Redirect the root path to Home instead of the Inbox by WojtekBoman · Pull Request #97446 · Expensify/App

WojtekBoman · 2026-07-30T10:02:29Z

Explanation of Change

The root URL / now lands on Home instead of the Inbox. Home owns the empty pattern through a react-navigation alias in the linking config, which also claims /signin and the legacy /Home. Aliases are parse-only, so /home stays the canonical URL and query strings on root URLs keep working without any path-rewriting helper.

Fixed Issues

$ #97467
PROPOSAL:

Tests

1. The root URL lands on Home

Sign in to the app.
In the address bar, navigate to https://dev.new.expensify.com:8082/
Verify that the Home page is shown (not the Inbox / chat list).
Click into the Inbox, then navigate back to Home.
Verify that the URL is now /home, and that reloading on /home reopens Home.
Verify that no errors appear in the JS console.

2. Legacy root patterns still resolve to Home

While signed in, navigate to /signin.
Verify that the Home page opens instead of a "Not Found" page.
Navigate to /Home (capital H).
Verify that the Home page opens instead of a "Not Found" page.
Navigate to /?delegatorEmail=<any-email>.
Verify that Home opens and the app does not show a "Not Found" page (the query param must survive the root match).

3. Inbox and report deep links are unaffected

Navigate to /inbox and verify that the Inbox opens and the URL stays /inbox.
Open any chat report so the URL becomes /r/<reportID>, then reload the page.
Verify that the same report reopens and the URL is unchanged (/r/<reportID>).
Sign out, then navigate to https://dev.new.expensify.com:8082/ while logged out.
Verify that the sign-in page is shown and the logged-out flow is unchanged.
Sign in and verify that you land on Home.

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

N/A - the change is limited to URL-to-navigation-state parsing and does not touch API calls or Onyx data.

QA Steps

Same as tests

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

WojtekBoman · 2026-07-30T10:03:44Z

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melvin-bot · 2026-07-30T13:27:50Z

@carlosmiceli 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]

melvin-bot · 2026-07-30T13:29:41Z

Tracking issue for this change: #97467

github-actions · 2026-07-30T13:32:26Z

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

github-actions · 2026-07-30T13:38:30Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #97446.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-8ef7cb0db55-9bd7578-0466866e3cc026f86b3211ed47f2a44ce7e2d1b9/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-8ef7cb0-9bd7578-bade593e68e86c48b4377b3073e3c469fafd9668/index.html

Web 🕸️
https://97446.pr-testing.expensify.com

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

Copilot

Pull request overview

Updates the React Navigation linking configuration so the root URL (/) resolves to Home (instead of Inbox) by claiming the root pattern via a parse-only alias, while keeping /home as the canonical serialized path. The PR also updates and adds navigation tests to lock in the new URL parsing/serialization behavior and adjusts UI tests that must still boot under Inbox.

Changes:

Make SCREENS.HOME claim / (and legacy /signin, /Home) via a linking config alias; stop routing the root pattern to the Reports/Inbox navigator.
Remove /signin and /Home rewriting from getAdaptedStateFromPath and rely on linking config parsing instead.
Update/add tests to verify root/legacy paths resolve to Home, canonicalize to /home, preserve query params, and keep Inbox/report deep links unchanged.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 9 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`src/libs/Navigation/linkingConfig/config.ts`	Moves ownership of the root path to Home via linking aliases and removes root ownership from the Inbox navigator.
`src/libs/Navigation/helpers/getAdaptedStateFromPath.ts`	Removes legacy path rewriting now handled by linking config aliases.
`tests/navigation/rootPathLandsOnHomeTests.ts`	Adds coverage for `/`, `/home`, `/Home`, `/signin`, query params, and Inbox/report deep links.
`tests/navigation/PublicSignInPageRootUrlTest.tsx`	Updates expected canonicalization for legacy `/Home`.
`tests/unit/DeeplinkRouteNormalizationTest.ts`	Updates expectations to assert path pass-through instead of rewriting.
`tests/utils/TestHelper.ts`	Allows tests to boot the app at a specific initial URL.
`tests/ui/UnreadIndicatorsTest.tsx`	Boots under Inbox so LHN-dependent assertions remain valid.
`tests/ui/PaginationTest.tsx`	Boots under Inbox so sidebar interactions remain valid.
`tests/ui/GroupChatNameTests.tsx`	Boots under Inbox so LHN-dependent assertions remain valid.

