Releasing

Release builds, version numbers and store uploads run through fastlane (ADR 0012). Building needs no accounts. Uploading needs a Google Play service account or an App Store Connect API key, and the lanes that upload stop and tell you what’s missing until you add them.

Run every lane through Bundler, so you get the version pinned in Gemfile.lock:

bundle install
bundle exec fastlane lanes

Lanes

Lane	What it does	Needs
fastlane bump [version:1.2.0] [build:42]	Sets the version on Android and iOS, and raises the build number by one (or to build:)	Nothing
fastlane android build [env:prod] [format:apk|aab] [abi:arm64-v8a]	Release build: an App Bundle for prod, an APK for dev and staging. abi: builds one architecture, for quicker local builds	An upload key to be uploadable; without one it’s signed with the debug key
fastlane android beta [track:internal]	Builds the prod App Bundle and uploads it to a Play testing track as a draft	Play service account, upload key
fastlane ios build [env:prod] [type:appstore|adhoc]	With APPLE_TEAM_ID: certificates from match, then a signed IPA. Without it: an unsigned archive, which proves the release build compiles	Nothing for the archive; a team and match for an IPA
fastlane ios certs [env:prod] [type:appstore|adhoc]	Fetches certificates and profiles from match (read-only on CI)	Apple Developer team, a match repository
fastlane ios beta	Builds the prod IPA and uploads it to TestFlight	All of the above, an App Store Connect API key

Android lanes need ANDROID_HOME set to your SDK (usually ~/Library/Android/sdk), like any Gradle build run outside Android Studio.

env is dev, staging or prod (default prod), the same environments as environments.md. Builds land in android/app/build/outputs/ and build/ios/.

The Fastfile reads the app name from app.json and the ids from the native projects, so it keeps working after pnpm bootstrap.

Versions

One version for both platforms: versionName / versionCode in android/app/build.gradle, and MARKETING_VERSION / CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION in the Xcode project. Bump them together and commit:

bundle exec fastlane bump version:1.2.0
git commit -am "chore: release 1.2.0"

Each upload needs a higher build number than the last one, on both stores.

Credentials

Put these in fastlane/.env (git-ignored; copy fastlane/.env.example) or in your CI’s secrets. Never commit them.

Variable	Used by	Where to get it
RN_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE, RN_UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD, RN_UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS, RN_UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD	Android builds	Your upload keystore (going live). ~/.gradle/gradle.properties works too
PLAY_JSON_KEY_PATH	android beta	Google Cloud service account with access in Play Console → Users and permissions. Create the app in Play Console and upload the first build by hand: the API can’t create apps
APPLE_TEAM_ID	iOS builds	Apple Developer → Membership
MATCH_GIT_URL, MATCH_PASSWORD	ios certs, ios build	A private Git repository for match, and the passphrase it’s encrypted with. Run bundle exec fastlane match appstore once to create the certificates
ASC_KEY_ID, ASC_ISSUER_ID, ASC_KEY_PATH	ios beta, match	App Store Connect → Users and Access → Integrations → App Store Connect API (.p8 file)

A signed iOS build switches the app target to manual signing with the match profile for that build. On CI the checkout is thrown away; locally, discard the change to project.pbxproj afterwards.

Continuous integration

CI is paused while the template is built, and has no release job yet. When you add one, run the same lanes with the credentials above as secrets (fastlane android beta, fastlane ios beta). On CI, match is read-only, so certificates are created once from a laptop.

Notes

• fastlane 2.240.1, pinned in Gemfile.lock. It requires the json gem below 3.0, so Bundler resolves json 2.x for CocoaPods too.
• fastlane prints that Ruby 3.2 support is going away. The template pins Ruby 3.2.2 (.ruby-version); move to 3.3 or later when fastlane drops 3.2.
• The Fastfile turns off fastlane’s usage analytics (opt_out_usage) and its generated README (skip_docs).