Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, message threads, and single expense reports #75101

rayane-d · 2025-11-13T23:37:32Z

Explanation of Change

Auth PR:

https://github.com/Expensify/Auth/pull/18234

Fixed Issues

$ #74846
PROPOSAL:

Tests

**Test 1 — Optimistically created transaction thread with a one-expense parent report**

Goal:

Verify that when the parent IOU report contains only one transaction, any optimistically created transaction thread is discarded when the transaction thread already exists and the user is redirected back to the parent one-expense report.

Steps

Create an account and a workspace.
Open the workspace chat.
Create an expense.
Enable debug mode.
Open the expense.
Tap the header → open the debug menu.
Tap Actions.
Open the IOU action.
Copy the reportActionID.
Copy the reportID.
Copy the childReportID (the existing transaction thread).
Go offline.

Run the following snippet after replacing the IDs:

Onyx.merge('reportActions_<reportID from step 10>', {
    "<reportActionID from step 9>": {
        childReportID: null
    }
});

Open the workspace chat.
Open the expense report.
Open the debug menu again (header → debug).
Tap Actions.
Open the IOU action.
Copy the newly created optimistic childReportID.
Replace the URL's report ID with the ID from step 21.
Confirm that a new transaction thread opens (may be greyed out) that has a report ID different than the report ID from step 11.
Type some text in the composer without sending it (draft message).

Run the following snippet to simulate OpenReport response:

  Onyx.update([
      {
          onyxMethod: "merge",
          key: "report_<reportID from step 21>",
          value: {
              "reportID": "<reportID from step 21>",
              "preexistingReportID": "<reportID from step 11>"
          }
      }
  ]);

Confirm that you are automatically redirected to the parent one-expense report (reportID from step 10).
Confirm the draft message from step 24 is moved to the parent one-expense report.
Confirm that the Onyx data of the optimistic report from step 21 is deleted
Confirm that the childReportID of the IOU report action points to the correct report ID (reportID from step 10)
Go back online
Confirm that OpenReport is called again for the parent report (the one expense report) (reportID from step 10).

Screen.Recording.2025-12-17.at.1.18.14.PM.mov

ios.mov

**Test 2 — Optimistically created transaction thread in a multi-expense parent report, with existing transaction thread**

Goal:

Verify that when the IOU report has multiple expenses, and the App try to create an optimistic transaction thread for an existing transaction thread, the user is redirected to the correct existing transaction thread, and the draft message is preserved.

Steps

Create an account and a workspace.
Open the workspace chat.
Create two expenses.
Enable debug mode.
Open the IOU report.
Copy the reportID
Open each of the two expenses so that a transaction thread report is created
Open the IOU report.
Tap the header → open debug menu.
Tap Actions.
Open one of the IOU actions (choose one expense).
Copy the reportActionID.
Copy the childReportID (existing transaction thread).
Go offline.
Open the browser console.

Run:

Onyx.merge('reportActions_<reportID from step 6>', {
    "<reportActionID from step 12>": {
        childReportID: null
    }
});

Open the workspace chat.
Open the IOU report.
Open the expense selected in step 11.
Confirm that a new optimistic transaction thread (may be greyed out) is created that has a report ID different than the report ID from step 13.
Copy the optimistic transaction thread's report ID.
Type some text in the composer without sending it (draft message).

Run the following snippet to simulate OpenReport response:

  Onyx.update([
        {
            onyxMethod: "merge",
            key: "report_<reportID from step 23>",
            value: {
                "reportID": "<reportID from step 23>",
                "preexistingReportID": "<report ID from step 13>"
            }
        }
    ]);

Confirm automatic redirection to the correct transaction thread (ID = step 13).
Confirm the draft message from step 24 appears in the correct thread (ID = step 13).
Confirm that the Onyx data of the optimistic report (report ID from step 23) is deleted
Confirm that the childReportID of the IOU report action points to the correct report ID (reportID from step 13)
Go back online
Confirm that OpenReport is called again for preExistingReportID (report ID from step 13).

Screen.Recording.2025-11-20.at.12.32.46.AM.mov

Screen.Recording.2025-12-17.at.12.08.28.PM.mov

Test 3 — Optimistically created thread under a comment, but an existing thread exists

Goal:

Verify that when the App tries to create an optimistic thread report under a comment, and a thread report already exists, the App redirects to the correct thread and transfers the draft message.

