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Framework (OSS). Guidelines for upgrading Expo SDK versions and fixing dependency issues
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Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes — Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code match what the originating issue/PRD asked for?). Runs both reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use when the user wants to review a branch, a PR, work-in-progress changes, or asks to "review since X".
Run split-context adversarial review on code changes — Bugbot, security review, repo contract checks, and react-doctor (changed-scope scan), then apply fixes from serialized findings. Use after implementing a feature or fix, before merge, when finishing a ticket, or when the user asks for adversarial review.
EAS service (paid). Deploy Expo apps to the app stores with EAS - build and submit to the iOS App Store, Google Play Store, and TestFlight, configure eas.json build and submit profiles, manage app versions and build numbers, and publish App Store metadata and ASO. Use whenever the user wants to deploy, release, or ship an app to production or the app stores, is preparing a production build, running eas build or eas submit, shipping to TestFlight, bumping version or build numbers, or setting up store listing metadata. For deploying an Expo website or API routes, use the eas-hosting skill.
EAS service (paid). Deploy Expo websites and Expo Router API routes to EAS Hosting - export the web bundle, run eas deploy for production and PR preview URLs, manage environment secrets and custom domains, and work within the Cloudflare Workers runtime. Also covers authoring API routes (+api.ts handlers, HTTP methods, request handling, CORS). Use when deploying an Expo web app or API routes, setting up EAS Hosting, or configuring hosting environments and domains. Not for native builds or store releases - use the eas-app-stores skill for those.
EAS service (paid). Use for anything related to EAS Observe - adding `expo-observe` to an Expo project (AppMetricsRoot/ObserveRoot HOC, markInteractive, the useObserve hook, the Expo Router / React Navigation integrations for per-route metrics, and user-defined events via `Observe.logEvent`), querying via the EAS CLI (`eas observe:metrics-summary`, `observe:metrics`, `observe:routes`, `observe:events`, `observe:versions`), or interpreting the resulting metrics (cold/warm launch, TTR, TTI, navigation cold/warm TTR, update download, and the TTI frameRate params for triaging slow startups).
EAS service (paid). Run and control a user's app on a remote iOS/Android simulator hosted on EAS cloud. Read before running any `eas simulator:*` commands - it has the current syntax for this experimental API. Use whenever the user needs a simulator they can't run locally - 'run my app on a cloud simulator', 'use eas simulator to run/install/screenshot my app', 'I'm on Linux/Cursor and need an iOS device', 'no sim on this box / headless CI', 'let an agent click through my app and screenshot it', 'test my dev build on a remote sim with live reload', 'stream a sim to my browser' - even when they don't say 'EAS Simulator' or 'cloud'. On a host WITHOUT a local simulator (Linux, CI, cloud sandbox) it's the default; on macOS, do NOT auto-trigger for a plain 'run on the simulator' - use it only for a cloud/remote/shareable sim, an iOS version they lack, or an agent-driven session. NOT for local sims (expo run:ios, Xcode, Android Studio), EAS Build/Update, web preview, or physical devices.
| name | expo-upgrade |
| description | Framework (OSS). Guidelines for upgrading Expo SDK versions and fixing dependency issues |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| license | MIT |
@react-navigation/* imports to expo-router entry points (codemod + manual mapping)Beta versions use .preview suffix (e.g., 55.0.0-preview.2), published under @next tag.
Check if latest is beta: https://exp.host/--/api/v2/versions (look for -preview in expoVersion)
npx expo install expo@next --fix # install beta
npx expo install expo@latest
npx expo install --fix
Run diagnostics: npx expo-doctor
Clear caches and reinstall
npx expo export -p ios --clear
rm -rf node_modules .expo
watchman watch-del-all
First check if ios/ and android/ directories exist in the project. If neither directory exists, the project uses Continuous Native Generation (CNG) and native projects are regenerated at build time — skip this section and "Clear caches for bare workflow" entirely.
If upgrading requires native changes:
npx expo prebuild --clean
This regenerates the ios and android directories. Ensure the project is not a bare workflow app before running this command.
These steps only apply when ios/ and/or android/ directories exist in the project:
cd ios && pod install --repo-updatenpx expo run:ios --no-build-cachecd android && ./gradlew clean"experiments": { "reactCompiler": true } to app.json — it's stable and recommendedapp.json to let Expo manage it automaticallypackage.json: @babel/core, babel-preset-expo, expo-constants.| Old Package | Replacement |
|---|---|
expo-av | expo-audio and expo-video |
expo-permissions | Individual package permission APIs |
@expo/vector-icons | expo-symbols (for SF Symbols) |
AsyncStorage | expo-sqlite/localStorage/install |
expo-app-loading | expo-splash-screen |
| expo-linear-gradient | experimental_backgroundImage + CSS gradients in View |
When migrating deprecated packages, update all code usage before removing the old package. For expo-av, consult the migration references to convert Audio.Sound to useAudioPlayer, Audio.Recording to useAudioRecorder, and Video components to VideoView with useVideoPlayer.
Check if package.json has excluded packages:
{
"expo": { "install": { "exclude": ["react-native-reanimated"] } }
}
Exclusions are often workarounds that may no longer be needed after upgrading. Review each one.
Check if there are any outdated patches in the patches/ directory. Remove them if they are no longer needed.
autoprefixer isn't needed in SDK +53. Remove it from dependencies and check postcss.config.js or postcss.config.mjs to remove it from the plugins list.postcss.config.mjs in SDK +53.Remove redundant metro config options:
experimentalImportSupport is enabled by default in SDK +54.EXPO_USE_FAST_RESOLVER=1 is removed in SDK +54.Since SDK 55, users can opt-in to use Hermes engine v1 for improved runtime performance. This requires setting useHermesV1: true in the expo-build-properties config plugin, and may require a specific version of the hermes-compiler npm package. Hermes v1 will become a default in some future SDK release.
The new architecture is enabled by default, the app.json field "newArchEnabled": true is no longer needed as it's the default. Expo Go only supports the new architecture as of SDK +53.