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Speed up SearchRouter open on large accounts#95378

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sumo-slonik wants to merge 4 commits into
Expensify:mainfrom
software-mansion-labs:perf/search-router-list-render
Draft

Speed up SearchRouter open on large accounts#95378
sumo-slonik wants to merge 4 commits into
Expensify:mainfrom
software-mansion-labs:perf/search-router-list-render

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@sumo-slonik

@sumo-slonik sumo-slonik commented Jul 6, 2026 •
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Explanation of Change

On the Sentry "P90 vital metrics - large accounts" dashboard, ManualOpenSearchRouter roughly doubled, reaching ~1s p90 in production — nearly all of it in SearchRouter.ListRender (building the initial, empty-query option list). Profiling on a large account showed two structural issues:

  • createFilteredOptionList is rebuilt from scratch on every open — no caching between openings, and two unstable input references made memoization impossible.
  • Step 5 builds an option object for every personal detail with no cap (19k+ on large accounts, ~40-55 ms locally, likely hundreds of ms on mobile) — entirely wasted at empty query, since the empty state never shows standalone contacts.

Both costs grow linearly with account size, so the regression hits the largest accounts hardest.

Fix

  1. Module-level single-entry cache for createFilteredOptionList keyed on input references (plus reference-stabilized usePrivateIsArchivedMap and visibleReportActionsData default) — reopening reuses the previous result while Onyx data is unchanged.
  2. New deferContactsUntilSearch option, enabled only for the SearchRouter's SearchAutocompleteList — skips per-contact options while the query is empty; typing flips isSearching and builds the full set. Other useFilteredOptions consumers keep the default (false) and are unaffected.

Performance results

Measured locally on web dev with a large-account dataset: 19,161 personal details / 588 reports (span: SearchRouter.ListRender — opening the Search Router with an empty query, the same metric tracked on the Sentry "P90 vital metrics - large accounts" dashboard).

Cold open Warm reopen
Before █████████████████████░ 211 ms ████████████████████░░ 199.5 ms
After ███████████████░░░░░░░ ~150 ms ██████████░░░░░░░░░░░░ ~105 ms
Δ −29% −47%

Fixed Issues

$
PROPOSAL:

Tests

  1. Sign in with an account that has multiple chats and contacts (ideally a High Traffic account).
  2. From the Inbox, open the Search Router (click the magnifying glass button or press Cmd+K / Ctrl+K).
  3. Verify the empty-query list shows the "Recent searches" and "Recent chats" sections, exactly as before this change.
  4. Type the name of a contact you have no recent chat with — verify the matching contact appears in the results.
  5. Type from: followed by a few letters of a contact's name — verify the autocomplete suggests matching contacts.
  6. Clear the input — verify the list returns to the empty state ("Recent searches" + "Recent chats").
  7. Press Escape to close the router, then reopen it — verify the same content is shown and the router opens without any visible delay or flicker (reopen should feel instant).
  8. Change the app language in Settings > Preferences, reopen the Search Router — verify report names and subtitles are shown in the new language.
  • Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Unnecessary — this PR only changes how the Search Router option list is built (caching + skipping unused work); it does not touch any network or persistence logic.

QA Steps

Same as 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 any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick)
    • 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 any new file was added I verified that:
    • The file has a description of what it does and/or why is needed at the top of the file if the code is not self explanatory
  • 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

Android: Native
Android: mWeb Chrome
iOS: Native
iOS: mWeb Safari
MacOS: Chrome / Safari

@sumo-slonik
Speed up SearchRouter open on large accounts
c8f5b01 
Two changes to the SearchRouter empty-query open path
(ManualOpenSearchRouter / SearchRouter.ListRender span):

1. Cache createFilteredOptionList results in a module-level single-entry
   cache keyed on input references, so reopening the router reuses the
   previous result while the underlying Onyx data is unchanged. Two
   inputs are reference-stabilized to make hits possible:
   usePrivateIsArchivedMap (module cache keyed on the
   REPORT_NAME_VALUE_PAIRS collection reference) and the
   visibleReportActionsData default (shared constant instead of a fresh
   object per call).

2. New deferContactsUntilSearch option (enabled only for the
   SearchRouter's SearchAutocompleteList) skips building an option per
   personal detail while the query is empty; the empty state shows no
   standalone contacts, and typing flips isSearching which builds the
   full set. Other useFilteredOptions consumers are unaffected
   (default false).

Measured on web dev with 19k personal details / 588 reports:
warm reopen median 199.5ms -> ~105ms, cold open 211ms -> ~150ms.
@sumo-slonik
Format branch files with oxfmt
f8bb1db
@sumo-slonik
Merge branch 'main' into perf/search-router-list-render
affa6df 
# Conflicts:
#	src/hooks/usePrivateIsArchivedMap.ts
#	src/libs/OptionsListUtils/index.ts
@sumo-slonik
Include active locale in createFilteredOptionList cache key
585061b 
Option building translates strings imperatively (translateLocal), so a
locale change alters the output without changing any input reference.
Keying the cache on IntlStore.getCurrentLocale() makes the cached result
re-localize, which the OptionsListUtils localization test guards.
@codecov

codecov Bot commented Jul 6, 2026 •
edited by github-actions Bot
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Codecov Report

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

Files with missing lines Coverage Δ
src/components/Search/SearchAutocompleteList.tsx 92.92% <100.00%> (+0.07%) ⬆️
src/hooks/useFilteredOptions.ts 83.33% <100.00%> (ø)
src/hooks/usePrivateIsArchivedMap.ts 100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/libs/OptionsListUtils/index.ts 86.19% <93.33%> (+0.02%) ⬆️
... and 22 files with indirect coverage changes

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