Steps

Create an account and a workspace.
Open the workspace chat.
Send a message.
Right-click the message → Reply in thread.
Send a message in the thread.
Enable debug mode.
Return to the workspace chat.
Copy the workspace chat reportID
Tap header → debug menu.
Tap Actions.
Open the ADDCOMMENT action for the message from step 3.
Copy the reportActionID.
Copy the childReportID (existing thread).
Go offline.

Run:

Onyx.merge('reportActions_<reportID from step 8>', {
    "<reportActionID from step 12>": {
        childReportID: null
    }
});

Open the workspace chat.
Click the original message (step 3) to open the thread.
Confirm that a new optimistic transaction thread (may be greyed out) is created that has a report ID different than the report ID from step 13.
Copy the optimistic thread's report ID.
Type a draft message in the composer without sending it.

Run the following snippet to simulate OpenReport response:

    Onyx.update([
          {
              onyxMethod: "merge",
              key: "report_<reportID from step 19>",
              value: {
                  "reportID": "<reportID from step 19>",
                  "preexistingReportID": "<report ID from step 13>"
              }
          }
      ]);

Confirm automatic redirection to the correct thread (reportID form step 13).
Confirm the draft message from step 20 is restored in the correct thread (reportID from step 13).
Confirm that the Onyx data of the optimistic report from step 19 is deleted
Confirm that the childReportID of the IOU report action from step 11 points to the correct report ID (reportID from step 13)
Go back online
Confirm that OpenReport is called again for preExistingReportID (reportID from step 13).

Untitled1.mov

Screen.Recording.2025-12-17.at.11.58.04.AM.mov

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

QA Steps

Same as the tests, but QA should only test on the web platform. QA will only be able to properly test this on mobile platforms after the Auth PR has been merged and deployed.

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Tested with backend changes:

Screen.Recording.2025-11-14.at.10.01.42.PM.mov

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

MacOS: Desktop

…ense reports

codecov · 2025-11-13T23:53:54Z

Codecov Report

❌ Looks like you've decreased code coverage for some files. Please write tests to increase, or at least maintain, the existing level of code coverage. See our documentation here for how to interpret this table.

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/libs/ReportUtils.ts	`72.13% <ø> (-0.07%)`	⬇️
src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts	`58.00% <ø> (-0.13%)`	⬇️
...actions/replaceOptimisticReportWithActualReport.ts	`100.00% <100.00%> (+33.89%)`	⬆️
...ReportActionCompose/SilentCommentUpdater/index.tsx	`87.50% <100.00%> (+1.78%)`	⬆️
...omposerWithSuggestions/ComposerWithSuggestions.tsx	`58.78% <50.00%> (-0.12%)`	⬇️
... and 9 files with indirect coverage changes

… to fetch report data

…on-threads

rayane-d · 2025-11-14T15:54:53Z

Asking about the test failure here:
https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C08CZDJFJ77/p1763135674647879

src/libs/actions/Report.ts

…-transaction-threads

…on-threads

rayane-d · 2026-01-29T01:50:43Z

@rayane-d This is becoming harder to reproduce due to new data being added to OpenApp. So first in Auth, comment the line that adds collectSearchTodosData. Revert App fix then do the following:

Create empty report

Add expense

Open expense and copy its report id

Clear cache

Open https://dev.new.expensify.com:8082/r/IDHERE

Screen.Recording.2026-01-23.at.4.11.38.PM.mov

The problem with pendingAction and isOptimisticAction is that we typically clear them after the request is done (in successData) so that info is lost. For this one, maybe we could set isOptimisticAction and just don't unset it, adding a comment explaining why, still feels hacky though. We could add another field e.g. isCreatedOptimistically but that seems to be an overkill.

@s77rt - could you please check this Auth side fix for clearing the optimistic IOU report action: https://github.com/Expensify/Auth/pull/19610? What do you think about this BE solution? Can we rely on it instead of the logic added in the App PR #79356?

s77rt · 2026-01-29T14:42:07Z

@rayane-d I feel like the preexistingReportID logic should be enough and we should fix this in the frontend still. I prefer that we rely on the isOptimisticAction in frontend to decide whether we should update report action or delete it, rather then moving this the backend, mainly because it's not the responsibility of the backend, data that is created in frontend only should be cleared by the frontend.

