How to build a REACT Native app automatically using GitLab

Question

I am looking for a way to build the APK of my React Native App automatically using a GitLab pipeline, I can't seem to find a solution on the web that does not use Expo, do you have any ideas on how to do this?

We have a team of testers who would like to test the APK on a real device, do you have any idea on how to achieve this (without Expo)?

Answer 1

Hey I've successfully automated react native build apps using gitlab CI/CD pipelines. You need to create ".gitlab-ci.yml" file in the root of your project and add below scripts and may change as per your needs.

before_script:
  - yarn install --frozen-lockfile #--frozen-lockfile to make sure we will have the same packages version

stages:
  - build

build project:
  stage: build
  image: reactnativecommunity/react-native-android
  cache:
    key:
      files:
        - yarn.lock
    paths:
      - node_modules
    policy: pull #`pull` the jobs pull the cache at the beginning but do not push the changes again.
  script:
    - yarn build:apk # is the scripts defined in your package.json as "cd android #&& ./gradlew assembleRelease"
    - yarn install --pure-lockfile --cache-folder .yarn
    
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

let me know if you have any problems