#049 - Migrating to Expo from RNC CLI & Testing Libraries with Steve Galili

Steve Galili, lead software engineer at MyWheels, discusses the transition from the React Native Community CLI to Expo for their car-sharing platform. He highlights the benefits of Expo, such as easier development and maintenance, and the challenges of convincing the team and management to make the switch. Steve also shares insights into the technology stack of the MyWheels app, including a back office admin tool, a B2B portal, and the core app. He mentions the future plan to migrate to Expo router and the importance of prioritizing core functionality during the migration process. Steve also shares the benefits of using Expo, such as faster builds and easier onboarding for web developers. He then highlights the importance of testing in React Native and introduces the React Native Testing repository he created. Steve expresses his excitement for React Server Components in React Native and the potential improvements they can bring to the MyWheels app.

Learn React Native - https://galaxies.dev

Steve Galili

• Steve X: https://x.com/vanGalilea
• Steve website: https://stevegalili.com/
• Steve GitHub: https://github.com/vanGalilea/

Links

• MyWheels' Journey from RNC CLI to Expo: https://expo.dev/blog/from-rnc-cli-to-expo
• MyWheels: https://mywheels.nl/en
• React Native Testing: https://github.com/vanGalilea/react-native-testing
• Mock Service Worker: https://mswjs.io/

Takeaways

• The transition from React Native Community CLI to Expo can bring benefits such as easier development and maintenance.
• Convincing the team and management to make the switch to Expo can be a challenge, but highlighting the issues with the current setup and the potential improvements can help.
• During the migration process, it's important to prioritize core functionality and make decisions based on the impact on users and other apps. Expo offers benefits such as faster builds and easier onboarding for web developers.
• Front-end Innovation Days provide dedicated time for developers to work on innovative projects.
• Testing is important in React Native, and the React Native Testing repository provides practical examples and resources.
• Maestro and MSW are useful tools for testing and mocking API calls in React Native.
• React Server Components in React Native have the potential to improve app performance and security.