Feature: Automatically create Markdown links when pasting a link on highlighted text

cspell.json

@@ -759,7 +759,9 @@
         "مثال",
         "moveElemsAttrsToGroup",
         "removeHiddenElems",
-        "moveGroupAttrsToElems"
+        "moveGroupAttrsToElems",
+        "mple",
+        "Selec"
     ],
     "ignorePaths": [
         "src/languages/de.ts",

src/components/RenderHTML.tsx

@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ function RenderHTML({html: htmlParam}: RenderHTMLProps) {
     const html = useMemo(() => {
         return (
             Parser.replace(htmlParam, {shouldEscapeText: false, filterRules: ['emoji']})
+                // Escape brackets when pasting a link, since unescaped [] can break Markdown link syntax
+                .replace(/[/g, '[')
+                .replace(/]/g, ']')
                 // Remove double <emoji> tag if exists and keep the outermost tag (always the original tag).
                 .replace(/(<emoji[^>]*>)(?:<emoji[^>]*>)+/g, '$1')
                 .replace(/(<\/emoji[^>]*>)(?:<\/emoji[^>]*>)+/g, '$1')

src/hooks/useHtmlPaste/index.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import {useCallback, useEffect, useRef} from 'react';
+import {isStandaloneURL, toMarkdownLink} from '@libs/MarkdownLinkHelpers';
 import Parser from '@libs/Parser';
 import CONST from '@src/CONST';
 import type UseHtmlPaste from './types';
@@ -101,15 +102,24 @@ const useHtmlPaste: UseHtmlPaste = (textInputRef, preHtmlPasteCallback, isActive
 
     /**
      * Paste the plaintext content into Composer.
-     *
-     * @param {ClipboardEvent} event
+     * If the clipboard contains a single URL and there is selected text, wrap the selected text in a markdown link.
      */
     const handlePastePlainText = useCallback(
         (event: ClipboardEvent) => {
-            const plainText = event.clipboardData?.getData('text/plain');
-            if (plainText) {
-                paste(plainText);
+            const clipboardText = event.clipboardData?.getData('text/plain')?.trim();
+            if (!clipboardText) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            const selection = window.getSelection?.();
+            const selectedText = selection?.toString() ?? '';
+
+            if (isStandaloneURL(clipboardText) && selectedText) {
+                paste(toMarkdownLink(selectedText, clipboardText));
+                return;
             }
+
+            paste(clipboardText);
         },
         [paste],
     );
@@ -184,6 +194,10 @@ const useHtmlPaste: UseHtmlPaste = (textInputRef, preHtmlPasteCallback, isActive
             document.removeEventListener('paste', listener, true);
         };
     }, [isActive]);
+
+    return {
+        handlePastePlainText,
+    };
 };
 
 export default useHtmlPaste;

src/hooks/useHtmlPaste/types.ts

@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
-import type {MutableRefObject} from 'react';
+import type {RefObject} from 'react';
 import type {TextInput} from 'react-native';
 
 type UseHtmlPaste = (
-    textInputRef: MutableRefObject<(HTMLTextAreaElement & TextInput) | TextInput | null>,
+    textInputRef: RefObject<(HTMLTextAreaElement & TextInput) | TextInput | null>,
     preHtmlPasteCallback?: (event: ClipboardEvent) => boolean,
     isActive?: boolean,
     maxLength?: number, // Maximum length of the text input value after pasting
-) => void;
+) => void | {
+    handlePastePlainText: (event: ClipboardEvent) => void;
+};
 
 export default UseHtmlPaste;

src/libs/MarkdownLinkHelpers.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import {Str} from 'expensify-common';
+
+/**
+ * Returns true if `text` is a single token URL (no whitespace), allowing optional angle-bracket wrappers.
+ */
+const isStandaloneURL = (text: string): boolean => {
+    if (!text) {
+        return false;
+    }
+    const trimmed = text.trim();
+    if (/\s/.test(trimmed)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+    const unwrapped = trimmed.replace(/^<|>$/g, '');
+
+    // Reject if contains emoji or any non-ASCII characters
+    // (valid URLs per RFC 3986 should be ASCII-only)
+    // eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
+    if (/[^\x00-\x7F]/.test(unwrapped)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    return Str.isValidURL(unwrapped);
+};
+
+/**
+ * Collapse newlines to spaces, collapse repeated whitespace to single space, trim,
+ * and replace opening &#91; and closing &#93; square brackets with HTML codes, which would otherwise break Markdown link text.
+ */
+const escapeLinkText = (text: string): string => {
+    if (!text) {
+        return '';
+    }
+    const collapsed = text
+        .replace(/\r?\n+/g, ' ')
+        .replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+        .trim();
+    return collapsed.replace(/\[/g, '&#91;').replace(/\]/g, '&#93;');
+};
+
+/**
+ * Sanitize the URL for Markdown link. Remove surrounding < > if present and encode it
+ * to avoid raw spaces or other invalid characters inside the parentheses.
+ * We won't alter semantics otherwise.
+ */
+const sanitizeUrlForMarkdown = (url: string): string => {
+    if (!isStandaloneURL(url)) {
+        return url;
+    }
+
+    const trimmed = (url || '').trim();
+    const unwrapped = trimmed.replace(/^<|>$/g, '');
+
+    try {
+        return encodeURI(unwrapped);
+    } catch {
+        return unwrapped;
+    }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Build a Markdown link: [escaped-selected-text](sanitized-url)
+ * We do NOT wrap the URL in < > here — angle brackets are only valid for "auto links", not inside link destinations.
+ */
+const toMarkdownLink = (selectedText: string, url: string): string => {
+    const safeText = escapeLinkText(selectedText);
+    const safeUrl = sanitizeUrlForMarkdown(url);
+    return `[${safeText}](${safeUrl})`;
+};
+
+type DetectRewriteResult = {text: string | null; didReplace: boolean};
+
+/**
+ * Given prevText and a selection (start/end) and the insertedText (e.g. diff),
+ * returns a rewritten text if this looks like "selection replaced by a single URL" and we should turn it into a markdown link.
+ */
+const detectAndRewritePaste = (prevText: string, selectionStart: number, selectionEnd: number, insertedText: string): DetectRewriteResult => {
+    if (!insertedText || !isStandaloneURL(insertedText)) {
+        return {text: null, didReplace: false};
+    }
+
+    const replacedSelectionLength = Math.max(0, selectionEnd - selectionStart);
+    if (replacedSelectionLength === 0) {
+        // nothing replaced (user pasted URL without selecting text) -> don't rewrite
+        return {text: null, didReplace: false};
+    }
+
+    const selectedText = prevText.substring(selectionStart, selectionEnd);
+    const replacement = toMarkdownLink(selectedText, insertedText);
+    const newText = prevText.slice(0, selectionStart) + replacement + prevText.slice(selectionEnd);
+
+    return {text: newText, didReplace: true};
+};
+
+export {isStandaloneURL, escapeLinkText, sanitizeUrlForMarkdown, toMarkdownLink, detectAndRewritePaste};

