Getting Started#

Pre-requisites#

If you're already familiar with JavaScript, React Native and Webpack, then you'll be able to get moving quickly! Otherwise, it's highly recommended to get yourself familiar with these topic and then come back here:

• React Native Express
• Webpack concepts

Minimum requirements#

• react-native >= 0.70.0
• Node >= 18 (recommended Node 20 or newer)

If you're using older versions of React Native, you can still try using Re.Pack, but your mileage may vary as they are not officially supported.

Note on Expo#

Officially, Re.Pack doesn't support Expo. It might be possible to use Re.Pack in Expo projects, but it would require more work and setup. We welcome anyone who would like to contribute and bring Expo support to Re.Pack.

Additionally, in order to use Code Splitting functionality, Re.Pack provides a native module which should be compiled into your application. This means that with Expo you won't be able to use it.

Compatibility with Webpack#

On paper, Re.Pack should work with any version of Webpack 5, but we recommend to consult with the compatibility table below. The table represents versions of webpack for which Re.Pack is confirmed to work correctly.

If you don't see your version, give it a go. If it doesn't work, please open an issue.

Examples#

If you get stuck or you want to explore beforehand, you can use the examples of React Native applications using Re.Pack here: https://github.com/callstack/repack-examples.

Installation#

If your project retains the structure of React Native template then you can simply run the following command in your project:

npx @callstack/repack-init

@callstack/repack-init command will install all required dependencies and configure your project to use Re.Pack. The only thing left for you to do is to install Pods associated with Re.Pack for the iOS part of your application.

Manual installation#

1. Dependencies#

Install required dependencies in your project:

npm i -D webpack terser-webpack-plugin babel-loader @callstack/repack

or

yarn add -D webpack terser-webpack-plugin babel-loader @callstack/repack

This will install latest versions of Webpack, Re.Pack and dependencies used in Webpack config: terser-webpack-plugin for minification and babel-loader for transpiling the code.

If you already have Webpack or Re.Pack installed, you might want to check the compatibility table to ensure all dependencies are ok.

Once the dependencies are installed, you need to tell React Native CLI to add Re.Pack's commands.

2. React Native config#

Add the following content to react-native.config.js (or create it if it doesn't exist):

module.exports = {
  commands: require('@callstack/repack/commands'),
};

This will allow you to use react-native webpack-start and react-native webpack-bundle commands, but before that you need to create a Webpack configuration.

3. Webpack config#

Create file webpack.config.mjs in the root directory of your project and paste the content from our Webpack config template.

4. Configure XCode#

When building release version of your application XCode project will still use Metro to bundle the application, so you need to adjust build settings to make XCode use Re.Pack instead.

Open your application's XCode project/workspace and:

1. Click on the project in Project navigator panel on the left
2. Go to Build Phases tab
3. Expand Bundle React Native code and images phase
4. Add export BUNDLE_COMMAND=webpack-bundle to the phase

After the change, the content of this phase should look similar to:

set -e

WITH_ENVIRONMENT="../node_modules/react-native/scripts/xcode/with-environment.sh"
export BUNDLE_COMMAND=webpack-bundle
REACT_NATIVE_XCODE="../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react-native-xcode.sh"

/bin/sh -c "$WITH_ENVIRONMENT $REACT_NATIVE_XCODE"

5. Configure Android#

When building release version of your application Gradle will still use Metro to bundle the application, so you need to adjust build settings to make Gradle use Re.Pack instead.

Open your application's Gradle project, usually located at android/app/build.gradle and add bundleCommand = "webpack-bundle" to react.

After the change, the content of react should look similar to:

react {
    ...
    bundleCommand = "webpack-bundle"
    ...
}

Usage#

After completing Installation you should be able to use Re.Pack's development server and bundle your application.

Keep in mind that, you might need to adjust Webpack config to your project in order to the application to work correctly. It's impossible for us to know what your project looks like and uses, so it's recommended to read through the Webpack config's code and comments and make sure you understand what's going on there.

Running development server#

When developing your application, you want to run Re.Pack's development server to compile your source code with Webpack.

The recommended way is to use React Native CLI and run:

react-native webpack-start

Bundling the app#

When building the release version of your application via XCode, Gradle CLI or Android Studio, as long as you followed Configure XCode and Configure Android, it should use Re.Pack to bundle your application.

If you want to create bundle (development or production), the recommended way is to use React Native CLI and run:

react-native webpack-bundle

The 2nd option, is to use Webpack CLI:

webpack -c webpack.config.mjs --env platform=ios --env mode=production

Make sure you have webpack-cli installed in your project.