Merchant page does not open after entering amount when creating expense from empty report

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.7-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #76595
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): jsiodjosjdnisojso@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. Create an empty report.
4. Open the empty report.
5. Click Add expense > Create expense > Manual.
6. Enter amount > Next.

Expected Result:

Merchant page should open.

Actual Result:

Confirm page opens.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7055990_1769122066589.5.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #76595

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @trjExpensify (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.

[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: #76595 - "Update create transaction Manual flow to ask for merchant after asking for amount" by @nkdengineer (High confidence)
Related Issues: #76050 (original feature request that PR #76595 implemented)

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #76595 introduced a timing issue that causes the merchant step to be skipped when creating expenses from empty workspace chats. The fix is non-trivial and requires careful handling of asynchronous Onyx updates. Reverting is the safest approach to unblock the deploy while a proper fix is developed.

Labels: Removing DeployBlocker label (keeping DeployBlockerCash as this is a frontend bug requiring an App PR revert)

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• The issue describes creating an expense from an empty workspace chat report
• After entering the amount and clicking Next, the merchant page should open but instead the confirm page opens
• Melvin-bot correctly identified PR Update create transaction Manual flow to ask for merchant after asking for amount #76595 as the causing PR
• PR Update create transaction Manual flow to ask for merchant after asking for amount #76595 was merged on 2026-01-22 and this deploy blocker was reported the same day
• The issue is reproducible on staging (version 9.3.7-0) where PR Update create transaction Manual flow to ask for merchant after asking for amount #76595 is deployed

Verification

Affected files in PR #76595:

• src/libs/IOUUtils.ts - Added shouldRequireMerchant() function
• src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepAmount.tsx - Added merchant step navigation logic
• src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepMerchant.tsx - Updated navigation flow
• src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepParticipants.tsx - Added merchant requirement check

The bug occurs specifically in src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepAmount.tsx at lines 285-292.

Root Cause

The PR introduced a race condition/timing issue in the expense creation flow:

In IOURequestStepAmount.tsx (lines 285-292):

setMoneyRequestParticipantsFromReport(transactionID, report, currentUserPersonalDetails.accountID).then(() => {
    // If merchant is required and missing, navigate to merchant step first
    if (shouldRequireMerchant(transaction, report, isEditingSplitBill)) {
        Navigation.navigate(ROUTES.MONEY_REQUEST_STEP_MERCHANT.getRoute(action, CONST.IOU.TYPE.SUBMIT, transactionID, reportID, undefined, reportActionID));
        return;
    }
    navigateToConfirmationPage(iouType, transactionID, reportID, backToReport);
});

The problem:

1. setMoneyRequestParticipantsFromReport() updates the transaction draft in Onyx by adding participants
2. The function returns a promise that resolves after calling Onyx.merge()
3. In the .then() callback, shouldRequireMerchant(transaction, report, isEditingSplitBill) is called
4. However, the transaction parameter is a stale object from props/HOC that hasn't been updated with the newly set participants
5. shouldRequireMerchant() checks transaction?.participants?.some((participant) => !!participant.isPolicyExpenseChat) which returns false because participants aren't in the stale transaction object
6. The function returns false, causing navigation directly to confirmation page instead of merchant page

Why it affects empty workspace chats specifically:
When creating from an empty workspace chat, the transaction doesn't have participants set initially. The participants need to be derived from the report and set on the transaction. But the check for whether merchant is required happens before the transaction object has been updated with the new participants.