[LegendList 3/7] fix: align report action loading skeletons

[chrispader]

Expense reports can display loading skeletons with different vertical positions while report data becomes available. That creates visible jumps before the report actions render and makes the transitional UI depend on which loading path fired. This WIP extraction gives report action loading states one consistent bottom-padded cover without changing LegendList hydration logic.

@roryabraham @dmkt9

Explanation of Change

The new ReportActionsSkeletonCover centralizes the background, overflow, bottom alignment, and bottom padding used while report actions load. The expense report view, the configured report loading state, and the defensive missing-report fallback now use that cover. The offline and pagination skeletons that intentionally live inside the list remain unchanged.

This is layer 3 of the seven-part LegendList series and is held on #100883. Review order is #100732 → #100883 → this PR → #100733 → #100740 → #100734 → #100736. The focused layer is available in the Margelo branch comparison. The branches are maintained with GH Stacks in the Margelo fork; because GitHub does not support linking cross-fork heads into an upstream Stack, each upstream PR targets Expensify/App:main.

Fixed Issues

$ #98994
PROPOSAL:

No approved proposal is linked.

Tests

1. Open an expense report from a cold app state.
2. Verify the report uses one bottom-aligned loading skeleton with consistent bottom padding until the report actions are ready.
3. Open an expense report while its transactions are still loading and verify the same skeleton placement is used.
4. Open an expense report with no actions and verify the non-animated placeholder uses the same placement.
5. Verify the report actions replace the skeleton without showing intermediate skeleton positions.
6. Verify that no errors appear in the JS console.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

1. Open a cached expense report, then go offline.
2. Reopen the report and verify its loading placeholder is bottom-aligned with the same padding.
3. Verify an offline skeleton rendered inside an already-mounted list remains unchanged.
4. Return online and verify the report actions replace the placeholder normally.

QA Steps

Same as Tests and Offline tests.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
  • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
  • I added steps for the expected offline behavior in the Offline steps section
  • I added steps for Staging and/or Production testing in the QA steps section
  • I added steps to cover 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 tested this PR with a High Traffic account against the staging or production API to ensure there are no regressions (e.g. long loading states that impact usability).
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
• I ran the tests on all platforms & verified they passed on:
  • Android: Native
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: Native
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• I verified there are no console errors (if there's a console error not related to the PR, report it or open an issue for it to be fixed)
• I followed proper code patterns (see Reviewing the code)
  • 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 followed the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
• I tested other components that can be impacted by my changes (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar are working as expected)
• 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 new assets were added or existing ones were modified, I verified that:
  • The assets are optimized and compressed (for SVG files, run npm run compress-svg)
  • The assets load correctly across all supported platforms.
• 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)
• If the PR modifies a component related to any of the existing Storybook stories, I tested and verified all stories for that component are still working as expected.
• If the PR modifies a component or page that can be accessed by a direct deeplink, I verified that the code functions as expected when the deeplink is used - from a logged in and logged out account.
• If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
  • 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.
• I added unit tests for any new feature or bug fix in this PR to help automatically prevent regressions in this user 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.

Screenshots/Videos

[codecov]

Codecov Report

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

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/components/ReportActionsSkeletonCover.tsx	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
...ages/inbox/report/ReportActionsLoadingSkeleton.tsx	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsList.tsx	89.43% <0.00%> (ø)
.../MoneyRequestReportView/MoneyRequestReportView.tsx	75.00% <69.23%> (+16.48%)	⬆️
... and 12 files with indirect coverage changes

[melvin-bot]

@dmkt9 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]

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

Codex Review Summary

This comment shows the latest Codex review activity on this pull request.

Review	Status	Commit	Review trigger
📝 Code Review	✅ Completed 2026-09-10T21:13:36.484204Z	d82b05b	Draft marked ready

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[roryabraham]

Ready to come off HOLD?

[roryabraham]

Thanks for removing unnecessary manual memoization. LGTM, pending C+ review 👍🏼

[chrispader]

@roryabraham i've put it off HOLD, feel free to merge at any time!

