Pre-compute report action visibility

[mountiny]

Coming from here

Background

When users open a chat or expense report, they see a list of messages, requests, and system notifications. Not all actions stored in the database should be displayed - some are deleted, some are private whispers meant for other users, some are deprecated action types, and some are pending removal. Before showing the list, the app must determine which actions are visible to the current user.

This visibility check (shouldReportActionBeVisible) is called across ~13 different call sites throughout the app. For reports with many actions (100+), each call site runs through every action individually, evaluating multiple conditions. This causes redundant computation on app startup and core flows.

The app already has a pattern for avoiding this kind of repeated work: pre-computing values when data changes rather than when screens render. This pattern is used successfully in other parts of the app for report attributes and transaction data.

Problem

The same visibility calculation runs multiple times across different call sites, causing sluggish app startup and slow core flows like creating expenses.

Solution

Create a new Onyx Derived Value VISIBLE_REPORT_ACTIONS that pre-computes visibility when data changes:

• Use shouldReportActionBeVisible in the derived value computation to pre-calculate visibility
• Replace direct calls with derived value lookups across ~13 call sites
• Use sourceValues for incremental updates - full recomputation only happens on OpenApp/ReconnectApp
  Static checks (action type, whisper targeting, deleted state) move to the derived value. Runtime checks (offline state, write permissions) remain in the component.

The optimization applies to ReportActionsView, MoneyRequestReportActionsList, LHN, and other call sites.

Performance

Tested on a heavy account:

• App startup: ~200ms saved
• Create expense: ~1.2s saved
• Initial compute adds ~31ms for ~2500 actions

With sourceValues, we only recompute what changed. The current Onyx callback computes everything on every update, so this is strictly better.

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @BartekObudzinski

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @trjExpensify (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.

[ChavdaSachin]

Hey @mountiny I could see a few more functions which are widely used and optimizing them should be an impactful improvement.
Is there a way if I as external contributor could propose and work on those changes?
Thank you.

[mountiny]

Not right now but maybe soon in future

[melvin-bot]

@BartekObudzinski Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!