---
modificationDate: April 29, 2026
title: Configure Expo Observe
description: Control how Expo Observe collects and dispatches metrics, including environment settings, development mode, and custom endpoints.
---

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# Configure Expo Observe

Control how Expo Observe collects and dispatches metrics, including environment settings, development mode, and custom endpoints.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Use this file to discover all available pages.

Configure Expo Observe at runtime to fit your app's build setup, environment, and data routing. This page covers the `configure()` and `dispatchEvents()`, enabling metrics in development, using a custom endpoint, and separating data by environment.

## `configure()`

Use the `configure()` method to control how Expo Observe behaves at runtime:

```js
import ExpoObserve from 'expo-observe';

ExpoObserve.configure({
  environment: 'production',
  dispatchingEnabled: true,
});
```

| Option | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `environment` | `string` | `process.env.NODE_ENV` | The environment label for observability events |
| `dispatchingEnabled` | `boolean` | `true` | Whether to send collected events to the server |

## `dispatchEvents()`

Events are automatically dispatched when the app moves to the background. On Android, a background worker dispatches events once network connectivity is available. On iOS, this happens when the app resigns active state or is about to terminate.

To flush events manually (for example, during testing or to ensure events are sent before a specific point), call `dispatchEvents()`:

```js
import ExpoObserve from 'expo-observe';

await ExpoObserve.dispatchEvents();
```

## Enable metrics in development

By default, metrics with the `development` environment are filtered out and not dispatched to the server. To collect development metrics (for example, to test your integration), set `enableInDebug` to `true` in your **app config**:

```json
{
  "expo": {
    "extra": {
      "eas": {
        "observe": {
          "enableInDebug": true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

> Enable this only when testing your Expo Observe integration. Development performance differs significantly from production, so collecting development metrics may affect the results shown in your dashboard.

## Custom endpoint

If you need to change the endpoint for the observability API, set the `endpointUrl` value in your **app config**:

```json
{
  "expo": {
    "extra": {
      "eas": {
        "observe": {
          "endpointUrl": "https://your-custom-endpoint.com"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

The endpoint URL is baked into the native layer of the app at build time, so changing it requires regenerating native code. After updating your app config, run `npx expo prebuild` and create a new build to apply the change.

## Environments

All metrics are grouped by environment. The environment value is derived from `process.env.NODE_ENV` by default. To override it, use [`configure({ environment })`](/eas/observe/configuration#configure).

Metrics with the `development` environment are filtered out before dispatching unless [`enableInDebug` is set to `true`](/eas/observe/configuration#enable-metrics-in-development) in your app config. You can also disable all dispatching globally using `configure({ dispatchingEnabled: false })`.