[roryabraham]

Awaiting @dmkt9 review

[dmkt9]

Awaiting @dmkt9 review

I'll finish the review in an hour

[dmkt9]

I've just patched it here to allow it to be displayed, and got this screenshot:

App/src/components/MoneyRequestReportView/MoneyRequestReportView.tsx

Lines 212 to 220 in 67758d9

	if (shouldShowAppLoadSkeleton) {
	return (
	<View style={styles.flex1}>
	<ReportHeaderSkeletonView />
	<ReportActionsAnimatedSkeletonCover />
	{shouldDisplayReportFooter ? <ReportFooter /> : null}
	</View>
	);
	}

[chrispader]

I've just patched it here to allow it to be displayed, and got this screenshot:

@dmkt9 thanks for the catch! Fixed:

[chrispader]

Also noting that this loading UI when patching shouldShowAppLoadSkeleton to true was also broken on main. Doesn't matter now that we've fixed it here in this PR 🎉

[dmkt9]

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
  • I verified the steps for Staging and/or Production testing are in the QA steps section
  • 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
• 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
• I verified proper code patterns were followed (see Reviewing the code)
  • 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
  • The component has a clear name that is non-ambiguous and the purpose of the component can be inferred from the name alone
  • The only data being stored in the state is data necessary for rendering and nothing else
  • 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)
• If the PR modifies a component related to any of the existing Storybook stories, I tested and verified all stories for that component are still working as expected.
• If the PR modifies a component or page that can be accessed by a direct deeplink, I verified that the code functions as expected when the deeplink is used - from a logged in and logged out account.
• If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
  • 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.
• I have checked off every checkbox in the PR reviewer checklist, including those that don't apply to this PR.

Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

[dmkt9]

LGTM

[OSBotify]

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

[github-actions]

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

[github-actions]

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #100884.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-8a3b891-9e87e9f-2aef2d1419be8cf4f9061c886a63359831b88f59/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-8a3b891-9e87e9f-9e98af721e1c9db43d30bbc544bb6bd6871f5e0e/index.html

Web 🕸️
https://100884.pr-testing.expensify.com

---

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[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/roryabraham in version: 9.4.82-0 🚀

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

[MelvinBot]

🤖 No help site changes are required. I did not create a docs PR.

Why: this PR is an internal component refactor. It extracts the existing report-actions loading skeleton into a new src/components/ReportActionsSkeletonCover.tsx so the background, overflow, bottom alignment, and bottom padding are consistent across the three loading paths. Nothing a customer could be instructed to do changed.

What I checked

Changed files:

• src/components/ReportActionsSkeletonCover.tsx (new)
• src/components/MoneyRequestReportView/MoneyRequestReportView.tsx
• src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsList.tsx
• src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsLoadingSkeleton.tsx
• three test files

Against the help site criteria:

• No new or renamed feature, tab, setting, or button. No src/languages/*.ts strings were touched, so no user-facing copy changed.
• No behavior a customer follows steps to reach. The only visible difference is skeleton placement during the sub-second window before report actions render.
• Nothing documented today contradicts this. grep -ril "skeleton" docs/articles/ returns no matches, and every "loading" hit is unrelated (integration sync errors, travel analytics). No article describes loading placeholders.

The help site documents what customers do, not transitional render states, so there is no article this belongs in — and creating one would add a page about an implementation detail.

There is no linked help site PR to review, since no docs changes are needed. If you disagree — for example if you think this is part of a larger change that does alter documented behavior — reply with @MelvinBot <your feedback> and point me at the article you have in mind.

---

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[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/roryabraham in version: 9.4.86-0 🚀

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

[MelvinBot]

🤖 No help site changes are required for this PR. I did not create a docs PR.

Why: this PR is an internal rendering refactor. It extracts the existing report-actions loading skeleton into a shared ReportActionsSkeletonCover component so every loading path uses the same bottom-aligned placement and padding. It changes no feature, no setting, no navigation path, and no user-facing copy.

What I checked

The diff — all seven changed files are components, a page, and tests:

• src/components/ReportActionsSkeletonCover.tsx — new wrapper that applies flex1, appBG, overflowHidden, justifyContentEnd, and pb4
• src/components/MoneyRequestReportView/MoneyRequestReportView.tsx, src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsList.tsx, and src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsLoadingSkeleton.tsx — swapped to the new cover
• Three test files

No src/languages/*.ts strings changed, so no user-visible text moved.

The help site — nothing under docs/articles documents loading states, skeletons, or placeholders. The help site describes what members can do in the product, not transient rendering behavior between data loads.

Per HELP_AUTHORING_GUIDELINES.md, articles cover tasks a member performs and the settings they configure. A loading skeleton is neither, so there is no article to add or amend.

@chrispader, no help site PR was created because this change is not user-facing, so there is nothing to mark Ready for review. If you disagree and want an article touched, reply with @MelvinBot and the specific behavior you want documented, and I'll open the draft PR.

---

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🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/roryabraham in version: 9.4.89-0 🚀

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

[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/luacmartins in version: 9.4.89-0 🚀

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

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

• Android