…on-threads

rayane-d · 2026-01-29T23:19:53Z

@s77rt I've used isOptimisticAction attribute to track the optimistic IOU report action and clear it in the preExistingReportID logic. I've also added automated tests. Could you please take a look and confirm whether this still covers the bug fixed in this PR? Thanks!

rayane-d · 2026-01-29T23:22:57Z

could you please add test cases for these cases:

should transfer draft comment to preexisting report when the user is not on the report

should transfer draft comment to parent report for one-transaction report

should clear optimistic report draft comment after transfer

should handle preexistingReportID for DM/group-DM (no parent action) and preserve participants

should merge preexisting report data correctly

I've added these test cases.

mountiny · 2026-01-29T23:24:56Z

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-01-29T23:37:43Z

src/libs/actions/replaceOptimisticReportWithActualReport.ts

+                Onyx.set(`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${preexistingReportID}`, {
+                    ...report,
+                    reportID: preexistingReportID,
+                    preexistingReportID: null,


Preserve existing thread report fields when replacing optimistic

When a preexisting thread is detected, this branch replaces the existing report with the optimistic report object via Onyx.set. Optimistic thread reports are created with only a minimal field set (see setOptimisticTransactionThread in src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts), so overwriting here drops existing fields like participants, reportName, and other metadata on the preexisting thread. In the preexisting-thread scenario this can leave the UI missing avatars/header info after the switch. Consider merging into the existing report or preserving its fields (similar to the DM path) instead of replacing it.

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

@rayane-d What do you think of this one?

@mountiny - I don't agree with the bot comment. When the backend returns preexistingReportID, we usually don't have Onyx data for the preexisting report yet, so there's nothing to merge into. In this case, we should create the report using Onyx.set with the optimistic report data. After that, OpenReport will be called again with the preexisting report ID, and the backend will return the full report data to update it.

s77rt · 2026-01-30T02:57:30Z

@rayane-d I was not able to reproduce using last repro steps but since the logic to clear the optimistic iOU action is there then we should be fine.

rayane-d · 2026-01-30T23:04:11Z

@s77rt Thanks for confirming!

mountiny

@codex review

chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-02-02T05:51:14Z

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mountiny · 2026-02-02T06:18:10Z

Code Review Observations

Thanks for the detailed PR! I've reviewed the changes and have a few observations:

1. Potential Race Condition in SilentCommentUpdater

File: src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionCompose/SilentCommentUpdater/index.tsx

The isTransitioningToPreExistingReport ref is checked in the effect with the condition:

if (isTransitioningToPreExistingReport.current && reportID !== prevReportId) {
    onTransitionToPreExistingReportComplete();
    return;
}

This condition only triggers when the reportID prop changes. However, during the transition sequence:

isTransitioningToPreExistingReport.current is set to true in ComposerWithSuggestions
The draft is saved to the new report
The callback clears the optimistic report
The component may re-render before reportID prop actually changes

Suggestion: Consider adding a test case that verifies the timing of isTransitioningToPreExistingReport.current being set and cleared relative to the Onyx updates, to ensure no edge case can cause the draft to be overwritten.

2. Explicit Null Check for parentReportActionID

File: src/libs/actions/replaceOptimisticReportWithActualReport.ts

The current code around line 108 checks parentReportID but relies on optional chaining for parentReportActionID:

const parentReportAction = parentReportID ? allReportActions?.[parentReportID]?.[parentReportActionID] : null;

For improved clarity and safety, consider making both checks explicit:

const parentReportAction = (parentReportID && parentReportActionID) 
    ? allReportActions?.[parentReportID]?.[parentReportActionID] 
    : null;

This makes the intent clearer and ensures both IDs are present before attempting the lookup.

3. Verify isOptimisticAction Flag Cleanup in Success Handlers

File: src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts

The new code adds isOptimisticAction: true to the optimistic IOU action:

...optimisticIOUAction,
childReportID: reportID,
isOptimisticAction: true,

I see that in other parts of the codebase, success handlers clear this flag:

successReportActions[actionKey] = {pendingAction: null, isOptimisticAction: null};

Question: Could you verify that the success handler for this specific action path (when OpenReport succeeds after creating the transaction thread) also clears the isOptimisticAction flag? If the flag persists after a successful API response, it could affect logic that checks for optimistic actions (e.g., in PureReportActionItem.tsx where action.isOptimisticAction affects pending state display).

