Home - Expense created offline in Recently added disappears & reappears after returning online

[applause-bot]

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Version Number: 9.4.28-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #94180
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): josidjnosidjodsjo@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.5 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Go offline.
4. Create an expense.
5. Go to Home.
6. Go online.

Expected Result:

Expense created offline in Recently added section will not disappear after returning online.

Actual Result:

Expense created offline in Recently added section disappears and reappears after returning online.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

To be added by Applause Leads

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Svetlana Lazutkina
Bug ID: 7200956

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mhawryluk

[applause-bot]

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #94180

[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.

[MelvinBot]

Issue Analysis

Root Cause: Regression from #94180 (fixing #94162). The "Recently added" slot merges two sources: the online Search snapshot and local pending expenses. Local expenses are only merged while pendingAction === ADD (useRecentlyAddedData.ts:118-124). When you go back online, the offline create syncs and Onyx clears its pendingAction, so the row is immediately dropped from the local merge — but the Search snapshot is refreshed by a separate async API call (fireSearch, :141-146) that hasn't returned yet. During that gap the expense belongs to neither source → it disappears, then reappears once the snapshot search completes and includes it.

Recommended Fix: Keep a locally-created expense in the merge until the snapshot actually contains it, instead of dropping it the instant pendingAction clears. In the merge at :190-191, broaden the set of local transactions merged-in to also retain recently-added local expenses (those with a local inserted timestamp, owned by the current user) that are absent from the snapshot — not just ADD-pending ones. Dedup by transactionID already removes the local copy once the snapshot refresh brings the row in, so this closes the gap without duplicating.

Because this is a deploy blocker, reverting #94180 is the fast, safe fallback — it returns to the prior (pre-regression) behavior where the offline expense simply doesn't show until the snapshot refreshes online.

Investigation details

Reproduction timeline (online transition):

1. Offline create → transaction written to transactions_ with pendingAction === ADD → included via localPendingTransactions → row visible (greyed-out). ✅
2. Go online → two things race:
   • The queued IOU write syncs; on success Onyx successData clears pendingAction on the local copy.
   • fireSearch fires to refresh the Search snapshot (async API round-trip).
3. Gap: the create finishes syncing before the snapshot search returns. pendingAction is no longer ADD, so localPendingTransactions drops the row, but snapshotData doesn't contain it yet → combined is empty for that expense → row disappears.
4. Snapshot search returns with the transaction → filtered now contains it → row reappears.

Why not another cause: The row is verifiably present offline (step 1 works), and only vanishes on the online transition, which rules out the optimistic-write/merge itself and points squarely at the source hand-off timing.

Related issues:

• [Due for payment 2026-07-14] [Home Page] "Recently added" slot doesn't update after creating an expense while offline #94162 — original issue PR [Home Page] "Recently added" slot doesn't update after creating an expense while offline #94180 fixed (offline expense not appearing in the slot). This regression is the follow-on flicker.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team:
To accept: @MelvinBot implement [this](https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/95414) to create a draft PR.
To refine: @MelvinBot <your feedback>
To reject: Explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.