[Detail Bug] Inbox Activity tab misorders conversations by creation time instead of last activity

[detail-app]

Detail Bug Report

https://app.detail.dev/org_3377c26d-da48-4ccd-b83a-22c542f4fe83/bugs/bug_8c443515-7221-45fb-bed0-e0651e53e5a1

Introduced in #31911 by @karanh37 on Aug 29, 2026

Summary

• Context: useInboxActivity is the single source that fetches and merges a user's activity events with their conversations for the Inbox's Activity tab. ActivityTab.tsx:108-120 renders items straight from the hook with no re-sorting.
• Bug: The inbox's merge-sort key for conversations uses creation time (createdAt ?? updatedAt), whereas the upstream activity feed's sort key uses last-activity time (updatedAt ?? createdAt). A replied/reacted thread (updatedAt > createdAt) sinks below a newer-but-dead thread whose createdAt falls between the replied thread's createdAt and its updatedAt.
• Actual vs. expected: Actual: merged items are sorted newest-first by conversation createdAt (not updatedAt). Expected: newest-first by last activity (updatedAt), matching upstream.
• Impact: The Activity tab can show recently-active (replied/reacted) threads below newer-but-inactive threads; this is reachable under the default 30-day window and is dense in the all scope where many conversations are returned.

Code with Bug

src/components/discovery/personal-space/InboxPage/useInboxActivity.ts:

const items: InboxActivityItem[] = useMemo(() => {
  const merged: InboxActivityItem[] = [
    ...(data?.activities ?? []).map((activity) => ({ activity })),
    ...(data?.threads ?? []).map((feed) => ({ feed })),
  ];
  const itemTimestamp = (item: InboxActivityItem) =>
    item.activity?.timestamp ?? (item.feed ? getFeedTimestamp(item.feed) : 0); // <-- BUG 🔴 uses createdAt-first timestamp for sorting

  return merged.sort((a, b) => itemTimestamp(b) - itemTimestamp(a));
}, [data]);

src/components/discovery/personal-space/InboxPage/inbox.utils.ts:

export const getFeedTimestamp = (feed: Conversation): number =>
  feed.createdAt ?? feed.updatedAt ?? 0; // <-- BUG 🔴 createdAt-first (wrong for last-activity ordering)

Explanation

• The server returns conversations filtered by createdAt window but ordered by updatedAt DESC (last activity). The client then calls merged.sort(...) which fully overrides that order.
• In production responses both createdAt and updatedAt are set; updatedAt is bumped on replies/reactions, so updatedAt > createdAt for active threads. Sorting by createdAt therefore misorders active threads relative to newer-but-inactive ones.
• Minimal repro condition: a replied thread where another item’s createdAt falls strictly between that thread’s createdAt and its later updatedAt.

Codebase Inconsistency

Upstream activity feed sorts conversations by last activity:

const getConversationTimestamp = (feed: Conversation): number =>
  feed.updatedAt ?? feed.createdAt ?? 0;

The inbox file header also states: Activity events and conversations interleave newest-first — upstream parity, OpenMetadata#30879.

Failing Test

src/components/discovery/personal-space/InboxPage/useInboxActivity.test.tsx (added regression test):

it('orders a replied conversation above a newer unreplied one by last-activity', async () => {
  mockGetUserActivity.mockResolvedValue({ data: [] });
  mockListConversations.mockResolvedValue({
    data: [
      { id: 'c-replied', createdAt: 200, updatedAt: 400 },
      { id: 'c-unreplied', createdAt: 300, updatedAt: 300 },
    ],
  });

  const { result } = renderHook(() => useInboxActivity('all'), {
    wrapper: createWrapper(),
  });

  await waitFor(() => expect(result.current.isLoading).toBe(false));

  expect(result.current.items.map((i) => i.feed?.id)).toEqual([
    'c-replied',
    'c-unreplied',
  ]);
});

Failing output on current code:

- Expected  - 1
+ Received  + 1

  Array [
-   "c-replied",
    "c-unreplied",
+   "c-replied",
  ]

Recommended Fix

• Keep getFeedTimestamp as-is for display (“Posted on” time is createdAt-first).
• Add a sort-specific helper (updatedAt-first) and use it in useInboxActivity’s merge sort; optionally add the same id tiebreaker as upstream.

History

This bug was introduced in commit 2807684. PR #31911 freshly authored the Inbox’s inbox.utils.ts / useInboxActivity.ts with getFeedTimestamp = createdAt ?? updatedAt ?? 0 and used it as the merged-list sort key, diverging from upstream’s updatedAt ?? createdAt sort precedence.