[$250] Reports - RHP briefly opens then closes when accessing the expense details

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: v9.3.11-1
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: #80638
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): agexptest+pr280126b@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Windows 11/ Chrome, Samsung S23FE/ Android 16, iPhone 13 Mini/ iOS 26.1
App Component: Search

Action Performed:

Preconditions: Have a workspace with Tags enabled.
Create a few expenses without a tag.
Clear cache and restart before running the steps.

Steps

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to Reports > Expenses, click Filters, and choose Group by > Tag
3. Click on Save > View results
4. Click on the No tag group
5. Click on any expense row

Expected Result:

The RHP opens, and the expense details are successfully loaded. The RHP remains open.

Actual Result:

The RHP briefly opens, then closes.
When clicking the same expense row a second time, the RHP remains open, and the expense details are successfully loaded.
Note: Expenses with a tag experience the same issue, but only the first time after clearing the cache, or after accessing an expense without a tag and with the loading issue.

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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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @thesahindia

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #80638

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @bfitzexpensify (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: #80638 - "Add group-by:tag" by @neil-marcellini (High confidence)
Related Issues: Similar behavior affects category grouping from #80333

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #80638 introduced the group-by:tag feature which exhibits a navigation regression where the RHP briefly opens then closes when clicking on expense rows within tag groups. This appears to be related to how grouped transactions are loaded/cached, affecting both tag and category grouping. Reverting this PR will remove the problematic feature until the navigation issue can be properly addressed.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (App deploy blocked). Removing DeployBlocker if present (not a backend issue - fix requires changes to App repository).

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The bug occurs when:

1. User groups expenses by tag (Reports > Expenses > Filters > Group by > Tag > View results)
2. User clicks on a tag group (e.g., "No tag" group) to expand it
3. User clicks on an individual expense row within that group
4. The RHP briefly opens then immediately closes
5. Clicking the same expense a second time works correctly

This behavior is only in PR #80638 which adds the group-by:tag feature. The issue description explicitly states: "Note: Expenses with a tag experience the same issue, but only the first time after clearing the cache, or after accessing an expense without a tag and with the loading issue."

This suggests the bug also affects the recently-added category grouping feature from PR #80333 (merged 2026-01-26), indicating a systemic issue with how grouped transactions handle navigation on first load.

Verification

Affected files:

• src/components/Search/index.tsx (navigation logic for grouped items)
• src/components/SelectionListWithSections/Search/TagListItemHeader.tsx (new tag group header component)
• src/libs/SearchUIUtils.ts (grouping utilities)

PR #80638 modified these files: Confirmed via gh pr view 80638 --json files

Timeline alignment:

• PR feat: [Insights] [Release 1] Top Categories - Add group-by:category #80333 (category grouping) merged: 2026-01-26
• PR Add group-by:tag #80638 (tag grouping) merged: 2026-01-27
• Issue [$250] Reports - RHP briefly opens then closes when accessing the expense details #80854 reported: 2026-01-29
• Bug is in version 9.3.11-1, reproducible in staging (where both PRs are deployed)
• Bug is NOT in production (feature does not exist in prod - noted as "N/A - new feature")
• Bug requires cache clear to reproduce consistently, suggesting a data loading/caching issue

Root Cause

The RHP briefly opening then closing suggests a navigation state conflict that occurs when:

1. Transaction data for grouped items is not fully loaded or cached after expanding a group
2. Clicking on an expense row attempts to navigate before the transaction data is stable
3. Some navigation state change or re-render causes the RHP to dismiss
4. Second click works because the data is now cached

This pattern is consistent with a race condition or timing issue in how grouped transaction data is loaded and how navigation state is managed for items within expanded groups. The fact that it only happens the "first time after clearing the cache" strongly supports this theory.

The issue affects both tag grouping (PR #80638) and category grouping (PR #80333), suggesting the root cause is in the shared grouping infrastructure added in these PRs rather than tag-specific code.