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React Native

Manual setup for building React Native apps on a personal Mac. Covers react-native-tvos targets that need both Apple TV and Android TV simulators.

The dotfiles install Android Studio, Xcode tooling, Watchman, and a Temurin 21 JDK via mise. CocoaPods is installed per repo through Bundler so version pins match the app's Gemfile. Everything below is per-machine state that the repo does not automate, because the steps require sudo, GUI flows, large SDK downloads, or license acceptance.

Xcode and tvOS Simulator

  1. Open Xcode once after install. Accept any prompts to install additional components.

  2. Point command-line tools at the full Xcode install:

    sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-26.4.1.app
sudo xcodebuild -license accept

    The exact Xcode-*.app name depends on the version installed by xcodes.

  3. Download the tvOS simulator runtime. This is multi-GB and runs in the background:

    xcodebuild -downloadPlatform tvOS

  4. Verify a tvOS simulator device type appears:

    xcrun simctl list devicetypes | grep "Apple TV"

Android Studio and Android TV

  1. Launch Android Studio once. Run the first-time setup wizard with default settings. This installs the Android SDK under ~/Library/Android/sdk.

  2. Export the SDK location for shells that build Android apps. Add to ~/.zshrc or a project .envrc:

    export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk"
path+=("$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools" "$ANDROID_HOME/emulator")

  3. Accept SDK licenses:

    "$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager" --licenses

  4. Install the Android TV system image and create an AVD. Pick the API level the target app expects:

    "$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager" \
  "system-images;android-34;android-tv;arm64-v8a"

    Create the AVD through Android Studio's Device Manager (Tools -> Device Manager -> Create Device -> TV) so it picks up the correct hardware profile.

  5. Confirm adb and emulator are on PATH:

    adb --version
emulator -list-avds

Java for Android Gradle Plugin

Android Gradle Plugin versions below 8.5 (used by React Native 0.73 and earlier) cannot build with JDK 21. Their jlink invocation passes --disable-plugin system-modules, which was removed in JDK 20+. Symptom:

Failed to transform core-for-system-modules.jar … Error while executing
process … jlink with arguments … --disable-plugin system-modules

Install Temurin 17 alongside the shared 21 and point gradle at it for those projects:

mise install java@temurin-17
export JAVA_HOME="$(mise where java@temurin-17)"

The mise where form resolves to whichever patch release mise installed, so the export stays correct as Temurin 17.x advances. Pin the JDK at the project level with a mise.toml so the repo selects 17 automatically. Do not change the shared global mise config.

Ruby, CocoaPods, and Fastlane

Do not brew install cocoapods or gem install cocoapods globally. React Native repos vendor a Gemfile that pins CocoaPods and Fastlane; a global install fights the pinned version. Install per repo through Bundler:

cd path/to/app
bundle install
cd ios
bundle exec pod install

System Ruby (macOS 14+) is 2.6 and is too old for CocoaPods 1.16 and ActiveSupport 7. Install a modern Ruby:

brew install ruby
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby/bin:$PATH"

Or pin via mise at the project level if the repo has a mise.toml. Do not add Ruby to the shared global mise config; it does not apply to every uinaf machine.

Watchman

The shared install adds watchman via Homebrew. Confirm:

watchman --version

If Watchman starts behaving oddly after macOS upgrades:

watchman watch-del-all
brew reinstall watchman

Verifying

There is no live verify/bootstrap.sh check for this stack because the required components are per-project and most users do not build native mobile apps. If you do, sanity check with:

xcrun simctl list devicetypes | grep "Apple TV"
adb --version
watchman --version