Redirection to dashboard's home on new sites that have not been launched yet when trying to edit post/pages or Site Editor

[renata-franco]

Quick summary

When the user creates a new site that has not been launched yet, sometimes going to edit a post or page, or the Site Editor, will redirect them to https://wordpress.com/setup/design-first/launchpad?siteSlug=SITE and then to https://wordpress.com/home/

https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/assets/81378719/d3eea0d3-2fe9-4d2b-8f3b-6155f9b85ccb

Up until now, the case has been with one simple site (7689569-zen) and one AT (7727769-zen).

Also, looks like it does not happen for all sites. I tried replicating on a simple site recently created, and nothing. It worked normally.

Video attached.

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to Site Editor on a site that has yet to be launched.
2. Get redirected.

What you expected to happen

View the Site Editor or the page/post to edit it.

What actually happened

Redirection to https://wordpress.com/home/ after visiting temporarily https://wordpress.com/setup/design-first/launchpad?siteSlug=SITE

Impact

Some (< 50%)

Available workarounds?

Yes, easy to implement

Platform (Simple and/or Atomic)

Simple, Atomic

Workarounds

Launch the site. Put in "Coming Soon" and then change to "Public". Repeat a couple more times and leave on "Coming Soon" at the end. This usually fixes it.

[github-actions[bot]]

Support References

This comment is automatically generated. Please do not edit it.

• [ ] 7689569-zen
• [ ] 7727769-zen
• [ ] 7713526-zen
• [ ] https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/edit-site-loop
• [ ] https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/cant-edit-site-14
• [ ] 8182209-zen
• [ ] 8213067-zen
• [ ] 8317102-zen
• [ ] 8448275-zen

[vinnykaur]

One more, simple site - 7713526-zd-a8c

[maciejpilarski]

📌 REPRODUCTION RESULTS – Tested on Simple – Could Not Replicate

📌 FINDINGS/SCREENSHOTS/VIDEO I was not able to recreate the issue on my new test site, which hasn't been launched yet. All worked as expected.

📌 ACTIONS – Closed as could not replicate (please reopen if the issue reoccurs)

[csonnek]

I have another report from the forums: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/edit-site-loop/

I can replicate by trying to open the site editor on the user's site that has not been launched: https://marriedwithadog1f902d4731.wordpress.com/

It stops loading the site editor partway through, then redirects to https://wordpress.com/setup/design-first/launchpad?siteSlug=marriedwithadog1f902d4731.wordpress.com then completes the redirect to the user's dashboard.

[csonnek]

Another report: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/cant-edit-site-14/

Site: https://millennialdigitaltimes.wordpress.com/ not launched yet - same /setup/design-first/ URL before redirecting to the dashboard

[jorpdesigns]

• Reported on unlaunched Atomic site in 8182209-zen.
• Toggling Launch Site → Public → Coming Soon didn't help.
• Site Editor isn't affected and issue doesn't occur on newly-created pages (possibly due to following suggestions in paYE8P-2BZ-p2
• Suggested creating new pages as workaround (no content in existing pages).

[galakhyati]

Another simple site that was not launched in 8213067-zd-a8c. The Editor link was getting redirected to the dashboard. I've suggested the workaround to try.

[chekle]

Another user reported the same issue on a staging site using the Assembler theme. The suggested fixes didn't work. Changing themes did resolve the issue, switching to the Classic admin allowed the pages to be edited. 8317102-zd-a8c

[janmckell]

This user had the same issue, usign the Pixl theme. Toggling 'Coming Soon'/'Public' a few times fixed it for them. 8448275-zd-a8c

[daledupreez]

Thanks to @supernovia sharing a customer use case, I am fairly confident that https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/pull/90706 is closely related to this, and I have firmer steps to reproduce:

• Create a new site via https://wordpress.com/setup/start-writing/
• Work through the flow to publish your first post
• After publishing, you should be taken to the fullscreen launchpad.
  • You may see a congratulatory modal instead -- if so, pick "Next steps" to get taken to the launchpad
• On the fullscreen launchpad, select the "Skip for now" option in the top right corner to take you to Customer Home
• Navigate to the Site Editor via Appearance => Editor
• Make one or more changes to the template and save them.
• Reload the site editor.
• You should be redirected to the launchpad screen and then back to Customer Home.

[daledupreez]

Due to the deployment strategy for code in wpcom-block-editor, this was eventually deployed via D159963-code.