fix: backfill report actions when the newest page has none visible by BartekObudzinski · Pull Request #97689 · Expensify/App

BartekObudzinski · 2026-08-03T13:39:25Z

Explanation of Change

The list renders the chain of report actions covered by the stored pagination page. If every action on that page is invisible, deleted expenses for example, the chain is empty and ReportActionsSkeletonGuard shows a skeleton instead of the list. That state cannot recover, because the list owns pagination and the list is what the skeleton replaced.

Reported for a self DM whose imported card expenses had all been deleted. The Onyx export shows one page covering 31 deleted expense actions, with 49 real messages cached but sitting outside it.

This adds useBackfillWhenNoVisibleActions, called from the skeleton guard. When the chain has no visible actions and older pages are still fetchable, it calls loadOlderChats and walks back until visible actions appear. MoneyRequestReportActionsList already does this for money request reports, which hit the same backend behaviour. Chats had no equivalent.

The loop is guarded. The cursor is the exact action ID loadOlderChats sends. Each cursor is requested once. A failed request re-arms that cursor once, so one transient failure does not strand the report. Offline and in flight requests block it.

If the walk reaches the start of history with nothing visible, the skeleton stays. That needs a defined terminal state and is tracked separately.

Fixed Issues

$ #97574
PROPOSAL:

Tests

The stored page has to cover only invisible actions. The backend produces that on its own but not on demand, so set it up directly.

Open your self DM on web and send five messages.
Staying in the report, run this in the console. Do not reload, OpenReport would overwrite the page.

(async () => {
    const id = window.location.pathname.match(/\/r\/(\d+)/)[1];
    const sorted = Object.values(await window.Onyx.get(`reportActions_${id}`)).sort((a, b) => {
        if (a.actionName === 'CREATED' && b.actionName !== 'CREATED') return 1;
        if (b.actionName === 'CREATED' && a.actionName !== 'CREATED') return -1;
        return a.created < b.created ? 1 : -1;
    });
    const hide = sorted.slice(0, 3).map((a) => a.reportActionID);
    const patch = {};
    for (const raid of hide) {
        patch[raid] = {message: [{type: 'COMMENT', html: '', text: '', deleted: '2026-08-04 07:00:00.000'}]};
    }
    await window.Onyx.merge(`reportActions_${id}`, patch);
    await window.Onyx.set(`reportActionsPages_${id}`, [['-1', ...hide]]);
})();

On main, verify the report shows a skeleton and stays on it.
On this branch, verify one GetOlderActions request goes out, the stored page grows past the three hidden actions, and the skeleton clears without a reload.

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Go offline and run the setup above.
Verify no GetOlderActions request is queued.
Go back online and verify it runs once and the messages render.

QA Steps

The broken state comes from the backend returning a page made up entirely of invisible actions. It cannot be triggered on demand, only simulated locally, so there are no staging steps for it. Regression check instead:

Open a few chats with history and verify they load their messages.
Open a self DM containing expenses and verify it loads.
Scroll up in a long chat and verify older messages still page in.

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-08-04.at.09.41.35.mov

…-actions-with-no-visible-page # Conflicts: # src/hooks/useReportActionsListModel.ts

melvin-bot · 2026-08-04T08:17:10Z

@gijoe0295 Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

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github-actions · 2026-08-04T14:25:56Z

🚧 mountiny has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

gijoe0295

Minor comment cleanups

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:15:20Z

        ? {
              hasOnceLoadedReportActions: loadingState.hasOnceLoadedReportActions,
              isLoadingInitialReportActions: loadingState.isLoadingInitialReportActions,
+              // Read by the backfill that recovers a chain with no visible actions to render.


Suggested change

// Read by the backfill that recovers a chain with no visible actions to render.

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:15:59Z


    useMarkOpenReportEndOnSkeleton(report, shouldShowInitialSkeleton);

+    // The list owns pagination, so it can't recover a chain that renders as empty — it isn't mounted yet.


Suggested change

// The list owns pagination, so it can't recover a chain that renders as empty — it isn't mounted yet.

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:21:18Z

+        // The exact cursor `loadOlderChats` sends. Exposed so callers that need to tell whether a request
+        // made progress compare against the ID that was actually requested, not against the rendered chain
+        // (which can end on a transaction thread action or a synthetic one that never reaches the server).


Suggested change

// The exact cursor `loadOlderChats` sends. Exposed so callers that need to tell whether a request

// made progress compare against the ID that was actually requested, not against the rendered chain

// (which can end on a transaction thread action or a synthetic one that never reaches the server).

Trimmed it to one line rather than dropping it. The cursor not matching the end of the rendered chain is what broke this hook while I was building it, so it is worth a note:

// The exact cursor `loadOlderChats` sends, which is not always the end of the rendered chain.

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:26:34Z

+     * Whether the initial OpenReport call is still in flight. Must come from the request queue
+     * (`useIsReportLoadPending`), not from the RAM-only loading flag: a flag that never cleared would
+     * block the backfill for as long as the report stays open.


