Expo Static Server

This POC demonstrates the use of react-native-static-server using Expo 52 and EAS Build on the New Architecture.

Under the hood the library uses a lightweight HTTP server called lighttpd, written in C, which comes bundled with the library. It will be started on the native side using bindings from iOS or Android (using System.loadLibrary to dynamically using the Java Native Interface).

Instructions

To reproduce this example from scratch:

• npx create-expo-app@latest --template blank-typescript
• choose a project name
• cd into the project
• Run yarn and remove the package-lock.json to install dependencies using Yarn
• You can now run the app using yarn start in your Simulator or Emulator, using Expo Go
• However, we want to be able build this project as a standalone app, so we need to use expo-dev-client
• If you haven't set up EAS before, run: npm install -g eas-cli, then eas login to your Expo account (create one on expo.dev if you don't have one) and then run eas build:configure and follow the instructions to create a new eas.json file
• Add the following dependencies: yarn add expo-dev-client expo-document-picker expo-build-properties @dr.pogodin/react-native-static-server @dr.pogodin/react-native-fs
• To your app.json file, add the following to the plugins section:

"plugins": [
  [
    "expo-build-properties",
    {
      "android": {
        "minSdkVersion": 28
      }
    }
  ]
]

• In your eas.json, replace your development section with the following snippet:

"development": {
  "developmentClient": true,
  "distribution": "internal",
  "ios": {
    "resourceClass": "m-medium"
  },
  "env": {
    "APP_ENV": "development"
  }
},
"development:device": {
  "extends": "development",
  "ios": {
    "simulator": false
  }
},
"development:simulator": {
  "extends": "development",
  "ios": {
    "simulator": true
  }
},

• To your package.json scripts section, add the following build scripts:

"build:simulator:android": "eas build --profile development:simulator --platform ios --message $(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD) --local",
"build:simulator:ios": "eas build --profile development:simulator --platform ios --message $(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD) --local",
"build:device:android": "eas build --profile development:device --platform android --message $(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD) --local",
"build:device:ios": "eas build --profile development:device --platform ios --message $(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD) --local"

• Copy the App.tsx contents from this project to yours
• Now run yarn build:simulator:ios to build the app for the iOS simulator