Send HTML for bespokeWelcomeMessage to fix formatting on followup arrival by marcochavezf · Pull Request #85127 · Expensify/App

marcochavezf · 2026-03-12T19:34:37Z

Explanation of Change

The frontend creates the bespoke welcome message as markdown via getBespokeWelcomeMessage(), converts it to HTML via getParsedComment() for the optimistic render, but was sending the raw markdown to the backend as the bespokeWelcomeMessage API param. The backend passes this to the LLM as "html" verbatim. When the server response came back, the message had plain \n instead of <br> tags, causing formatting to break momentarily until re-render.

This PR sends the already-parsed HTML (from getParsedComment()) as the bespokeWelcomeMessage param, so the backend receives actual HTML and passes it through correctly. The optimistic action continues to work the same since it already uses the HTML version internally.

Fixed Issues

$ https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/610148

Tests

Sign up as a new 1-10 company size user with the suggestedFollowups beta enabled (let's use the @dmb.fun domain without +)
Complete onboarding and observe the Concierge welcome message in the admin chat
Wait for the server response / followups to arrive
Verify the welcome message formatting remains consistent (no momentary formatting break with raw newlines)

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

N/A - This change affects the API parameter format, which only matters when online.

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

Automated UI verification — Concierge welcome message after fix:

melvin-bot · 2026-03-12T19:34:45Z

@hoangzinh 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]

hoangzinh · 2026-03-12T22:42:21Z

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
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- 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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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 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)
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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.
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-03-13.at.06.19.30.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-03-13.at.06.28.56.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-03-13.at.06.24.53.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

hoangzinh · 2026-03-12T23:12:06Z

@marcochavezf The code looks good to me. However, for the testing step, we should note for QA that using email without "+" to generate the bespokeWelcomeMessage.

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 12290 to 12299 in 8f773d3

    
           /** 
        
            * Whether onboarding tasks should be posted in the #admins room instead of Concierge. 
        
            * Only the "Manage my team's expenses" (MANAGE_TEAM) intent uses the #admins room with a guide; 
        
            * Track and budget expenses (TRACK_WORKSPACE) uses Concierge chat. Guides are assigned to users who sign up 
        
            * with emails that do not contain a '+' and who select MANAGE_TEAM. 
        
            */ 
        
           function isPostingTasksInAdminsRoom(engagementChoice?: OnboardingPurpose): boolean { 
        
               const userHasPhonePrimaryEmail = Str.endsWith(currentUserEmail ?? '', CONST.SMS.DOMAIN); 
        
               return engagementChoice !== undefined && engagementChoice === CONST.ONBOARDING_CHOICES.MANAGE_TEAM && (!currentUserEmail?.includes('+') || userHasPhonePrimaryEmail); 
        
           }

marcochavezf · 2026-03-12T23:28:52Z

@marcochavezf The code looks good to me. However, for the testing step, we should note for QA that using email without "+" to generate the bespokeWelcomeMessage.

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 12290 to 12299 in 8f773d3

/**

* Whether onboarding tasks should be posted in the #admins room instead of Concierge.

* Only the "Manage my team's expenses" (MANAGE_TEAM) intent uses the #admins room with a guide;

* Track and budget expenses (TRACK_WORKSPACE) uses Concierge chat. Guides are assigned to users who sign up

* with emails that do not contain a '+' and who select MANAGE_TEAM.

*/

function isPostingTasksInAdminsRoom(engagementChoice?: OnboardingPurpose): boolean {

const userHasPhonePrimaryEmail = Str.endsWith(currentUserEmail ?? '', CONST.SMS.DOMAIN);

return engagementChoice !== undefined && engagementChoice === CONST.ONBOARDING_CHOICES.MANAGE_TEAM && (!currentUserEmail?.includes('+') || userHasPhonePrimaryEmail);

}

Thanks for catching that, I updated the test steps

hoangzinh

LGTM

melvin-bot · 2026-03-12T23:30:56Z

@madmax330 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 · 2026-03-12T23:30:58Z