Suggested change

* Whether the initial OpenReport call is still in flight. Must come from the request queue

* (`useIsReportLoadPending`), not from the RAM-only loading flag: a flag that never cleared would

* block the backfill for as long as the report stays open.

* Whether the initial OpenReport call is still in flight. Must come from the request queue (`useIsReportLoadPending`)

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:29:27Z

+    /** Whether the last GetOlderActions call failed */
+    hasLoadingOlderReportActionsError: boolean | undefined;
+
+    /** The cursor `loadOlderChats` sends, i.e. the oldest action of the current report */


Suggested change

/** The cursor `loadOlderChats` sends, i.e. the oldest action of the current report */

/** The oldest action of the current report, i.e. the cursor `loadOlderChats` sends */

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:33:41Z

+    const previousReportIDRef = useRef(reportID);
+
+    useEffect(() => {
+        // A different report gets its own cursor, otherwise the guard could carry over an ID this report never requested.


Suggested change

// A different report gets its own cursor, otherwise the guard could carry over an ID this report never requested.

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:35:33Z

+     * If the report has newer actions to load. Only the newest chain is backfilled: a chain anchored on a
+     * linked or unread action sits in the middle of the history, so walking backwards from it could page
+     * through everything older while the visible actions sit on the newer side.


Suggested change

* If the report has newer actions to load. Only the newest chain is backfilled: a chain anchored on a

* linked or unread action sits in the middle of the history, so walking backwards from it could page

* through everything older while the visible actions sit on the newer side.

* If the report has newer actions to load

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:41:58Z

+        // A failed request consumes the cursor without advancing it, so without this one transient failure
+        // would strand the report on the skeleton — the symptom this hook exists to fix. Each cursor gets a
+        // single retry, so a request that keeps failing can't spin.


Suggested change

// A failed request consumes the cursor without advancing it, so without this one transient failure

// would strand the report on the skeleton — the symptom this hook exists to fix. Each cursor gets a

// single retry, so a request that keeps failing can't spin.

// A failed request consumes the cursor without advancing it.

// Each cursor gets a single retry, so a request that keeps failing can't block.

Done, kept your wording but with "spin" instead of "block". The risk there is a repeating request loop rather than the backfill getting stuck.

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:42:51Z

+        // Safety guard against an infinite request loop: if the cursor hasn't advanced since the last
+        // call, the server has no more actions to give us for this chain.


Suggested change

// Safety guard against an infinite request loop: if the cursor hasn't advanced since the last

// call, the server has no more actions to give us for this chain.

// If the cursor hasn't advanced since the last call, the server has no more actions for this chain.

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:44:27Z

Reviewer Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-08-07.at.01.27.55.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-08-07.at.00.36.08.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-08-07.at.00.37.23.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-08-06.at.23.52.08.mov

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-04T18:51:14Z

The backend produces that on its own but not on demand

@BartekObudzinski I'm not crystal-clear on this point. Can't we create several expenses then delete them? The number of deleted expenses should be large enough to cover a page? I think we can try to come up with manual test steps for this.

BartekObudzinski · 2026-08-05T06:56:02Z

Verified the fix itself: with the stored page pointed at only invisible actions, main stays on the skeleton, and this branch fires one GetOlderActions, merges the pages and renders the messages. That is the local test in the Tests section.

The expense route does not reproduce though. I tried 60+ messages deleted, then a fresh sign in, and got no skeleton. The reporter was deleting tracked expenses rather than messages, and the backend picks the OpenReport window, so we cannot force it to land entirely on invisible actions.

BartekObudzinski · 2026-08-05T08:28:33Z

@gijoe0295 can be rerevied

BartekObudzinski · 2026-08-06T12:35:21Z

@gijoe0295 How is the review going?

gijoe0295 · 2026-08-06T16:38:59Z

Testing. Should be done soon

gijoe0295

LGTM

mountiny · 2026-08-06T19:51:48Z

GH actions are not working now

…-actions-with-no-visible-page

mountiny

I think the comment is not strictly correct there, can you please update it in a follow up? I dont want to hold this PR on the comment so we can fix real bug users can hit sooner than later

mountiny · 2026-08-07T18:36:08Z

+};
+
+/**
+ * Loads older chats in a report whose newest page contains no visible actions.


Suggested change

* Loads older chats in a report whose newest page contains no visible actions.

