[$250] Chat - LHN rearranges and last message changes after clearing cache

[nlemma]

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Version Number: V9.2.47-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: N/a
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Slottwo1@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Redminote 10s android 13 phone
App Component: Left Hand Navigation (LHN)

Action Performed:

1. Go to https://staging.new.expensify.com/home
2. Go to workspace chat
3. Create a expense without category
4. Tap header and pin the report
5. Go to LHN and note Concierge message is the last action shown in LHN
6. Go to troubleshoot - clear cache and data
7. Go to LHN
8. Note the chat rearranges, and now “X owes amount” appears as the last action
9. Open the chat
10. Go to LHN
11. Note concierge message is the last action in LHN

Expected Result:

The last action in LHN should remain consistent and not change after clearing cache or reopening the chat. The chat order in LHN should also remain unchanged.

Actual Result:

After clearing cache and data, the chat order in LHN rearranges and the last action changes from “Concierge message” to “X owes amount.” When the chat is opened and closed again, the last action reverts back to the Concierge message.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6999142_1762780912333.Screenrecorder-2025-11-10-18-50-27-271.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021990988637128192431
• Upwork Job ID: 1990988637128192431
• Last Price Increase: 2026-02-11

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @johncschuster (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.

[abbasifaizan70]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

After clearing cache and data, the chat order in LHN (Left Hand Navigation) rearranges and the last action changes from "Concierge message" to "X owes amount." When the chat is opened and closed again, the last action reverts back to the Concierge message. The last action in LHN should remain consistent and not change after clearing cache or reopening the chat.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The issue occurs in categorizeReportsForLHN function. When sorting reports for LHN, the code only uses report.lastVisibleActionCreated from the main report object without considering transaction thread reports.

App/src/libs/SidebarUtils.ts

Lines 378 to 414 in 3764d55

	function categorizeReportsForLHN(
	reportsToDisplay: ReportsToDisplayInLHN,
	reportsDrafts: OnyxCollection<string> | undefined,
	conciergeReportID: string | undefined,
	reportNameValuePairs?: OnyxCollection<ReportNameValuePairs>,
	) {
	const pinnedAndGBRReports: MiniReport[] = [];
	const errorReports: MiniReport[] = [];
	const draftReports: MiniReport[] = [];
	const nonArchivedReports: MiniReport[] = [];
	const archivedReports: MiniReport[] = [];
	// Pre-calculate report names and other properties to avoid repeated calculations
	const reportValues = Object.values(reportsToDisplay);
	const precomputedReports: Array<{
	miniReport: MiniReport;
	isPinned: boolean;
	hasErrors: boolean;
	hasDraft: boolean;
	isArchived: boolean;
	requiresAttention: boolean;
	}> = [];
	// Single pass to precompute all required data
	for (const report of reportValues) {
	if (!report) {
	continue;
	}
	const reportID = report.reportID;
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	const displayName = getReportName(report, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, conciergeReportID);
	const miniReport: MiniReport = {
	reportID,
	displayName,
	lastVisibleActionCreated: report.lastVisibleActionCreated,
	};

For expense reports with transactions, the actual last visible action (like a Concierge message about missing category) exists in the transaction thread report, not the main expense report. The main expense report's lastVisibleActionCreated points to the IOU action ("X owes amount").

When cache is cleared and data is reloaded, the sorting uses report.lastVisibleActionCreated directly from the expense report, showing "X owes amount" instead of the Concierge message.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

Modify categorizeReportsForLHN to consider transaction thread reports when determining lastVisibleActionCreated for sorting:

1. Add a new buildTransactionThreadMap helper function that iterates through all reports and builds a map of parent expense/IOU/invoice report IDs to the most recent lastVisibleActionCreated from their child transaction thread reports.

2. Update categorizeReportsForLHN to accept an optional allReports parameter, use the transaction thread map, and compare the main report's lastVisibleActionCreated with its transaction threads to use the more recent one for sorting.

3. Update sortReportsToDisplayInLHN to accept and pass allReports to categorizeReportsForLHN.

4. Update useSidebarOrderedReports.tsx to pass chatReports to sortReportsToDisplayInLHN and add it to the dependency array.

Draft PR

#83110

Demo

Screen.Recording.2026-02-21.at.3.11.24.AM.mov

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021990988637128192431

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @abdulrahuman5196 (External)

[abdulrahuman5196]

On @abbasifaizan70 's proposal here #74706 (comment)
Its more like a hypothesis than a RCA. IMO not a valid proposal at this point.