src/pages/home/report/ReportActionCompose/ComposerWithSuggestions/ComposerWithSuggestions.tsx

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import {containsOnlyEmojis, extractEmojis, getAddedEmojis, getPreferredSkinToneI
 import focusComposerWithDelay from '@libs/focusComposerWithDelay';
 import getPlatform from '@libs/getPlatform';
 import {addKeyDownPressListener, removeKeyDownPressListener} from '@libs/KeyboardShortcut/KeyDownPressListener';
+import {detectAndRewritePaste} from '@libs/MarkdownLinkHelpers';
 import Parser from '@libs/Parser';
 import ReportActionComposeFocusManager from '@libs/ReportActionComposeFocusManager';
 import {isValidReportIDFromPath, shouldAutoFocusOnKeyPress} from '@libs/ReportUtils';
@@ -376,9 +377,30 @@ function ComposerWithSuggestions({
     const updateComment = useCallback(
         (commentValue: string, shouldDebounceSaveComment?: boolean) => {
             raiseIsScrollLikelyLayoutTriggered();
-            const {startIndex, endIndex, diff} = findNewlyAddedChars(lastTextRef.current, commentValue);
-            const isEmojiInserted = diff.length && endIndex > startIndex && diff.trim() === diff && containsOnlyEmojis(diff);
-            const commentWithSpaceInserted = isEmojiInserted ? insertWhiteSpaceAtIndex(commentValue, endIndex) : commentValue;
+
+            // previous text before change
+            const prevText = lastTextRef.current;
+            // snapshot selection (should be the selection that was active just before the paste/change)
+            const prevSelectionStart = selection?.start ?? 0;
+            const prevSelectionEnd = selection?.end ?? 0;
+
+            // detect newly added text (existing helper)
+            const {startIndex, endIndex, diff} = findNewlyAddedChars(prevText, commentValue);
+
+            // Try to rewrite if this looks like "selected text replaced with a single URL"
+            const {text: rewritten, didReplace} = detectAndRewritePaste(prevText, prevSelectionStart, prevSelectionEnd, diff);
+
+            // Use the rewritten text when we replaced; otherwise fall back to the original commentValue pipeline
+            const effectiveCommentValue = didReplace ? (rewritten ?? commentValue) : commentValue;
+
+            // Emoji handling: skip the "emoji inserted" special-case when we performed the markdown rewrite.
+            const isEmojiInserted =
+                !didReplace && // <-- use the didReplace flag instead of searching for '['
+                diff.length &&
+                endIndex > startIndex &&
+                diff.trim() === diff &&
+                containsOnlyEmojis(diff);
+            const commentWithSpaceInserted = isEmojiInserted ? insertWhiteSpaceAtIndex(effectiveCommentValue, endIndex) : effectiveCommentValue;
             const {text: newComment, emojis, cursorPosition} = replaceAndExtractEmojis(commentWithSpaceInserted, preferredSkinTone, preferredLocale);
             if (emojis.length) {
                 const newEmojis = getAddedEmojis(emojis, emojisPresentBefore.current);
@@ -426,7 +448,18 @@ function ComposerWithSuggestions({
                 debouncedBroadcastUserIsTyping(reportID);
             }
         },
-        [findNewlyAddedChars, preferredLocale, preferredSkinTone, reportID, setIsCommentEmpty, suggestionsRef, raiseIsScrollLikelyLayoutTriggered, debouncedSaveReportComment, selection.end],
+        [
+            findNewlyAddedChars,
+            preferredLocale,
+            preferredSkinTone,
+            reportID,
+            setIsCommentEmpty,
+            suggestionsRef,
+            raiseIsScrollLikelyLayoutTriggered,
+            debouncedSaveReportComment,
+            selection?.end,
+            selection?.start,
+        ],
     );
 
     /**