upgrading-expo

Upgrading Expo - Expo SDK Version Upgrade Skill

Skill Overview

Upgrading Expo is an automated skill that helps you safely upgrade your Expo SDK version. It can handle breaking changes, dependency updates, and configuration migrations to ensure a smooth and risk-free upgrade.

Use Cases

Version Upgrades: When you need to upgrade an Expo project from an old version (e.g., SDK 48) to a new version (e.g., SDK 50), this skill provides complete guidance for the upgrade process.

Handling Breaking Changes: When a new Expo release introduces API changes or configuration modifications, this skill helps you identify and adapt to those changes.

Maintaining Dependency Compatibility: When a third-party package is incompatible with the newer Expo SDK, this skill guides you to use expo-doctor to detect and resolve dependency conflicts.

Core Features

Pre-Upgrade Planning and Checks: Automatically reviews the Expo SDK release notes, identifies breaking changes that affect your project, checks third-party package compatibility, and recommends creating a feature branch and making backups.

Automatic Dependency and Configuration Updates: Uses expo install --fix to automatically update all Expo packages to compatible versions, while handling app.json configuration migrations and native dependency updates.

Post-Upgrade Validation and Testing: Provides a complete test checklist, including validation of core functionality, testing native modules, testing on both iOS and Android, and build verification for app store submission.

FAQs

Will upgrading Expo overwrite my code?

No. Expo SDK upgrades only update project dependencies and configuration files; they do not modify your business logic code. However, note that if the upgrade includes breaking API changes, you may need to manually adjust the parts of your code that use deprecated APIs.

What should I do if a third-party library is incompatible after upgrading the Expo SDK?

First, use npx expo-doctor to check dependency compatibility. For incompatible packages, you can try using npx expo install --fix to automatically fix version conflicts. If the issue persists, check the third-party library’s documentation to confirm whether a version that supports the new Expo SDK is available.

Should I use expo install or install packages with npm?

For Expo-related packages, it is strongly recommended to use expo install instead of npm install. expo install automatically installs the package versions compatible with your current SDK version, while npm install may install the latest versions that are not compatible, causing the project to fail to run properly.