* Loads older report actions in a report whose newest page contains no visible actions.

mountiny · 2026-08-07T18:37:14Z

+/**
+ * Loads older chats in a report whose newest page contains no visible actions.
+ *
+ * The backend prioritizes IOU actions in OpenReport, so a report can come back with a page made up


I don think it prioritizes the IOU report actions, the actions are all sent in the order in which they had been created so in this case its latest 50 report actions are invisible, if you would send a comment that would be fixed I think

Suggested change

* The backend prioritizes IOU actions in OpenReport, so a report can come back with a page made up

* A report can come back with a page made up

OSBotify · 2026-08-07T18:52:32Z

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

github-actions · 2026-08-07T20:26:57Z

🚧 mountiny has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

github-actions · 2026-08-07T20:33:14Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #97689.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-3d08f45b576-7e8bfd0-a5a8bda8bb2b72f67f33fe548ed16d975f9cf223/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-3d08f45-7e8bfd0-3077419cfa767886df1d63bcc1ff29089b823598/index.html

Web 🕸️
https://97689.pr-testing.expensify.com

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

OSBotify · 2026-08-10T22:08:42Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/mountiny in version: 9.4.52-0 🚀

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

MelvinBot · 2026-08-10T22:11:33Z

🤖 I reviewed the changes in this PR against Expensify's help site content under App/docs/articles.

No help site changes are required. ✅

This PR is an internal bug fix — it adds useBackfillWhenNoVisibleActions so a report whose stored pagination page contains only invisible actions (e.g. all deleted expenses) walks back through older pages and recovers, instead of getting stuck on a ReportActionsSkeletonGuard skeleton that can never clear.

Why no docs update is needed

The changed files are all internal logic and tests — src/hooks/useBackfillWhenNoVisibleActions.ts, src/hooks/useLoadReportActions.ts, src/hooks/useReportActionsListModel.ts, src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsSkeletonGuard.tsx, src/selectors/ReportMetaData.ts, and their tests.
There are no new user-facing features, settings, tabs, buttons, UI labels, or copy changes.
The fix restores expected behavior (messages load instead of an infinite skeleton). Help articles document what users can do and how features work — none of that changes here, so there is no article to add or edit.

Since no documentation change is warranted, no draft help site PR was created — there is nothing to review on the docs side.

OSBotify · 2026-08-12T18:18:37Z

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/roryabraham in version: 9.4.52-11 🚀

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

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

Android

fix: backfill report actions when the newest page has none visible

bb76d6a

melvin-bot Bot assigned BartekObudzinski Aug 3, 2026

Merge remote-tracking branch 'upstream/main' into fix/backfill-report…

7b8482f

…-actions-with-no-visible-page # Conflicts: # src/hooks/useReportActionsListModel.ts

BartekObudzinski marked this pull request as ready for review August 4, 2026 08:17

BartekObudzinski requested review from a team as code owners August 4, 2026 08:17

melvin-bot Bot requested review from gijoe0295 and trjExpensify and removed request for a team August 4, 2026 08:17

melvin-bot Bot removed the request for review from a team August 4, 2026 08:17

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Aug 4, 2026

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Comment thread src/hooks/useBackfillWhenNoVisibleActions.ts Outdated

fix: only backfill the newest action chain

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BartekObudzinski mentioned this pull request Aug 5, 2026

[Due for payment 2026-08-19] Self DM chat doesn't load — persistent skeletons despite OpenReport returning #97574

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chore: trim comments per review

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gijoe0295 approved these changes Aug 6, 2026

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melvin-bot Bot requested a review from mountiny August 6, 2026 18:31

Merge remote-tracking branch 'upstream/main' into fix/backfill-report…

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…-actions-with-no-visible-page

mountiny closed this Aug 7, 2026

mountiny reopened this Aug 7, 2026

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mountiny merged commit 3d08f45 into Expensify:main Aug 7, 2026
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OSBotify mentioned this pull request Aug 10, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-08-10 #98179

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quinthar added the #quality label Aug 11, 2026


		useMarkOpenReportEndOnSkeleton(report, shouldShowInitialSkeleton);

		// The list owns pagination, so it can't recover a chain that renders as empty — it isn't mounted yet.

	// The exact cursor `loadOlderChats` sends. Exposed so callers that need to tell whether a request
	// made progress compare against the ID that was actually requested, not against the rendered chain
	// (which can end on a transaction thread action or a synthetic one that never reaches the server).

	/** The cursor `loadOlderChats` sends, i.e. the oldest action of the current report */
	/** The oldest action of the current report, i.e. the cursor `loadOlderChats` sends */

		// Safety guard against an infinite request loop: if the cursor hasn't advanced since the last
		// call, the server has no more actions to give us for this chain.

	// Safety guard against an infinite request loop: if the cursor hasn't advanced since the last
	// call, the server has no more actions to give us for this chain.
	// If the cursor hasn't advanced since the last call, the server has no more actions for this chain.

	* Loads older chats in a report whose newest page contains no visible actions.
	* Loads older report actions in a report whose newest page contains no visible actions.

	* The backend prioritizes IOU actions in OpenReport, so a report can come back with a page made up
	* A report can come back with a page made up

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Explanation of Change

Fixed Issues

Tests

Offline tests

QA Steps

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

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gijoe0295 commented Aug 4, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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BartekObudzinski commented Aug 3, 2026 •

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