Installation

Learn how to get started creating a new Expo project quickly and easily using Expo CLI and Expo Go.

To develop applications with Expo, you will want to start with two tools:

• Expo CLI a command-line tool to serve your project
• Expo Go a mobile client app to open the project on Android and iOS platforms.

Linux, macOS and Windows are all supported as your development machine. You can use any web browser to run the project on the web.

You don't need macOS to build an iOS app with EAS. You only need an iOS device to run development builds.

Expo CLI

Expo CLI is a command-line tool that is the primary interface between a developer and other Expo tools. It is used for different tasks in the development life cycle of your project such as serving the project in development, viewing logs, opening the app on an emulator or a physical device, and so on.

Requirements

To use Expo CLI, you need to have the following tools installed on your developer machine:

• Node.js LTS release - Only Node.js LTS releases (even-numbered) are recommended.

  As Node.js officially states, "Production applications should only use Active LTS or Maintenance LTS releases". You can install Node.js using a version management tool (such as nvm or volta or any other of your choice) to switch between different Node.js versions.

• Git
• Watchman (for Linux or macOS users).

Recommended tools

• Yarn
• VS Code Editor and VS Code Expo Extension for easier debugging and app config autocomplete.
• PowerShell (the default terminal in VS Code) or Bash via WSL for developers who prefer Windows.

Use Expo CLI

Expo CLI is part of the expo package, and you can use it by leveraging npx — a Node.js package runner. No external installation is required.

For example, to see a list of available commands in Expo CLI, open the terminal on your development machine and run the following command:

Now, run the following command to check which Expo account is currently authenticated on your machine:

You will see a Not logged in message since you are not logged in to an Expo account. You do not need an account to start and can proceed further with your project. However, if you want to register a new Expo account, run the following command to register a new account:

If you already have an Expo account, you can log in to it by running the command:

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