[Due for payment 2026-09-03] Report changes from expense details thread to expense report after navigating via arrows

@thelullabyy

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Version Number: 9.4.62-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #98611
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdsiodjnosdjiodsj@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.5 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Go to staging.new.expensify.com
Go to workspace chat.
Create two reports with one expense each without category.
Go to Home
Click Review 2 expenses in For You section.
Click Next arrow button.
Click Previous arrow button.

Expected Result:

After navigating to another expense via arrow button, report will not change.

Actual Result:

After navigating to another expense via arrow button, report changes from expense details thread to expense report.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7243792_1787791856719.10.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Mita Rachim
Bug ID: 7243792

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @thelullabyy

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/32b154b535b2e7d6fde931b28d0cf98db8be10ae30f4647f9ed062ef5f6ee423

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #98611

@JS00001

@JS00001 @ShridharGoel you have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you reviewed the offending PR: #98611

@thelullabyy

@thelullabyy you have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you authored the offending PR: #98611

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

👋 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:

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

@thelullabyy

🔍 Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #98611 - "Standardize Expense Report and Expense header with predictable button placement and carousel counter" by @thelullabyy (High confidence)
Related Issues: N/A

Recommendation: ROLL FORWARD

A newly added "one-transaction report" branch in the prev/next carousel handlers pre-empts the descriptor-based branch used by the Home "For You / Recently added" flow, so arrow navigation lands on the parent expense report instead of the expense details thread. Reverting is problematic (this is a 33-file PR that also ships the header standardization and carousel counter); a small, localized reorder is safer and simpler than a full revert.

Assigned: @thelullabyy (PR author), @ShridharGoel and @JS00001 (approving reviewers)
Labels: No changes. DeployBlockerCash retained (App-side fix required); no DeployBlocker present to remove.

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The bug reproduces on staging (v9.4.62-1) but not production, and PR Standardize Expense Report and Expense header with predictable button placement and carousel counter #98611 is item Find a way to do 'calc(100vh - 73px)' with flexbox because mobile can't use this #20 on the current StagingDeployCash checklist (2026-08-26) — merged 2026-08-26, so it is staging-only, matching the report.
The repro ("Create two reports with one expense each … Review 2 expenses … Next/Previous arrow") is exactly the Home "For You / Recently added" carousel flow, and PR Standardize Expense Report and Expense header with predictable button placement and carousel counter #98611 heavily rewrote the arrow-navigation handlers (MoneyRequestReportTransactionsNavigation.tsx: +233 / -148).
The PR added a brand-new early-return branch to both onNext and onPrevious that navigates to nextTransaction.reportID / prevTransaction.reportID (the parent expense report) when the sibling's parent is a one-transaction report.

Verification

Affected file: src/components/MoneyRequestReportView/MoneyRequestReportTransactionsNavigation.tsx.
PR Standardize Expense Report and Expense header with predictable button placement and carousel counter #98611's file list includes this file, and the offending branches are present in the deployed code:
- onNext: MoneyRequestReportTransactionsNavigation.tsx#L228-L233
- onPrevious: MoneyRequestReportTransactionsNavigation.tsx#L293-L298
The descriptor-based branch that the Home flow relies on comes after it: #L239-L252.
getReportIDToOpenForExpense (used by the descriptor branch) resolves to the transaction thread's childReportID — i.e. the expense details thread — confirming that branch is what keeps the user on the correct view.

Root Cause

The Home "For You / Recently added" carousel is seeded with a descriptor per sibling via setActiveTransactionIDs(siblingTransactionIDs, undefined, siblingDescriptorsByTransactionID) in src/pages/home/RecentlyAddedSection/index.tsx, and it opens each expense on its transaction thread (expense details thread).

In this repro each of the two reports contains a single expense, so every sibling's parent is a one-transaction report. PR #98611 inserted this branch at the very top of onNext/onPrevious:

if (isOneTransactionReport(nextTransactionParentReport) && nextTransaction?.reportID && nextTransaction.reportID !== CONST.REPORT.UNREPORTED_REPORT_ID) {
    const targetReportID = nextTransaction.reportID; // <- parent EXPENSE REPORT, not the thread
    markReportRHPWidth(targetReportID, 'wide');
    requestAnimationFrame(() => startTransition(() => Navigation.setParams({reportID: targetReportID, ...})));
    return;
}

Because this runs before the nextDescriptor branch, it short-circuits the descriptor-driven resolution. Instead of resolving the sibling's transaction thread via getReportIDToOpenForExpense (which returns the childReportID / expense details thread), it navigates straight to nextTransaction.reportID — the parent expense report. The RHP therefore switches from the expense details thread to the expense report view, exactly as reported.

Suggested targeted fix

Move the descriptor branch (nextDescriptor / prevDescriptor) above the one-transaction-report branch in both onNext and onPrevious. When a sibling descriptor exists (the Home/"For You" seeded-carousel case), it should take priority and resolve the transaction thread, preserving the expense details view. The one-transaction-report optimization then remains for the search/report flows that don't seed descriptors. This is a minimal reorder confined to the two handlers, avoiding a large multi-file revert.

✅ Deploy blocker confirmed & reproduced

Building on the investigation above, I reproduced the bug end-to-end on a fresh web build following the exact repro steps.

Cause: #98611 (High confidence) — a newly added "one-transaction report" branch at the top of the prev/next carousel handlers pre-empts the descriptor-based branch that the Home "For You / Recently added" flow relies on, so arrow navigation lands on the parent expense report instead of the expense details thread.

Recommendation: ROLL FORWARD with a targeted fix (a full revert is disproportionate for a 33-file PR). Move the descriptor branch (nextDescriptor / prevDescriptor) above the one-transaction-report branch in both onNext and onPrevious in MoneyRequestReportTransactionsNavigation.tsx so a seeded sibling descriptor takes priority and resolves the transaction thread, preserving the expense details view.

Reproduction result: FAIL (bug confirmed)

Setup: workspace chat → created two reports, each with one uncategorized expense → Home.

Step	Status	Observation
Home "For You" shows "Review 2 expenses" entry	✅ Pass	Entry shown; clicking it opens the expense details thread
Review entry opens expense details thread with arrows	✅ Pass	Header "€12.34 for Test Merchant One", breadcrumb "From Expense Report… in …Workspace", pagination "1 of 2", ‹ / › arrows
Click Next → shows a view for expense 2	✅ Pass	Navigates to expense 2 but renders the expense report view (header "Expense Report 2026-08-27", Draft badge, Submit/More), pagination "2 of 2"
Click Previous → stays on / returns to expense details thread	❌ Fail	Returns to expense 1 ("1 of 2") but incorrectly shows the expense report view instead of the original "€12.34 for Test Merchant One" details thread

📷 Screenshots

Home For You section showing Review 2 expenses

Expense details thread view for expense 1, 1 of 2

After clicking Next: expense report view shown for expense 2, 2 of 2

After clicking Previous: expense report view incorrectly shown for expense 1 instead of expense details thread, 1 of 2

view run

Not repro in Win 11/Chrome, v9.4.62-4

Recording.3439.mp4

@thelullabyy

@thelullabyy

The solution for this issue has been 🚀 deployed to production 🚀 in version 9.4.62-4 and is now subject to a 7-day regression period 📆. Here is the list of pull requests that resolve this issue:

[cp staging] Revert "Merge pull request #98611 from thelullabyy/fix-03/90366" #99675

If no regressions arise, payment will be issued on 2026-09-03. 🎊

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