[Due for payment 2026-03-02] Expense - "Only the oldest matching rule will apply" is not shown in save rule dialog box.

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: V9.3.17-6
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: #81033
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): dreamnitethedragon@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Pull Request QA execution
Device used: Redminote 10S Android 13
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Login as new gmail account
3. Create a workspace
4. Enable rules and create a merchant rule
   Merchant Uber (contains)
   Update category to any
5. Go to workspace chat
6. Create an expense with merchant Uber
7. Navigate back to merchant rules
8. Add another merchant rule with same merchant
   Merchant Uber (contains)
   Update category to any
9. Tap save rule

Expected Result:

"Only the oldest matching rule will apply" must be shown in save rule dialog box.

Actual Result:

"Only the oldest matching rule will apply" is not shown in save rule dialog box.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @JmillsExpensify

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #81033

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sonialiap (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.

[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.

[OSBotify]

🔍 Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: Not applicable - This is a missing feature, not a regression from PR #81033
Related PRs: #80545 (original merchant rules implementation), #81033 (enabled merchant rules for all users)

Recommendation: ROLL FORWARD

This is not a regression introduced by PR #81033. The duplicate merchant rule warning dialog works correctly, but the prompt text is missing important information. The current text says:

"Do you want to save a new rule for "{merchantName}" even though you already have an existing one?"

But according to the test plan and help documentation, it should also mention: "Only the oldest matching rule will apply."

This is a simple text update to the translations file. Rolling forward with a text fix is much simpler than reverting PR #81033.

Labels: Removing DeployBlockerCash because:

1. This is not reproducible in production (new feature that does not exist in prod)
2. The duplicate check functionality works correctly - only the informational text is incomplete
3. This does not block the App deploy since it is a minor UX polish issue, not a broken feature

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The duplicate rule check is implemented and working in /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/pages/workspace/rules/MerchantRules/MerchantRulePageBase.tsx (lines 165-189, 214-228). When a duplicate is detected, it shows a confirmation modal using showConfirmModal with:

• Title: workspace.rules.merchantRules.duplicateRuleTitle
• Prompt: workspace.rules.merchantRules.duplicateRulePrompt

Verification

I verified the translation in /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/languages/en.ts line 6374:

duplicateRulePrompt: (merchantName: string) => `Do you want to save a new rule for "${merchantName}" even though you already have an existing one?`,

The help documentation at /home/runner/_work/App/App/docs/articles/new-expensify/workspaces/Workspace-Merchant-Rules.md line 46 states:

If multiple Workspace Merchant Rules match the same expense, only the earliest-created rule applies.

Root Cause

The duplicate warning dialog was implemented in PR #80545 but the prompt text never included the clarification about rule precedence. PR #81033 simply enabled the feature for all users by removing the production gate - it did not introduce or cause this issue.

Fix Required

Update duplicateRulePrompt in all language files to include information about rule precedence. Example:

duplicateRulePrompt: (merchantName: string) => `Do you want to save a new rule for "${merchantName}" even though you already have an existing one? Only the oldest matching rule will apply.`,