fix(tracing): Discard empty Route Change transactions when route is undefined

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
   - You can now choose which logs are captured: 'native' for logs from native code only, 'js' for logs from the JavaScript layer only, or 'all' for both layers.
   - Takes effect only if `enableLogs` is `true` and defaults to 'all', preserving previous behavior.
 
+### Fixes
+
+- Discard empty Route Change transactions [#5387](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-react-native/issues/5387))
+
 ### Dependencies
 
 - Bump JavaScript SDK from v10.24.0 to v10.25.0 ([#5362](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-react-native/pull/5362))

packages/core/src/js/tracing/onSpanEndUtils.ts

@@ -43,7 +43,28 @@ export const adjustTransactionDuration = (client: Client, span: Span, maxDuratio
   });
 };
 
-export const ignoreEmptyBackNavigation = (client: Client | undefined, span: Span | undefined): void => {
+/**
+ * Helper function to filter out auto-instrumentation child spans.
+ */
+function getMeaningfulChildSpans(span: Span): Span[] {
+  const children = getSpanDescendants(span);
+  return children.filter(
+    child =>
+      child.spanContext().spanId !== span.spanContext().spanId &&
+      spanToJSON(child).op !== 'ui.load.initial_display' &&
+      spanToJSON(child).op !== 'navigation.processing',
+  );
+}
+
+/**
+ * Generic helper to discard empty navigation spans based on a condition.
+ */
+function discardEmptyNavigationSpan(
+  client: Client | undefined,
+  span: Span | undefined,
+  shouldDiscardFn: (span: Span) => boolean,
+  onDiscardFn: (span: Span) => void,
+): void {
   if (!client) {
     debug.warn('Could not hook on spanEnd event because client is not defined.');
     return;
@@ -55,7 +76,7 @@ export const ignoreEmptyBackNavigation = (client: Client | undefined, span: Span
   }
 
   if (!isRootSpan(span) || !isSentrySpan(span)) {
-    debug.warn('Not sampling empty back spans only works for Sentry Transactions (Root Spans).');
+    debug.warn('Not sampling empty navigation spans only works for Sentry Transactions (Root Spans).');
     return;
   }
 
@@ -64,27 +85,66 @@ export const ignoreEmptyBackNavigation = (client: Client | undefined, span: Span
       return;
     }
 
-    if (!spanToJSON(span).data?.['route.has_been_seen']) {
+    if (!shouldDiscardFn(span)) {
       return;
     }
 
-    const children = getSpanDescendants(span);
-    const filtered = children.filter(
-      child =>
-        child.spanContext().spanId !== span.spanContext().spanId &&
-        spanToJSON(child).op !== 'ui.load.initial_display' &&
-        spanToJSON(child).op !== 'navigation.processing',
-    );
-
-    if (filtered.length <= 0) {
-      // filter children must include at least one span not created by the navigation automatic instrumentation
-      debug.log(
-        'Not sampling transaction as route has been seen before. Pass ignoreEmptyBackNavigationTransactions = false to disable this feature.',
-      );
-      // Route has been seen before and has no child spans.
+    const meaningfulChildren = getMeaningfulChildSpans(span);
+    if (meaningfulChildren.length <= 0) {
+      onDiscardFn(span);
       span['_sampled'] = false;
     }
   });
+}
+
+export const ignoreEmptyBackNavigation = (client: Client | undefined, span: Span | undefined): void => {
+  discardEmptyNavigationSpan(
+    client,
+    span,
+    // Only discard if route has been seen before
+    span => spanToJSON(span).data?.['route.has_been_seen'] === true,
+    // Log message when discarding
+    () => {
+      debug.log(
+        'Not sampling transaction as route has been seen before. Pass ignoreEmptyBackNavigationTransactions = false to disable this feature.',
+      );
+    },
+  );
+};
+
+/**
+ * Discards empty "Route Change" transactions that never received route information.
+ * This happens when navigation library emits a route change event but getCurrentRoute() returns undefined.
+ * Such transactions don't contain any useful information and should not be sent to Sentry.
+ *
+ * This function must be called with a reference tracker function that can check if the span
+ * was cleared from the integration's tracking (indicating it went through the state listener).
+ */
+export const ignoreEmptyRouteChangeTransactions = (
+  client: Client | undefined,
+  span: Span | undefined,
+  defaultNavigationSpanName: string,
+  isSpanStillTracked: () => boolean,
+): void => {
+  discardEmptyNavigationSpan(
+    client,
+    span,
+    // Only discard if:
+    // 1. Still has default name
+    // 2. No route information was set
+    // 3. Still being tracked (state listener never called)
+    span => {
+      const spanJSON = spanToJSON(span);
+      return (
+        spanJSON.description === defaultNavigationSpanName && !spanJSON.data?.['route.name'] && isSpanStillTracked()
+      );
+    },
+    // Log and record dropped event
+    _span => {
+      debug.log(`Discarding empty "${defaultNavigationSpanName}" transaction that never received route information.`);
+      client?.recordDroppedEvent('sample_rate', 'transaction');
+    },
+  );
 };
 
