Expense - Empty report opens and closes after creating empty report

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.11-23
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/folder/13176730/test-cases/41237110
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sidnjosdnjdosijsojns@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.1 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Click FAB > Create report.

Expected Result:

Empty report will open.

Actual Result:

Empty report opens then closes.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7064882_1770089414496.4.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @lydiabarclay (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.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @chuckdries (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.

[OSBotify]

Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #78965 - "Fix/77987 - Standardize product behavior using Global Create" by @dmkt9 (Medium confidence)
Related Issues: None found

Recommendation: REVERT

This PR (#78965) was merged on Feb 2, 2026 and modified navigation behavior after creating expenses/reports from the FAB (Floating Action Button). While the PR primarily focused on expense creation, the navigation changes could be affecting the create empty report flow as well.

The symptom (empty report opens then closes immediately) suggests a navigation/routing conflict where the report is created but the navigation to that report is being interrupted or overridden.

Labels: Removed DeployBlocker label - this is a Frontend bug caused by an App PR

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• Issue occurs when clicking FAB > Create report in workspace chat
• Reproducible on staging (v9.3.11-23) only, not production
• PR Fix/77987 - Standardize product behavior using "Global Create" #78965 was merged on Feb 2, 2026 and is in the staging deploy checklist
• The PR introduced a new handleNavigateAfterExpenseCreate function that changes navigation behavior based on isReportTopmostSplitNavigator()
• The PR modified the FloatingActionButtonAndPopover.tsx to add isFromFloatingActionButton flag

Verification

The PR modified several key files related to the FAB and navigation:

• src/pages/inbox/sidebar/FloatingActionButtonAndPopover.tsx - Main FAB component
• src/libs/actions/IOU/index.ts - Added navigation handling logic
• src/libs/Navigation/Navigation.ts - Core navigation changes

The handleCreateWorkspaceReport function in FloatingActionButtonAndPopover.tsx creates a new report and navigates to it using:

Navigation.setNavigationActionToMicrotaskQueue(() => {
    Navigation.navigate(
        isSearchTopmostFullScreenRoute()
            ? ROUTES.SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT.getRoute({reportID: createdReportID, backTo: Navigation.getActiveRoute()})
            : ROUTES.REPORT_WITH_ID.getRoute(createdReportID, undefined, undefined, Navigation.getActiveRoute()),
        {forceReplace: isReportInSearch},
    );
});

The navigation changes introduced in PR #78965, particularly the isReportTopmostSplitNavigator() check and conditional navigation logic, may be interfering with the empty report creation flow.

Root Cause

PR #78965 standardized navigation behavior after expense creation from the Global Create button, introducing logic that navigates differently based on whether the user is on the Inbox tab. This change may have inadvertently affected the empty report creation flow, causing the report to open and then immediately close due to a navigation conflict or race condition.