7 Essential Expo/EAS Commands You Should Know

Here is the list of essential Expo/EAS commands you need for building, deploying, and publishing apps using Expo.

Whether you are building an Android or iOS app, these commands are very handy.

1. Start Expo App

This is the primary command to start the development server and then view your project in Expo DevTools during development.

expo start

Once this command runs successfully, a QR code will be generated. Open your Pythical device (either Android or iOS). Install the app “Expo Go” from the Play Store. Scan the QR code.

That’s it. Now you will be able to see your app running in real-time. This is the first command you need to run your application using Expo.

If you are building your app first time using Expo, you should read this document- creating a react-native app using the Expo tool.

2. Build APK files locally

Here is the eas command to build the APK file for Android, locally.

eas build --platform android --local

• It doesn’t use the EAS server to build the API.
• To execute this command, Android SDK is required on your system.
• On a successful run, APK bundle will be created on your system. You will see the path of the .apk file. Later, you can run that .apk file on any Android device to test your application.

Remember:

Command expo build serves the same purpose as eas build for creating a package build. But eas build provides better features than expo build as better caching, faster execution, etc.

3. Build APK files using eas server

By default, if you try to download the expo package, it downloads .aab file.

eas build -p android

We can not install it on our Android mobile. The .aab bundle file is a package bundle that is usually used to upload the bundle on the Play Store.

Alternatively, you can use –platform all to create a build for both Android and iOS.

eas build --platform all

You can also pass the message for the build.

eas build --platform android --message "Your message"

This message will be visible on the EAS website. It comes very handy to take a note with the purpose of the build.

To download the .apk file, you have to tweak the configuration code.

Update eas.json configuration file and set the apkDownload parameter (called as profile). You can name it anything.

{
  "cli": {
    "version": ">= 3.14.0"
  },
  "build": {
    "apkDownload": {
      "android": {
        "buildType": "apk"
      }
    }
  }
}

Now run the below command to download the Android APK file.

eas build -p android --profile apkDownload

This command builds the package bundle and then uploads it to the EAS. You will get the link to download the bundle. You can download the .apk bundle and install it on your Android device.

If you don’t provide --profile flag, the default profile is “production” (if it exists in eas.json).

The major advantage of this command is that you don’t need Android SDK on your local system.

4. Get a list of the build

Run the below command to get the list of all the builds.

eas build:list

On execution, you will the list of all the builds in detail below.

ID            <ID>
Platform      Android
Status        finished
Distribution  store
SDK Version   49.0.0
Version       1.0
Version code  1
Commit        <commit_id>
Logs          <expo_dev_log_path>
Artifact      <build_path>
Started at    9/17/2023, 11:47:30 PM
Finished at   12/2/2023, 12:45:51 AM
Started by    ani

5. Publish app

Expo publish command published the app to the Expo server.

expo publish

Basically after making changes in the app and testing locally, you can publish the app on the Expo server.

Your updated app will be available to the users who have already installed your app through the “Expo Go” app. This allows them to download and use the app from the Expo Server without installing it from the Play Store.

6. Submit app to App Store

This simple command publishes your app to the respective app store like “Google Play Store” for Android and “Apple App Store” for iOS.

eas submit

With this command, EAS takes care of code signing, and other requirements specific to each platform. Doing it manually is very cumbersome.

Before submitting your app, you should configure the keystore credentials correctly.

7. Configure Build

Use this command to configure the various aspects of the EAS build. You can specify the environment variables, customize the build process, specify the build profiles, etc.

eas build:configure

It helps you to fine-tune your app-building process as per your project requirements.

There are many other commands such as expo rebuilding.

Use these commands with the necessary flags. You can find all the available flag options using the -h option.

These are very useful and handy commands if you are developing your app using Expo.

Any doubt? Write me in the comment section below. Happy coding!

Aniruddha Chaudhari

I am a Python enthusiast who loves Linux and Vim. I hold a Master of Computer Science degree from NIT Trichy and have 10 years of experience in the IT industry, focusing on the Software Development Lifecycle from Requirements Gathering, Design, Development to Deployment. I have worked at IBM, Ericsson, and NetApp, and I share my knowledge on CSEstack.org.