 /**

packages/core/src/js/tracing/reactnativenavigation.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import {
 } from '@sentry/core';
 import type { EmitterSubscription } from '../utils/rnlibrariesinterface';
 import { isSentrySpan } from '../utils/span';
-import { ignoreEmptyBackNavigation } from './onSpanEndUtils';
+import { ignoreEmptyBackNavigation, ignoreEmptyRouteChangeTransactions } from './onSpanEndUtils';
 import { SPAN_ORIGIN_AUTO_NAVIGATION_REACT_NATIVE_NAVIGATION } from './origin';
 import type { ReactNativeTracingIntegration } from './reactnativetracing';
 import { getReactNativeTracingIntegration } from './reactnativetracing';
@@ -140,6 +140,14 @@ export const reactNativeNavigationIntegration = ({
     if (ignoreEmptyBackNavigationTransactions) {
       ignoreEmptyBackNavigation(getClient(), latestNavigationSpan);
     }
+    // Always discard transactions that never receive route information
+    const spanToCheck = latestNavigationSpan;
+    ignoreEmptyRouteChangeTransactions(
+      getClient(),
+      spanToCheck,
+      DEFAULT_NAVIGATION_SPAN_NAME,
+      () => latestNavigationSpan === spanToCheck,
+    );
 
     stateChangeTimeout = setTimeout(discardLatestNavigationSpan.bind(this), routeChangeTimeoutMs);
   };

packages/core/src/js/tracing/reactnavigation.ts

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import { isSentrySpan } from '../utils/span';
 import { RN_GLOBAL_OBJ } from '../utils/worldwide';
 import type { UnsafeAction } from '../vendor/react-navigation/types';
 import { NATIVE } from '../wrapper';
-import { ignoreEmptyBackNavigation } from './onSpanEndUtils';
+import { ignoreEmptyBackNavigation, ignoreEmptyRouteChangeTransactions } from './onSpanEndUtils';
 import { SPAN_ORIGIN_AUTO_NAVIGATION_REACT_NAVIGATION } from './origin';
 import type { ReactNativeTracingIntegration } from './reactnativetracing';
 import { getReactNativeTracingIntegration } from './reactnativetracing';
@@ -252,6 +252,14 @@ export const reactNavigationIntegration = ({
     if (ignoreEmptyBackNavigationTransactions) {
       ignoreEmptyBackNavigation(getClient(), latestNavigationSpan);
     }
+    // Always discard transactions that never receive route information
+    const spanToCheck = latestNavigationSpan;
+    ignoreEmptyRouteChangeTransactions(
+      getClient(),
+      spanToCheck,
+      DEFAULT_NAVIGATION_SPAN_NAME,
+      () => latestNavigationSpan === spanToCheck,
+    );
 
     if (enableTimeToInitialDisplay && latestNavigationSpan) {
       NATIVE.setActiveSpanId(latestNavigationSpan.spanContext().spanId);

packages/core/test/tracing/reactnavigation.test.ts

@@ -329,6 +329,62 @@ describe('ReactNavigationInstrumentation', () => {
     );
   });
 
+  test('empty Route Change transaction is not sent when route is undefined', async () => {
+    setupTestClient();
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the init transaction
+
+    mockNavigation.emitNavigationWithUndefinedRoute();
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the empty route change transaction
+
+    await client.flush();
+
+    // Only the initial transaction should be sent
+    expect(client.eventQueue.length).toBe(1);
+    expect(client.event).toEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        type: 'transaction',
+        transaction: 'Initial Screen',
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('empty Route Change transaction is recorded as dropped', async () => {
+    const mockRecordDroppedEvent = jest.fn();
+    setupTestClient();
+    client.recordDroppedEvent = mockRecordDroppedEvent;
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the init transaction
+
+    mockNavigation.emitNavigationWithUndefinedRoute();
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the empty route change transaction
+
+    await client.flush();
+
+    // Should have recorded a dropped transaction
+    expect(mockRecordDroppedEvent).toHaveBeenCalledWith('sample_rate', 'transaction');
+  });
+
+  test('empty Route Change transaction is not sent after multiple undefined routes', async () => {
+    setupTestClient();
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the init transaction
+
+    mockNavigation.emitNavigationWithUndefinedRoute();
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the first empty route change transaction
+
+    mockNavigation.emitNavigationWithUndefinedRoute();
+    jest.runOnlyPendingTimers(); // Flush the second empty route change transaction
+
+    await client.flush();
+
+    // Only the initial transaction should be sent
+    expect(client.eventQueue.length).toBe(1);
+    expect(client.event).toEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        type: 'transaction',
+        transaction: 'Initial Screen',
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   describe('navigation container registration', () => {
     test('registers navigation container object ref', () => {
       const instrumentation = reactNavigationIntegration();

packages/core/test/tracing/reactnavigationutils.ts

@@ -68,6 +68,13 @@ export function createMockNavigationAndAttachTo(sut: ReturnType<typeof reactNavi
         // this object is not used by the instrumentation
       });
     },
+    emitNavigationWithUndefinedRoute: () => {
+      mockedNavigationContained.listeners['__unsafe_action__'](navigationAction);
+      mockedNavigationContained.currentRoute = undefined as any;
+      mockedNavigationContained.listeners['state']({
+        // this object is not used by the instrumentation
+      });
+    },
   };
   sut.registerNavigationContainer(mockRef(mockedNavigationContained));