Overall the PR looks solid with great test coverage! These are just some observations for consideration.

mountiny · 2026-02-02T06:21:01Z

Some nice opus observations @rayane-d

OSBotify · 2026-02-02T15:28:30Z

✋ This PR was not deployed to staging yet because QA is ongoing. It will be automatically deployed to staging after the next production release.

OSBotify · 2026-02-03T02:13:47Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/grgia in version: 9.3.11-19 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	cancelled 🔪
🍎 iOS 🍎	cancelled 🔪

Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads and single exp…

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…ense reports

melvin-bot bot assigned rayane-d Nov 13, 2025

rayane-d mentioned this pull request Nov 13, 2025

[$250] Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads #74846

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rayane-d added 2 commits November 14, 2025 00:40

simplify the logic

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correct the logic

51fde84

rayane-d added 9 commits November 14, 2025 14:56

add comments

9ee8e27

use parentReport to determine if the IOU report isOneTransactionReport

504ce93

If we are already on the parent one expense report, just call the API…

27ef3bb

… to fetch report data

correct comment

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Merge branch 'main' into Handle-the-preExistingReportID-for-transacti…

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…on-threads

fixes

fff5f3b

format

a46b7b4

fix lint

8739a69

handle draft comment for one transaction report

9cce6bf

rayane-d requested a review from mountiny November 14, 2025 15:06

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rayane-d added 6 commits November 14, 2025 17:29

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add missing callback

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move comment

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Fix test failure

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Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into Handle-the-preExistingReportID-for…

2957c9b

…-transaction-threads

rayane-d changed the title ~~Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads and single expense reports~~ Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, messages threads, and single expense reports Nov 14, 2025

rayane-d changed the title ~~Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, messages threads, and single expense reports~~ Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, message threads, and single expense reports Nov 14, 2025

rayane-d changed the title ~~Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, message threads, and single expense reports~~ [Hold Auth #18234] Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, message threads, and single expense reports Nov 14, 2025

Add automated tests

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rayane-d dismissed grgia’s stale review via 6205b8a January 28, 2026 13:22

rayane-d added 2 commits January 28, 2026 14:23

Merge branch 'main' into Handle-the-preExistingReportID-for-transacti…

20ba429

…on-threads

add line breaks before comments

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rayane-d marked this pull request as draft January 28, 2026 13:43

rayane-d added 4 commits January 28, 2026 16:34

add more automated tests

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add more automated tests

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update comments

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fix lint error

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rayane-d added 3 commits January 29, 2026 23:50

Handle cleanup of stale optimistic IOU report action

82a300c

Merge branch 'main' into Handle-the-preExistingReportID-for-transacti…

0f8f49e

…on-threads

update comments

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rayane-d marked this pull request as ready for review January 29, 2026 23:20

rayane-d requested a review from mountiny January 29, 2026 23:25

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grgia merged commit 32687ce into Expensify:main Feb 2, 2026
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OSBotify mentioned this pull request Feb 3, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-01-28 #80808

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Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, message threads, and single expense reports #75101

Handle the preExistingReportID for transaction threads, message threads, and single expense reports #75101

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Explanation of Change

Fixed Issues

Tests

Test 1 — Optimistically created transaction thread with a one-expense parent report

Goal:

Steps

Test 2 — Optimistically created transaction thread in a multi-expense parent report, with existing transaction thread

Goal:

Steps

Test 3 — Optimistically created thread under a comment, but an existing thread exists

Goal:

Steps

Offline tests

QA Steps

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

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mountiny commented Feb 2, 2026

Code Review Observations

1. Potential Race Condition in SilentCommentUpdater

2. Explicit Null Check for parentReportActionID

3. Verify isOptimisticAction Flag Cleanup in Success Handlers

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rayane-d commented Nov 13, 2025 •

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**Test 1 — Optimistically created transaction thread with a one-expense parent report**

**Test 2 — Optimistically created transaction thread in a multi-expense parent report, with existing transaction thread**

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rayane-d commented Jan 29, 2026 •

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