайн сначала проверяет, что
+словари включённых вариантов есть на устройстве — если каких-то не хватает, оно их подгружает и недолго
+ждёт, а если подготовить их не удаётся, остаётся онлайн с короткой заметкой *нужен интернет* (загрузка
+продолжается в фоне, так что следующее переключение мгновенно). Режим привязан к устройству и
+сохраняется между запусками.
 
 Приложение также **само включает офлайн-режим**, когда не может достучаться до сети. При холодном
 запуске без связи оно переходит в офлайн на текущую сессию; когда устройство онлайн, но шлюз молчит

ui/src/lib/dict/offlineready.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+// Browser orchestration for the offline-toggle readiness wait. Lazily imported by
+// offline.svelte.ts's requestOffline so the dict loader/generator it pulls in stays out of the main
+// bundle. It runs the same cache-first preload as the background warmup (preload.ts), but bounded by
+// a UI wait: it tells the toggle whether flipping to offline can succeed right now, and leaves the
+// fetch running on a timeout so a later flip is instant.
+
+import type { Profile } from '../model';
+import { preloadDicts } from './preload';
+import { getDawg, dictLoadingDisabled } from '../dict';
+import { raceOfflineReady } from '../offline';
+
+/**
+ * ensureOfflineDicts fetches the profile's enabled variants' dictionaries cache-first (instant when
+ * already warm, a network fetch otherwise) and reports, within budgetMs, whether every one is
+ * available — the offline toggle's readiness gate. With no enabled variant there is nothing to play
+ * offline, so it is never ready. The fetch is not aborted on a timeout; it keeps warming the
+ * on-device cache in the background so a later flip to offline succeeds immediately.
+ */
+export async function ensureOfflineDicts(prof: Profile, budgetMs: number): Promise<boolean> {
+  if (prof.variantPreferences.length === 0) return false;
+  const run = preloadDicts(prof.dictVersions, prof.variantPreferences, {
+    getDawg,
+    disabled: dictLoadingDisabled,
+    retries: 1,
+  });
+  return raceOfflineReady(run, budgetMs);
+}

ui/src/lib/i18n/en.ts

@@ -217,6 +217,8 @@ export const en = {
   'settings.offlineMode': 'Play mode',
   'settings.online': 'Online',
   'settings.offline': 'Offline',
+  'settings.offlineChecking': 'Loading dictionaries…',
+  'settings.offlineNeedsData': 'Not enough data on the device. Internet access is needed to download it.',
   'offline.preloadWarning': 'Poor internet connection. Some features may be unavailable.',
   'offline.promptTitle': 'No connection. Enable offline mode?',
   'offline.promptYes': 'Enable',

ui/src/lib/i18n/ru.ts

@@ -217,6 +217,8 @@ export const ru: Record<MessageKey, string> = {
   'settings.offlineMode': 'Режим игры',
   'settings.online': 'Онлайн',
   'settings.offline': 'Оффлайн',
+  'settings.offlineChecking': 'Загрузка словарей…',
+  'settings.offlineNeedsData': 'Недостаточно данных. Необходим доступ в интернет для загрузки.',
   'offline.preloadWarning': 'Плохое соединение с интернет. Некоторые функции могут быть недоступны.',
   'offline.promptTitle': 'Нет связи. Включить офлайн-режим?',
   'offline.promptYes': 'Включить',

ui/src/lib/offline.svelte.ts

@@ -40,6 +40,26 @@ export function setOfflineMode(on: boolean, persist = true): void {
   if (persist) saveOfflinePref(on);
 }
 
+/** The toggle-flip readiness wait: entering offline waits at most this long for the enabled
+ *  variants' dictionaries before reverting to online (the fetch then continues in the background). */
+export const TOGGLE_READY_BUDGET_MS = 5000;
+
+/**
+ * requestOffline attempts to enter offline mode from the Settings toggle. It fetches the enabled
+ * variants' dictionaries cache-first and, if every one is available within the readiness budget,
+ * switches to a deliberate (persisted) offline mode and returns true. Otherwise it stays online and
+ * returns false — the caller shows the "needs internet" note — while the fetch keeps warming the
+ * cache so a later flip is instant. The readiness glue and the dict loader are imported dynamically,
+ * so neither is pulled into the main bundle. Returns false with no profile.
+ */
+export async function requestOffline(prof: Profile | null, budgetMs = TOGGLE_READY_BUDGET_MS): Promise<boolean> {
+  if (!prof) return false;
+  const m = await import('./dict/offlineready');
+  const ready = await m.ensureOfflineDicts(prof, budgetMs);
+  if (ready) setOfflineMode(true);
+  return ready;
+}
+
 // The dict-preload warning: true when a first-lobby background preload could not fetch every
 // enabled variant's dictionary (typically a poor connection), so offline mode may be incomplete.
 // The lobby shows a notice in place of the ad banner while it holds.

ui/src/lib/offline.test.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach } from 'vitest';
-import { loadOfflinePref, saveOfflinePref, offlineReady, missingDicts, offlinePreloadEligible, shouldBootOffline } from './offline';
+import { loadOfflinePref, saveOfflinePref, offlineReady, missingDicts, offlinePreloadEligible, shouldBootOffline, raceOfflineReady } from './offline';
 import type { Variant } from './model';
 
