[$250] Chat search briefly displays “Chat Report” label before resolving to correct chat name

[m-natarajan]

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Version Number:
Reproducible in staging?: Needs Reproduction (Unable to reproduce)
Reproducible in production?: Needs Reproduction
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack:
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: @twisterdotcom
Slack conversation (hyperlinked to channel name): #Product

Action Performed:

1. Open New Expensify (Web).
2. Use search to find a recent DM
3. Observe the search results and/or initial chat load state.

Expected Result:

The chat should immediately display the correct conversation name (e.g., the participant’s name).
No temporary or generic placeholder label should appear.

Actual Result:

The chat briefly displays as “Chat Report.”

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

The screenshot for the issue is in Slack thread

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @ahmedGaber93

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022029191820519087181
• Upwork Job ID: 2029191820519087181
• Last Price Increase: 2026-03-25

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @JmillsExpensify (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

When a user searches for a DM in New Expensify (Web) and navigates to it, the chat header briefly displays "Chat Report" before resolving to the correct conversation name (e.g., the participant's name).

What is the root cause of that problem?

The report name resolution uses a two-tier fallback in getReportName at src/libs/ReportNameUtils.ts:905:

reportAttributesDerivedValue?.[report.reportID]?.reportName ?? report.reportName ?? ''

When navigating to a chat, the report object in Onyx has reportName: 'Chat Report' (the CONST.REPORT.DEFAULT_REPORT_NAME constant defined at src/CONST/index.ts:1594). This value comes from optimistic data written in openReport (src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts:1239) and buildOptimisticChatReport (src/libs/ReportUtils.ts:7756).

The derived REPORT_ATTRIBUTES value, which computes the correct participant-based name via computeReportName → buildReportNameFromParticipantNames, recomputes asynchronously after the report data changes. During the gap between the optimistic write and the derived value update, getReportName falls back to report.reportName which is 'Chat Report'.

Critically, HeaderView (src/pages/inbox/HeaderView.tsx:234) determines its loading state as:

const isLoading = !report?.reportID || !title;

Since 'Chat Report' is a truthy string, isLoading evaluates to false, so the skeleton loader is skipped and the incorrect "Chat Report" name is rendered directly. Once the derived value finishes recomputing, the title updates to the correct name.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

In HeaderView (src/pages/inbox/HeaderView.tsx), update the isLoading condition to also treat CONST.REPORT.DEFAULT_REPORT_NAME as a loading state for DM/1:1 chats (where the display name should come from participant personal details rather than the reportName field). This way, the skeleton loader remains visible until the derived reportAttributes computes the correct participant-based name, preventing the "Chat Report" flash.

Specifically, for chat reports that are not rooms, groups, or other special types (i.e., regular DMs where the name is derived from participants), the condition should check if the title still equals the default placeholder and continue showing the skeleton until a real name is available.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

1. Precomputing the derived value before navigation: This would prevent the flash entirely but would add latency to the navigation, making the app feel slower.
2. Changing the default reportName to an empty string: This would make isLoading catch it naturally, but 'Chat Report' is also used as a fallback on the backend and in other report types (like trip rooms at src/libs/ReportNameUtils.ts:743), so changing it broadly could have unintended side effects.
3. Eagerly computing the name in getReportName when derived value is missing: This would mean calling computeReportName synchronously as a fallback, but this function is expensive and would negate the performance benefits of the derived values system.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, or @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @ahmedGaber93 (External)

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022029191820519087181

[melvin-bot]

📣 @nguyendinson! 📣
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[melvin-bot]

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