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expo-dev-client adds various useful development tools to your debug builds:

• A configurable launcher UI, so you can launch updates (such as from PR previews) and switch between development servers without needing to recompile the native app
• Improved debugging tools (such as support for inspecting network requests)
• A powerful and extensible developer menu UI

Expo documentation refers to debug builds that include expo-dev-client as development builds.

Installation

When you create a build with EAS Build, set developmentClient to true on a build profile in your eas.json. Without it, EAS Build produces a standalone build with no development tools. For example:

{
  "build": {
    "development": {
      "developmentClient": true,
      "distribution": "internal"
      %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
    }
  }
  %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
}

For more information, see the developmentClient property in the eas.json reference.

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, start by installing expo in your project. Then, follow the instructions from Install expo-dev-client in an existing React Native project.

Configuration in app config

You can configure development client launcher using its built-in config plugin if you use config plugins in your project (Continuous Native Generation (CNG)). The plugin allows you to configure various properties that cannot be set at runtime and require building a new app binary to take effect. If your app does not use CNG, then you'll need to manually configure the library.

Example app.json with config plugin

{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "expo-dev-client",
        {
          "launchMode": "most-recent",
          "defaultLaunchURL": "http://localhost:8081",
          "android": {
            "defaultLaunchURL": "http://10.0.0.2:8081"
          },
          "toolsButton": true,
          "skipOnboarding": false,
          "showMenuAtLaunch": true
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Configurable properties

TV support

• Android TV: All operations are supported, similar to an Android phone.
• Apple TV: Basic operations with a local or tunneled packager are supported. Authentication to EAS and listing of EAS builds and updates is not yet supported.

API

import * as DevClient from 'expo-dev-client';

No API data file found, sorry!