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ZhenjaHorbach · 2026-07-30T14:02:35Z

+                    alias: [
+                        {path: ROUTES.ROOT, exact: true},
+                        {path: CONST.SIGNIN_ROUTE, exact: true},
+                        {path: `/${SCREENS.HOME}`, exact: true},
+                    ],


Agree
It makes sense

ZhenjaHorbach · 2026-07-30T14:16:46Z

+/**
+ * Pass `initialUrl` when the test needs the app to boot on a specific screen. The root URL resolves to Home,
+ * so tests relying on the reports sidebar have to boot on the Inbox instead.
+ */
+function setupApp(initialUrl = 'https://new.expensify.com/') {
    beforeAll(() => {
-        Linking.setInitialURL('https://new.expensify.com/');
+        Linking.setInitialURL(initialUrl);
        appSetup();


Actually, should we set https://new.expensify.com/${ROUTES.INBOX} as the default?
Since we use it almost everywhere

ZhenjaHorbach · 2026-07-30T14:12:09Z

Reviewer Checklist

I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
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- I verified the steps for local testing are in the Tests section
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I checked that screenshots or videos are included for tests on all platforms
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I verified that the composer does not automatically focus or open the keyboard on mobile unless explicitly intended. This includes checking that returning the app from the background does not unexpectedly open the keyboard.
I verified tests pass on all platforms & I tested again on:
- 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 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 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)
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)
If a new component is created I verified that:
- A similar component doesn't exist in the codebase
- All props are defined accurately
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- The component has the minimum amount of code necessary for its purpose, and it is broken down into smaller components in order to separate concerns and functions
If a new CSS style is added I verified that:
- A similar style doesn't already exist
- The style can't be created with an existing StyleUtils function (i.e. StyleUtils.getBackgroundAndBorderStyle(theme.componentBG)
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.
If the PR modifies a generic component, I tested and verified that those changes do not break usages of that component in the rest of the App (i.e. if a shared library or component like Avatar is modified, I verified that Avatar is working as expected in all cases)
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- 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.
For any bug fix or new feature in this PR, I verified that sufficient unit tests are included to prevent regressions in this 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.
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

melvin-bot Bot assigned WojtekBoman Jul 30, 2026

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Jul 30, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/libs/Navigation/helpers/redirectRootPathToHome.ts Outdated

Comment thread tests/navigation/PublicSignInPageRootUrlTest.tsx

WojtekBoman added 2 commits July 30, 2026 14:35

Redirect the root path to Home instead of the Inbox

60cb0ec

Resolve the root path to Home with a linking config alias

27f30c5

WojtekBoman force-pushed the fix/root-path-lands-on-home branch from 3f6b2d9 to 27f30c5 Compare July 30, 2026 12:36

Boot LHN tests on the Inbox now that the root path lands on Home

8ef7cb0

WojtekBoman marked this pull request as ready for review July 30, 2026 13:27

WojtekBoman requested review from a team as code owners July 30, 2026 13:27

melvin-bot Bot requested review from carlosmiceli and joekaufmanexpensify and removed request for a team July 30, 2026 13:27

melvin-bot Bot mentioned this pull request Jul 30, 2026

Root URL (/) lands on Inbox instead of Home after signing in #97467

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mountiny requested review from ZhenjaHorbach, Copilot and mountiny July 30, 2026 13:30

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of mountiny July 30, 2026 13:31 View session

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Redirect the root path to Home instead of the Inbox - #97446

Redirect the root path to Home instead of the Inbox#97446
WojtekBoman wants to merge 3 commits into
Expensify:mainfrom
software-mansion-labs:fix/root-path-lands-on-home

WojtekBoman commented Jul 30, 2026 •

edited by mountiny

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WojtekBoman commented Jul 30, 2026 • edited by mountiny Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Explanation of Change

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Tests

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WojtekBoman commented Jul 30, 2026 •

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