Onboarding - Infinite loading when refresh What features are you interested modal

[applause-bot]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

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Version Number: v9.3.91-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-37246/folder/13176924/41237589/1455622729?sort=%2Bstatus_id
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): gocemate+b21549011@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Windows 10/Chrome
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

1. Create a new gmail account (don't use email that has + character)
2. Choose Manage my team expenses > select 5-10 employees > complete onboarding flow by selecting "Other" in accounting
3. Verify "What features are you interested to" modal appears
4. Refresh the page
5. Click Continue

Expected Result:

Modal should be dismissed and user should land on #admins room

Actual Result:

Infinite loading when click Continue button

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7169408_1780391497401.Recording__785.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Julia Ponikarchuk
Bug ID: 7169408

[applause-bot]

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/6c4b30d98c7470cc69d4d440f356baa97da53709c98f10423011df86134fb7ed

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @inimaga (DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[MelvinBot]

Issue Analysis

Root Cause (Medium confidence): On web, the onboarding Continue button can hang forever because the spinner is only cleared when completeOnboarding(...) settles — and after a page refresh that promise can never settle.

Trace:

1. The button's isLoading is reset only in the finally block of handleContinue, so an infinite spinner means await completeOnboarding(...) never resolves or rejects — BaseOnboardingInterestedFeatures.tsx:227-267.
2. The screen passes shouldWaitForRHPVariantInitialization: isSidePanelReportSupported, which is hard‑coded true on web (false on native) — isSidePanelReportSupported/index.ts:3. This matches the Windows/Chrome‑only repro.
3. That flag forces completeOnboarding down the side‑effect path, which first does await waitForWrites(COMPLETE_GUIDED_SETUP) — Report/index.ts:5456-5462.
4. waitForWrites resolves only when the SequentialQueue goes idle. Right after a refresh the queue replays persisted/in‑flight onboarding writes while the app reconnects; if it never reaches idle, waitForWrites never resolves → the await never settles → finally never runs → spinner spins forever.

This also explains staging‑only: the non‑blocking branch (API.write, Report/index.ts:5467) never awaits the queue, so if the waitForWrites gate is the newly‑shipped code in this release, production still uses the path that can't hang.

Recommended fix (pick one):

• Revert candidate (fastest for the blocker): identify and revert the PR that added the shouldWaitForRHPVariantInitialization / waitForWrites gate to the onboarding completion flow. Without it, completeOnboarding uses the non‑blocking API.write path and the spinner always clears.
• Targeted fix: make the onboarding completion resilient so it can't hang — e.g. race waitForWrites(COMPLETE_GUIDED_SETUP) against a timeout, or reset isLoading independently of the side‑effect request resolving.

Investigation details, alternatives ruled out, and verification

Verified (high confidence):

• Onboarding Onyx keys (ONBOARDING_PURPOSE_SELECTED, ONBOARDING_COMPANY_SIZE, ONBOARDING_POLICY_ID, ONBOARDING_ADMINS_CHAT_REPORT_ID) are persisted (not RAM‑only — none appear in ramOnlyKeys at setup/index.ts). So after refresh the guard if (!onboardingPurposeSelected || !onboardingCompanySize) return; passes and the handler does enter the loading state (it doesn't silently no‑op).
• Only BaseOnboardingInterestedFeatures.tsx:237 and useAutoCreateTrackWorkspace.ts:99 pass shouldWaitForRHPVariantInitialization, so the hang is scoped to this exact Continue button on web.

Ruled out as the hang source:

• TransitionTracker.runAfterTransitions({waitForUpcomingTransition: true}) — fire‑and‑forget, not awaited, and has a MAX_TRANSITION_START_WAIT_MS safety timeout, so it can't block the finally.
• navigateAfterOnboardingWithMicrotaskQueue(...) — synchronous and not awaited; runs after await completeOnboarding, so it can't keep the spinner up.
• If prepareOnboardingOnyxData returned undefined (Report/index.ts:5434), completeOnboarding would resolve quickly and the spinner would clear — so that branch is not the hang.

To lock to high confidence (logs from staging account gocemate+b21549011@gmail.com around the click):

• [API] 'CompleteGuidedSetup' is waiting on N write commands with no subsequent processing of COMPLETE_GUIDED_SETUP.
• SequentialQueue never resolving its ready/idle promise (look for a shouldPauseQueue / data‑gap pause on a preceding request).

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team:
To accept: @MelvinBot implement [this](https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/92349) to create a draft PR.
To refine: @MelvinBot <your feedback>
To reject: Explain why you are rejecting Melvin's analysis.

[IuliiaHerets]

Chrome / v9.3.91-4
Passed

REC-20260602183539.mp4