[$250] [Insights] Reports - Keyword filter is applied with "limit:" after clearing limit filter and click View results

[vincdargento]

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Version Number: 9.3.10-0
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: #80262
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): osdijosijdodninjso@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.1 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Create a workspace.
3. Go to Reports > Top categories.
4. Open Filters.
5. Open Limit filter.
6. Clear the field and save it.
7. Click View results.
8. Open Filters.

Expected Result:

No extra filter will be applied after clearing limit filter and clicking View results.

Actual Result:

Keyword filter is applied with "limit:" after clearing limit filter and clicking View results.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

bug.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #80262

[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.

[ShridharGoel]

@TaduJR Can you have a look?

[OSBotify]

Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #80262 - "feat: [Insights] [Release 1] Top Categories - Add a limit filter to search" by @TaduJR (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: ROLL FORWARD

The fix is simple and low-risk - just adding a check for empty strings. A revert would remove the entire limit filter feature which is more disruptive than a quick fix.

Labels: No label changes needed - keeping DeployBlockerCash since this is a frontend bug in the App repository.

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

PR #80262 added the limit filter functionality to the search feature. The bug appears when clearing the limit field - instead of removing the filter, it adds limit: (with empty value) to the query string, which then gets interpreted as a keyword filter.

Verification

Affected file: /home/runner/work/App/App/src/libs/SearchQueryUtils.ts (lines 747-750)

Root cause code:

const limitValue = limit ?? options?.limit;
if (limitValue !== undefined) {
    filtersString.push(`${CONST.SEARCH.SYNTAX_ROOT_KEYS.LIMIT}:${limitValue}`);
}

The issue: When a user clears the limit field in the UI, it becomes an empty string "". The check limitValue !== undefined evaluates to true for empty strings, so it adds limit: to the query. This gets parsed as a keyword filter with value "limit:".

Why this is a Frontend bug:

1. The form field type is string (confirmed in SearchAdvancedFiltersForm.ts line 679)
2. The bug is in the App codebase query building logic
3. No backend API changes are needed - the fix is purely client-side validation

Root Cause

The buildQueryStringFromFilterFormValues function in SearchQueryUtils.ts does not validate that the limit value is non-empty before adding it to the query string. It only checks for undefined, but form fields return empty strings when cleared, not undefined.

The fix should check if the limit value is a non-empty string and a valid positive integer:

const limitValue = limit ?? options?.limit;
if (limitValue !== undefined && limitValue !== "" && Number(limitValue) > 0) {
    filtersString.push(`${CONST.SEARCH.SYNTAX_ROOT_KEYS.LIMIT}:${limitValue}`);
}

[puneetlath]

I don't think it's big enough to be a blocker, but we should fix @TaduJR.