How do you set up an environment that allows both bare/managed workflow to co-exist?

[wodin]

Hi @trajano

@trajano

we need to be able to integrate with some 3rd party that would not work with Expo managed workflow (i.e. Pendo).

Ideally (in my opinion) you would stick with the managed workflow and write a config plugin (if necessary) to integrate Pendo into your app during the build process.

@trajano

From what I can tell the first step is to perform an expo prebuild.

If you do not want to write a config plugin, yes, you would use expo prebuild to switch to the Bare workflow.

@trajano

And there’s a way of doing a check if you’re running in Expo Go so you can skip the non-supported sections.

Yes, see: Custom native code in Expo Go - Expo Documentation

@trajano

I don’t think I will be modifying native code, just adding a new library.

This is a good reason, in my opinion, to try a config plugin first. I had a quick look and it was not clear to me what you need to do to integrate Pendo into a bare Expo project. I did see some mention of “codeless React Native” support, but it wasn’t clear what that means. Could you post some installation instructions here?

@trajano

what should be in .gitignore? The ios and android folder seem to contain other files that are generated when the application is started and are not ignored.

• If you switch to the bare workflow, but avoid calling Pendo code in Expo Go: Commit the ios and android directories and do not ignore them.
• If you get a config plugin working, do not run expo prebuild and do not commit the ios and android directories. You can add them to your .gitignore if you like.

@trajano

should I expect developers to perform expo prebuild every time on their local machine if they’re working on non-managed components?

No. Assuming you switch to the Bare workflow, you would basically run it once, then integrate the Pendo SDK and commit the results. You would only need to worry about it if you want to change the app’s name, icons, splash screen, Info.plist, AndroidManifest.xml, etc. or upgrade React Native or integrate some other dependency with native code. (If you stick to the managed workflow then you can continue to use app.json to update things like the app name, icons, splash screen, etc., etc.)

@trajano

should I expect developers to perform expo prebuild every time on their local machine if they’re NOT working on non-managed components?

No.

@trajano

can I still do expo upgrade? to ensure that the dependencies are still in-sync, not necessarily SDK 45->46?

You can run expo upgrade, although you’ll need to do a bunch of other stuff too. For example, check the “Bare workflow” section in the Expo SDK 45 release blog post. Again, sticking to the managed workflow is simpler for upgrades.

@trajano

can I still manage things using app.config.ts? Namely the build numbers are computed from the environment variables during build time.

Most stuff in app.json / app.config.js no longer applies in the bare workflow. I am pretty sure build numbers would need to be updated in the native projects after you switch to the bare workflow.