Expense - Unable to start chat with a member invited from expense report

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.60-0
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: #82065
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): htad26+eewuu@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Windows 10 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Create an expense in a workspace chat
3. Open the report.
4. Click on the report header > Members.
5. Click Invite members > Invite any member
6. Open the member details page and click on message
7. Send a message

Expected Result:

A chat opens with the user and the is able to send messages to the user

Actual Result:

An error appears when creating the chat and "You don't have access to this chat room" error appears when sending a message

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Video.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #82065

[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: #82065 - feat: show Invite button on Members page for money request reports by @M00rish (High confidence). Recommendation: REVERT. PR 82065 added an Invite button on ReportParticipantsPage for money request reports but the downstream InviteReportParticipantsPage calls inviteToGroupChat unconditionally, which for money request reports issues an INVITE_TO_ROOM API command not designed for such reports, producing the You do not have access to this chat room errors. Assigned: @M00rish (PR author), @abzokhattab (approving reviewer), @lakchote (approving reviewer). Labels: DeployBlockerCash kept (App PR caused the issue).

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

PR #82065 added an "Invite" button to money request report Members pages by setting shouldShowInviteButton = isGroupChat || isMoneyRequestReport(report) in ReportParticipantsPage.tsx:89.

When a user invites someone, InviteReportParticipantsPage.tsx:135 calls inviteToGroupChat(), which delegates to inviteToRoom(). Inside inviteToRoom, since isGroupChat is false for IOU reports, it sends the InviteToRoom API command to the backend — but IOU/expense reports are not rooms. The backend rejects or mishandles this command, causing an error state.

After the failed invite, clicking the optimistically-added member navigates to the Profile page (since isGroupChat is false, ReportParticipantsPage.tsx:209-215 routes to Profile instead of ReportParticipantDetails). The "Message" button then tries to create a 1:1 DM, but the corrupted state from the failed InviteToRoom call causes the "You don't have access to this chat room" error.

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

The inviteToRoom function at Report/index.ts:4636 needs to handle money request reports. There are two approaches depending on intent:

Option A (likely correct): If money request reports should support inviting members, add a new code path in inviteToRoom that uses the appropriate API command for IOU reports (or a new dedicated command), rather than falling through to InviteToRoom which is designed for chat rooms.

Option B (simpler revert): If the invite feature for money request reports isn't ready for the backend, revert the shouldShowInviteButton change in ReportParticipantsPage.tsx:89 back to just isGroupChat until proper backend support is added.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An alternative would be to add a guard in inviteToRoom that explicitly blocks the InviteToRoom API call for money request reports and shows a user-facing error, but this would just be a band-aid over the real issue of missing backend support.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.