fix: make the browser Back button close a post instead of exiting the app

The URL was only ever synced with history.replaceState, so the app
never created any history entries of its own -- Back always went
straight to whatever page was open before this one, no matter where
you were in the app.

Opening a post now pushState's a new entry, matching how Instagram's
own back button behaves: Back closes the post and returns to the grid.
Closing a post any other way (the X button, the modal's own close
handler) consumes that same entry via history.back() instead of piling
a fresh one on top, and a popstate listener re-syncs app state for
both directions. Tab switches and archive loads still use
replaceState, unchanged -- only the post view gets its own step in
history, deliberately, to keep the history stack shallow.

Verified in a real browser: open a post, Back closes it and stays in
the app; Forward reopens it; the X button closes it too, consuming the
same entry rather than leaving a stale one behind.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011qAds5qr7nZRq5R4yAuxUk
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-27 14:36:36 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Sonnet 5
parent 26d2d3e379
commit 600949e475
+56 -2
View File
@@ -73,6 +73,17 @@ export default function App() {
*/ */
const initialRouteRef = useRef(parseRoute(window.location.pathname, window.location.search)); const initialRouteRef = useRef(parseRoute(window.location.pathname, window.location.search));
/**
* Back-button support for the post view. Every other URL change
* (`replaceState`s the tab/archive) is intentionally NOT pushed — only
* opening a post gets its own history entry, matching Instagram's own
* back-button behaviour: Back closes the post instead of leaving the app.
*/
const pushedPostRef = useRef(false);
/** Set while reacting to a popstate, so the URL-sync effect below does not
* try to push/replace/back() again for a change the browser already made. */
const suppressNextSyncRef = useRef(false);
const isMobile = useIsMobile(); const isMobile = useIsMobile();
const fileInputRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null); const fileInputRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);
const profilePicInputRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null); const profilePicInputRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement>(null);
@@ -367,6 +378,13 @@ export default function App() {
// loader below is waiting to read. // loader below is waiting to read.
if (!hasInitialLoaded) return; if (!hasInitialLoaded) return;
// Consumed exactly once per popstate, regardless of what happens below:
// a popstate-driven change often already matches the URL (the browser
// already moved the pointer), which used to leave this flag stuck true
// and silently no-op the NEXT real close/open until something reset it.
const wasPopState = suppressNextSyncRef.current;
suppressNextSyncRef.current = false;
const archive = currentArchive?.name ?? (allPosts.length > 0 ? username : null) ?? null; const archive = currentArchive?.name ?? (allPosts.length > 0 ? username : null) ?? null;
const nextPath = buildPath({ const nextPath = buildPath({
archive, archive,
@@ -374,12 +392,48 @@ export default function App() {
post: selectedPost ? postSlug(selectedPost) : null, post: selectedPost ? postSlug(selectedPost) : null,
}); });
if (nextPath !== window.location.pathname + window.location.search) { if (nextPath === window.location.pathname + window.location.search) return;
console.log(`[Permalink] Updating URL to: ${nextPath}`); if (wasPopState) return; // the browser already navigated; nothing to add
console.log(`[Permalink] Updating URL to: ${nextPath}`);
if (selectedPost && !pushedPostRef.current) {
// Opening a post: push, so Back closes it instead of leaving the app.
window.history.pushState(null, '', nextPath);
pushedPostRef.current = true;
} else if (!selectedPost && pushedPostRef.current) {
// Closing a post that was pushed for: consume that entry rather than
// piling a new one on top of it, so Back still means "one step".
pushedPostRef.current = false;
window.history.back();
} else {
window.history.replaceState(null, '', nextPath); window.history.replaceState(null, '', nextPath);
} }
}, [hasInitialLoaded, currentArchive?.name, username, allPosts.length, activeTab, selectedPost?.id]); }, [hasInitialLoaded, currentArchive?.name, username, allPosts.length, activeTab, selectedPost?.id]);
/**
* Back/forward support for the post view. Only a post push (above) ever
* creates an entry, so this only ever needs to open or close a post —
* never re-derive the tab or archive, which stayed on replaceState.
*/
useEffect(() => {
const onPopState = () => {
suppressNextSyncRef.current = true;
const route = parseRoute(window.location.pathname, window.location.search);
const post = route.post ? findPostBySlug(allPosts, route.post) : null;
if (post) {
setActiveTab(tabForSource(post.source));
setSelectedPost(post);
pushedPostRef.current = true; // forward navigation can land back here
} else {
setSelectedPost(null);
pushedPostRef.current = false;
}
};
window.addEventListener('popstate', onPopState);
return () => window.removeEventListener('popstate', onPopState);
}, [allPosts]);
useEffect(() => { useEffect(() => {
if (hasInitialLoaded) return; if (hasInitialLoaded) return;