Fix merge expense transaction thread navigation

[marufsharifi]

Explanation of Change

Merge expense now follows the same destination behavior across individual and bulk merge flows.

Before this update, merging expenses from search/spend could open the wrong place or leave the RHP loading, especially when the target workspace expense did not already have a transaction thread and the destination was an unreported/self-DM expense.

Now, the app creates the missing optimistic transaction thread when needed, carries that thread through confirmation, and attaches offline optimistic merge data to the correct destination report. This makes post-merge navigation consistent and predictable for workspace, self-DM, split, and offline merge cases.

Fixed Issues

$ #83257
PROPOSAL:

Tests

Flow 1: Workspace expense with self-DM expense

1. Create an expense in self DM.
2. Create an expense in workspace chat.
3. Go to Spend > Expenses.
4. Select the workspace expense via the checkbox.
5. Click the dropdown button > Merge.
6. Select self DM expense > Continue.
7. Select the second option in each section > Next > Merge expenses.
8. Verify the transaction thread opens after merging expenses via the bulk option.
9. Verify the app does not open the self-DM “Your space” page.

Flow 2: Workspace manual expense with split expense

1. Go to a workspace chat.
2. Create an expense split.
3. Create a manual expense.
4. Navigate to Spend > Expenses.
5. Select the manual expense created in Step 3 using the checkbox, then click Merge.
6. In the merge flow, choose the Split Expense option and complete the merge.
7. Verify that the transaction thread opens automatically after the expenses are merged using the bulk merge option.

Flow 3: Offline workspace expense with self-DM expense

1. Create an expense in self DM.
2. Create an expense in workspace chat.
3. Go to Spend > Expenses.
4. Turn off internet connection.
5. Select the workspace expense via the checkbox.
6. Click the dropdown button > Merge.
7. Select self DM expense > Continue.
8. Select the second option in each section > Next > Merge expenses.
9. Verify the transaction thread opens after merging expenses via the bulk option.
10. Verify the RHP does not load infinitely.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

QA Steps

// TODO: These must be filled out, or the issue title must include "[No QA]."

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
  • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
  • I added steps for the expected offline behavior in the Offline steps section
  • I added steps for Staging and/or Production testing in the QA steps section
  • I added steps to cover failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
  • I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
  • I tested this PR with a High Traffic account against the staging or production API to ensure there are no regressions (e.g. long loading states that impact usability).
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
• I ran the tests on all platforms & verified they passed on:
  • Android: Native
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: Native
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• I verified there are no console errors (if there's a console error not related to the PR, report it or open an issue for it to be fixed)
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• If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
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• I added unit tests for any new feature or bug fix in this PR to help automatically prevent regressions in this user flow.
• If the main branch was merged into this PR after a review, I tested again and verified the outcome was still expected according to the Test steps.

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Flow:1

flow01.mov

Flow:2

flow02.mov

Flow:3

flow03.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

Flow:1

flow1.mp4

Flow:2

flow2.mp4

Flow:3

flow3.mp4

iOS: Native

Flow:1

flow001.mov

Flow:2

flow002.mov

Flow:3

flow003.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

Flow:1

flow0001.mov

Flow:2

flow0002.mov

Flow:3

Screen.Recording.2026-07-21.at.8.17.39.PM.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Flow:1

flow1.mov

Flow:2

flow2.mov

Flow:3

flow3.mov

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ Changes either increased or maintained existing code coverage, great job!

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/hooks/useSearchBulkActions.ts	59.73% <ø> (ø)
src/libs/actions/MergeTransaction.ts	68.26% <100.00%> (+2.10%)	⬆️
src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts	71.64% <100.00%> (+0.02%)	⬆️
...pages/TransactionMerge/DynamicConfirmationPage.tsx	0.00% <0.00%> (ø)
... and 8 files with indirect coverage changes

[melvin-bot]

@rojiphil 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]

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, could you please take a look at this. thanks.

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, Gentle bump. thanks.

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, Friendly bump. thanks.

[rojiphil]

@marufsharifi Picking this up today

[rojiphil]

Thanks @marufsharifi for the update. The core approach used here looks like a good improvement over the original PR. The offline issue also seems to have been fixed. Will take a closer look at the code sometime today.

96633-web-chrome-001.mp4

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, Quick bump. thanks.

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, quick bump. thanks.

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, Friendly bump. thanks.

[marufsharifi]

bumped in slack.

[rojiphil]

@codex review

[rojiphil]

@MelvinBot review

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

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[MelvinBot]

Review — looks solid ✅

Approach is sound and matches the reported bug (#83257). The fix has three coordinated parts, all of which check out:

1. Bulk flow now passes policies into target/source selection — useSearchBulkActions.ts:2074 forwards transactionPolicies to setupMergeTransactionDataAndNavigate, so selectTargetAndSourceTransactionsForMerge picks the same target the individual flow does. This is the root cause of "self-DM opens instead of the thread."
2. Missing thread is seeded on confirm — DynamicConfirmationPage.tsx:100-119 creates the optimistic transaction thread when the target never had one, and navigation lands on it.
3. Optimistic merge data attaches to the real self-DM (not report "0") via optimisticDestinationReportID, and hasOptimisticReportActions clears the initial-loading state so the RHP doesn't spin forever (Report/index.ts:1590-1591).

Verification

• All CI checks pass (test ×8, typecheck, ESLint, Oxfmt, React Compiler, Storybook). Coverage on the two touched action files went up.
• Manually re-ran the bulk-merge flow on web (Flow 1): the merged transaction thread opened correctly and the self-DM "Your space" page did not open; RHP loaded fully with no infinite spinner.

A couple of non-blocking things worth a look:

Observations / questions

• hasOptimisticReportActions=false path is safe — the new Report/index.ts:1590 writes hasOnceLoadedReportActions: undefined for existing callers, which Onyx MERGE drops, so no behavior change for the many other openReport callers. Just calling out that this relies on Onyx dropping undefined on merge — fine, but a bit implicit.

• Extra OpenReport command on confirm. When the target has no thread, createTransactionThreadReport runs inside the click handler and fires its own OpenReport (via openReport) in addition to MergeTransaction. Worth confirming this double-command is intended and that the backend reconciles the separately-seeded thread with the merged expense in all cases (the client-generated thread reportID is sent via OpenReport, but is not in the MergeTransaction params — MergeTransaction.ts:432-459). Online it worked cleanly in my test; the offline hand-off is the interesting case.

• Two self-DM resolution paths. The page computes the destination with findSelfDMReportID() (DynamicConfirmationPage.tsx:92) while mergeTransactionRequest uses the useSelfDMReport() value (selfDMReport?.reportID). They should agree in practice, but if the self-DM report is missing/filtered the action falls back to report "0" while createTransactionThreadReport builds an optimistic self-DM instead — a minor inconsistency in the (rare) missing-self-DM edge. Probably not worth handling, just flagging.

Nice test coverage on the new branches (unreported→self-DM attach, and the "IOU action has no childReportID" path). No blocking concerns from me on the code.

---

This is an automated review. Reply with @MelvinBot <feedback> to refine.

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, addressed feedback, all yours. Thanks!

[rojiphil]

@marufsharifi A duplicate expense is created in self DM when merged with an unreported expense. Please have a look. Thanks

96633-issue-004.mp4

[marufsharifi]

@marufsharifi A duplicate expense is created in self DM when merged with an unreported expense. Please have a look. Thanks

96633-issue-004.mp4

@rojiphil addressed this case too. could you check once again, thanks

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, Gentle bump. thanks.

[marufsharifi]

@rojiphil, Friendly bump. thanks.