Expense - Report auto opens when expense is created from report preview

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.17-0
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/test-runs/TR-4998/folder/13176674/41236543/1183036606
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdionjsdionjodidjsodj@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Regression TC Execution
Device used: Mac 26.2 / 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. On the report preview, click Add expense > Create expense.
5. Create a manual expense.

Expected Result:

App will stay on workspace chat when expense is created from report preview.

Actual Result:

Report auto opens after creating expense from report preview.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @RachCHopkins (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 @rlinoz (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: #80480 - "Update create transaction Manual flow to ask for merchant after asking for amount v2" by @nkdengineer (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: REVERT

This PR #80480 introduced extensive changes to the create expense flow, including significant navigation logic modifications. The specific issue is in the dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab function which auto-navigates to the expense report after creating an expense from a report preview.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (App deploy is blocked). PR #80480 is in the App repository and requires reversion or fix.

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

1. The bug is only reproducible on staging (v9.3.17-0), not production, confirming it was introduced by a PR in the current staging deploy
2. PR Update create transaction Manual flow to ask for merchant after asking for amount v2 #80480 was merged on 2026-02-10 and is in the StagingDeployCash checklist
3. The PR made extensive changes to the money request creation flow, particularly navigation after expense creation
4. The bug report specifically mentions: "Report auto opens after creating expense from report preview" - which matches navigation changes in this PR

Verification

Affected file: /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/libs/actions/IOU/index.ts

Lines 1072-1086 in the dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab function show the problematic logic:

// When a report with one expense is opened in the wide RHP and the user adds another expense, RHP should be dismissed and ROUTES.SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT should be displayed.
if (hasMultipleTransactions && reportID) {
    // On small screens, dismiss all modals and then navigate to the right report.
    // On large screens, dismiss to the previous RHP first, then replace the current route with the new report.
    const isNarrowLayout = getIsNarrowLayout();
    if (isNarrowLayout) {
        Navigation.dismissModal();
    } else {
        Navigation.dismissToPreviousRHP();
    }

    Navigation.setNavigationActionToMicrotaskQueue(() => {
        Navigation.navigate(ROUTES.SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT.getRoute({reportID}), {forceReplace: !isNarrowLayout});
    });
    return;
}

This code automatically navigates to the expense report when adding an expense from a report preview, which causes the unwanted auto-opening behavior described in the issue.

Root Cause

When creating an expense from a report preview in a workspace chat:

1. User clicks "Add expense" > "Create expense" from report preview
2. User creates a manual expense
3. The handleNavigateAfterExpenseCreate function is called
4. Since isFromGlobalCreate is false (expense created from workspace chat), it calls dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab
5. The function detects the report now has multiple transactions and automatically navigates to SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT
6. This opens the report, instead of staying on the workspace chat

Expected behavior: App should stay on workspace chat when expense is created from report preview
Actual behavior: Report auto-opens after creating expense from report preview

PR #80480 introduced merchant step navigation changes but appears to have inadvertently changed the navigation behavior for this flow as well.