 // A minimal in-memory localStorage for the persistence tests (node has none).
@@ -53,3 +53,25 @@ describe('offline mode helpers', () => {
     expect(shouldBootOffline({ offlineActive: true, hasSession: true, hasProfile: false })).toBe(false);
   });
 });
+
+describe('raceOfflineReady (toggle-flip readiness wait)', () => {
+  // A sleep that never elapses: the fetch always wins the race, exercising its resolution.
+  const never = (): Promise<void> => new Promise<void>(() => {});
+  // A sleep that elapses immediately: the budget always wins the race, exercising the timeout.
+  const now = (): Promise<void> => Promise.resolve();
+
+  it('is ready when the fetch resolves with nothing failed before the budget', async () => {
+    const run = Promise.resolve({ failed: [] as Variant[] });
+    expect(await raceOfflineReady(run, 5000, never)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('is not ready when a variant is still missing after the fetch', async () => {
+    const run = Promise.resolve({ failed: ['erudit_ru'] as Variant[] });
+    expect(await raceOfflineReady(run, 5000, never)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('is not ready when the budget elapses before the fetch resolves', async () => {
+    const run = new Promise<{ failed: Variant[] }>(() => {}); // never resolves
+    expect(await raceOfflineReady(run, 5000, now)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});

ui/src/lib/offline.ts

@@ -42,6 +42,23 @@ export function missingDicts(enabled: readonly Variant[], hasDict: (v: Variant)
   return enabled.filter((v) => !hasDict(v));
 }
 
+/**
+ * raceOfflineReady runs the dictionary fetch `run` against a `budgetMs` wait and reports whether
+ * offline mode can be entered now: ready only when the fetch resolves with nothing still failed
+ * before the budget elapses. On a timeout the caller stops waiting but does NOT abort `run` — it
+ * keeps warming the on-device cache so a later flip to offline is instant. The sleep is injected so
+ * the logic stays pure and unit-tests in the node env.
+ */
+export async function raceOfflineReady(
+  run: Promise<{ failed: readonly unknown[] }>,
+  budgetMs: number,
+  sleep: (ms: number) => Promise<void> = (ms) => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, ms)),
+): Promise<boolean> {
+  const elapsed = sleep(budgetMs).then(() => null);
+  const res = await Promise.race([run, elapsed]);
+  return res !== null && res.failed.length === 0;
+}
+
 /**
  * offlinePreloadEligible reports whether a background dictionary preload should run in this
  * context: an installed standalone web PWA (not a Telegram/VK mini-app, not a plain browser tab)

ui/src/screens/Settings.svelte

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   import type { BoardLabelMode } from '../lib/boardlabels';
   import { insideTelegram } from '../lib/telegram';
   import { insideVK } from '../lib/vk';
-  import { offlineMode, setOfflineMode } from '../lib/offline.svelte';
+  import { offlineMode, setOfflineMode, requestOffline } from '../lib/offline.svelte';
   import { isStandalone } from '../lib/pwa';
   import InstallApp from '../components/InstallApp.svelte';
 
@@ -35,6 +35,25 @@
     classic: 'settings.labelsClassic',
     none: 'settings.labelsNone',
   };
+
+  // The offline toggle gates entry on dictionary readiness: flipping to offline fetches the enabled
+  // variants' dictionaries (cache-first) and waits at most a few seconds; if they cannot be made
+  // available it stays online and shows the "needs internet" note, while the fetch keeps warming the
+  // cache in the background so a later flip is instant. Leaving offline (-> online) is never gated.
+  let checking = $state(false);
+  let needsData = $state(false);
+
+  async function goOffline(): Promise<void> {
+    if (offlineMode.active || checking) return;
+    needsData = false;
+    checking = true;
+    try {
+      const ready = await requestOffline(app.profile);
+      if (!ready) needsData = true;
+    } finally {
+      checking = false;
+    }
+  }
 </script>
 
 <div class="page">
@@ -89,13 +108,26 @@
     <section>
       <h3>{t('settings.offlineMode')}</h3>
       <div class="seg">
-        <button class="opt" class:active={!offlineMode.active} onclick={() => setOfflineMode(false)}>
+        <button
+          class="opt"
+          class:active={!offlineMode.active}
+          disabled={checking}
+          onclick={() => {
+            needsData = false;
+            setOfflineMode(false);
+          }}
+        >
           {t('settings.online')}
         </button>
-        <button class="opt" class:active={offlineMode.active} onclick={() => setOfflineMode(true)}>
+        <button class="opt" class:active={offlineMode.active} disabled={checking} onclick={goOffline}>
           {t('settings.offline')}
         </button>
       </div>
+      {#if checking}
+        <p class="onote">{t('settings.offlineChecking')}</p>
+      {:else if needsData}
+        <p class="onote onote--warn" role="alert">{t('settings.offlineNeedsData')}</p>
+      {/if}
     </section>
   {/if}
 
@@ -139,6 +171,18 @@
     color: var(--accent-text);
     border-color: var(--accent);
   }
+  .opt:disabled {
+    opacity: 0.55;
+    cursor: default;
+  }
+  .onote {
+    font-size: 0.85rem;
+    color: var(--text-muted);
+    margin: 8px 0 0;
+  }
+  .onote--warn {
+    color: var(--warn);
+  }
   .row {
     display: flex;
     align-items: center;