🎯 @hoangzinh, thanks for reviewing and testing this PR! 🎉

An E/App issue has been created to issue payment here: #85148.

marcochavezf · 2026-03-13T00:13:41Z

After testing again I realized we need to update the backend for this case

marcochavezf · 2026-03-13T00:52:39Z

BE PR in review https://github.com/Expensify/Web-Expensify/pull/51367

trjExpensify

Just a PR to update formatting 👍

codecov · 2026-03-19T23:53:06Z

Codecov Report

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

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/libs/ReportUtils.ts	`78.86% <100.00%> (+<0.01%)`	⬆️
... and 7 files with indirect coverage changes

The frontend was sending raw markdown as the bespokeWelcomeMessage param to the backend, but the backend passes it to the LLM as HTML for AddComment. This caused formatting to break when the server response replaced the optimistic render. Now we call getParsedComment() on the bespoke message before sending it, matching the HTML format that the optimistic action already uses. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…edComment call Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

marcochavezf · 2026-03-23T19:13:31Z

Related backend PRs were merged @hoangzinh @MarioExpensify @madmax330 could you re-review please?

github-actions · 2026-03-23T21:33:13Z

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

github-actions · 2026-03-23T21:37:45Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #85127.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-b519262-de8080e-4504a39ff5ef6fb7227a26f6bfac2b2c0da65bde/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-b519262-de8080e-efa721b6b5f85ea24ef921f7435ec0e4bcb108c0/index.html

Web 🕸️
https://85127.pr-testing.expensify.com

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

OSBotify · 2026-03-23T21:40:33Z

✋ This PR was not deployed to staging yet because QA is ongoing. It will be automatically deployed to staging after the next production release.

OSBotify · 2026-03-25T16:10:11Z

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/Julesssss in version: 9.3.43-3 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

marcochavezf requested review from a team as code owners March 12, 2026 19:34

melvin-bot Bot assigned marcochavezf Mar 12, 2026

melvin-bot Bot requested review from hoangzinh and removed request for a team March 12, 2026 19:34

melvin-bot Bot requested review from trjExpensify and removed request for a team March 12, 2026 19:34

github-actions Bot reviewed Mar 12, 2026

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Comment thread src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

hoangzinh approved these changes Mar 12, 2026

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melvin-bot Bot requested a review from madmax330 March 12, 2026 23:30

melvin-bot Bot mentioned this pull request Mar 12, 2026

Payment issue for E/App PR#85127 #85148

Closed

marcochavezf changed the title ~~Send HTML for bespokeWelcomeMessage to fix formatting on followup arrival~~ [HOLD] Send HTML for bespokeWelcomeMessage to fix formatting on followup arrival Mar 13, 2026

trjExpensify previously approved these changes Mar 17, 2026

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marcochavezf dismissed trjExpensify’s stale review via f0d7bb3 March 18, 2026 02:08

marcochavezf force-pushed the marco/fix-610148-bespoke-welcome-html branch from f39b98b to f0d7bb3 Compare March 18, 2026 02:08

MarioExpensify previously approved these changes Mar 23, 2026

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marcochavezf changed the title ~~[HOLD] Send HTML for bespokeWelcomeMessage to fix formatting on followup arrival~~ Send HTML for bespokeWelcomeMessage to fix formatting on followup arrival Mar 23, 2026

marcochavezf and others added 2 commits March 23, 2026 13:07

Reuse parsed HTML from optimistic action instead of duplicate getPars…

0f28ad7

…edComment call Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

marcochavezf dismissed MarioExpensify’s stale review via 0f28ad7 March 23, 2026 19:07

marcochavezf force-pushed the marco/fix-610148-bespoke-welcome-html branch from b7583b3 to 0f28ad7 Compare March 23, 2026 19:07

madmax330 approved these changes Mar 23, 2026

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marcochavezf merged commit b519262 into main Mar 23, 2026
38 checks passed

marcochavezf deleted the marco/fix-610148-bespoke-welcome-html branch March 23, 2026 21:32

OSBotify mentioned this pull request Mar 24, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-03-24 #86199

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