[Metrics] Optimize submit-to-Search navigation performance

[JakubKorytko]

Explanation of Change

Improve the submit-to-search handoff by revealing the target Search route before dismissing the confirmation modal and deferring expensive Search list work until after the first paint. The update also avoids rebuilding selection/highlight data for every list render in Search and SearchList.

These changes improve the performance of submit action from ~1130,2ms to ~547,8ms (-51.5%) and make it a lot smoother experience on web.

On native the navigation one does not apply but it is still (simulator so it's slower anyway) 3 259 ms -> 1996 ms (-38.7%) from rendering improvements.

Main branch - current state

main.mov

This branch

this_PR.mov

Fixed Issues

$ #83634
PROPOSAL: N/A

Tests

1. Open the app on a wide layout, navigate to any tab except Inbox, start creating a manual/track/invoice expense, complete the confirmation step, and submit it. Verify that the loading spinner appears before navigation starts and the modal closes directly onto Expense Search without showing the previous screen in between.
2. On a wide layout, submit a new expense and wait for Search to load. Verify that Expense Search opens with the expected canned expense query and the newly created expense is highlighted in the results.
3. Open Expense Search with enough results to show grouped or long lists, change filters or grouping, and select rows in multi-select mode. Verify that the list renders correctly, the selected rows stay selected, and there are no JS console errors while interacting with the list.

Offline tests

N/A

QA Steps

Same as tests

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
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  • Android: Native
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: Native
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

[JakubKorytko]

@codex review

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

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[melvin-bot]

@QichenZhu 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]

[codecov]

Codecov Report

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

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/CONST/index.ts	93.60% <100.00%> (+0.05%)	⬆️
.../components/Search/DeferredSearch/index.native.tsx	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
...earch/SearchInputSelectionWrapper/index.native.tsx	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/pages/Search/SearchPageNarrow.tsx	83.78% <ø> (+83.78%)	⬆️
...es/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepConfirmation.tsx	57.45% <100.00%> (+0.15%)	⬆️
...igator/createRootStackNavigator/RootStackRouter.ts	73.77% <75.00%> (+0.08%)	⬆️
src/libs/actions/IOU/index.ts	72.84% <0.00%> (+0.04%)	⬆️
src/components/Search/DeferredSearch/index.tsx	0.00% <0.00%> (ø)
...r/customHistory/addCustomHistoryRouterExtension.ts	65.30% <33.33%> (+0.08%)	⬆️
src/components/Search/SearchList/index.tsx	43.47% <37.50%> (+43.47%)	⬆️
... and 3 more
... and 207 files with indirect coverage changes

[staszekscp]

This looks great! 🎉 Could you only check the impact of the change for the mobile devices?

[staszekscp]

Just one thing came into my mind - does it mean that we rerender the whole list when the selection of just one item changes 🤔

[JakubKorytko]

Not exactly. Updating selectedTransactions does invalidate the list’s item render path, but because FlashList is virtualized this does not mean the whole dataset is fully re-rendered at once. In practice, it mainly re-renders the visible/recycled cells. So the effect is broader than "just one row", but narrower than "the entire list".

[JakubKorytko]

On native the navigation one does not apply but it is still (simulator so it's slower anyway) 3 259 ms -> 2 408 ms (-26%) from rendering improvements.

iOS - main

main_ios.mov

iOS - this branch

this_branch_ios.mov

Android - main

main_android.mov

Android - this branch

this_branch_android.mov

NOTE: On the native videos, you can see that scrolling to and highlighting the newly added expense is not fully consistent. This is not unique to this branch - the same issue can also happen on main (android main video for example) - but this branch makes the timing window a bit easier to hit.

This happens because the search highlight flow is currently timer-based. After submit outside Inbox, we mark the new transaction for highlight on the Search route, but that highlight state is cleared after a fixed timeout. The actual scroll/highlight happens later, once the Search list has mounted, grouped/sorted data is ready, and the list layout callback runs. If Search rendering is delayed by navigation timing, loading skeletons, or heavy list work, the highlight state can expire before the row is actually reachable, so the expense is neither scrolled into view nor highlighted.

Since this PR is a performance-focused change, I think fixing that race is out of scope here. The right fix is to make the highlight lifecycle readiness-based instead of timeout-based: keep the manual highlight state until the target transaction is actually present in the rendered Search data and the list can scroll to it, then clear the flag only after the scroll/highlight has started. @mountiny may you please create an issue for that?

[mountiny]

@JakubKorytko Sounds good, could you actually create the issue for it yourself with no labels as you already have the context and reproduction?

[github-actions]

🚧 @mountiny has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

[ShridharGoel]

The navigation seems to have become a little buggy:

Screen.Recording.2026-03-12.at.6.58.45.PM.mov

[JakubKorytko]

Quick summary of the nav fix (recent commit):

The browser back/forward was broken after expense submit because replaceLastFullScreenRoute used a standard REPLACE action which destroyed the Home route when swapping it for Search under the RHP. When the RHP dismissed in the next frame, useLinking couldn't rebuild correct browser history and left stale RHP entries in the forward stack.

The fix introduces a new REPLACE_FULLSCREEN_UNDER_RHP action that inserts the target fullscreen route alongside the original instead of replacing it: [Home, RHP] -> [Home, Search, RHP]. The custom history extension preserves state.history during this step so no browser history update fires. Then when dismissModal pops the RHP, useLinking correctly detects the stale entry and produces [Home, Search] - matching main's behavior exactly.

Visual behavior is identical (Search still appears behind the closing RHP), no perf impact (same synchronous router operation), and all the existing optimizations are untouched. Also consolidated the two helpers into a single revealRouteBeforeDismissingModal and the new action is generic enough to reuse for any future "swap screen behind a modal" flow.

fix.mp4

[adhorodyski]

Are you seeing the same numbers (performance wise) after the fix?

[ShridharGoel]

Reviewer Checklist

• I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
• I verified the correct issue is linked in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I verified testing steps are clear and they cover the changes made in this PR
  • I verified the steps for local testing are in the Tests section
  • I verified the steps for Staging and/or Production testing are in the QA steps section
  • I verified the steps cover any possible 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 checked that screenshots or videos are included for tests on all platforms
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
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  • Android: HybridApp
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: HybridApp
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• If there are any errors in the console that are unrelated to this PR, I either fixed them (preferred) or linked to where I reported them in Slack
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  • I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick).
  • I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
  • I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
  • I verified any copy / text shown in the product is localized by adding it to src/languages/* files and using the translation method
  • I verified all numbers, amounts, dates and phone numbers shown in the product are using the localization methods
  • I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
  • I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
  • I verified the JSDocs style guidelines (in STYLE.md) were followed
• If a new code pattern is added I verified it was agreed to be used by multiple Expensify engineers
• I verified that this PR follows the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
• I verified other components that can be impacted by these changes have been tested, and I retested again (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar have been tested & I retested again)
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• If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
  • I verified that all the inputs inside a form are aligned with each other.
  • I added Design label and/or tagged @Expensify/design so the design team can review the changes.
• If a new page is added, I verified it's using the ScrollView component to make it scrollable when more elements are added to the page.
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-03-13.at.1.38.29.AM.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-03-13.at.1.20.37.AM.mov

[ShridharGoel]

Bug: Deferring Search work makes to-do searches show the empty state before showing the items

Screen.Recording.2026-03-13.at.1.41.18.AM.mov

[mountiny]

@ShridharGoel should be ready for a re-review soon 🤞

[mountiny]

Let's give it a go, thank you!

[github-actions]

🚧 @mountiny has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

[github-actions]

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