create-expo-app

import { Terminal } from '~/ui/components/Snippet';

create-expo-app is a command-line tool to create and set up a new Expo and React Native project. This tool simplifies the initialization process by providing various templates to get started quickly without the need for manual configuration.

Create a new project

To create a new project, run the following command:

<Terminal cmd={{ npm: ['$ npx create-expo-app@latest --template default@sdk-55'], yarn: ['$ yarn create expo-app --template default@sdk-55'], pnpm: ['$ pnpm create expo-app --template default@sdk-55'], bun: ['$ bun create expo --template default@sdk-55'], }} />

Note: During the SDK 55 transition period, create-expo-app@latest without the --template flag creates an SDK 54 project. If you plan to use Expo Go on a physical device, use an SDK 54 project. Otherwise, use --template default@sdk-55 to create an SDK 55 project.

Running the above command will prompt you to enter the app name of your project. This app name is also used in the app config's name property.

<Terminal cmd={['What is your app named? my-app']} />

Options

Uses the following options to customize the command behavior.

--yes

Uses the default options to create a new project.

--no-install

Skips installing npm dependencies or CocoaPods.

--template

Running create-expo-app with a Node Package Manager initializes and sets up a new Expo project using the default template.

You can use the --template option to select one of the following templates or pass it as an argument to the option. For example, --template default.

info Looking for more templates? Check out the --example option to initialize your project with one of the example apps that demonstrate specific features and integrations.

--example

Use this option to initialize a project using an example from expo/examples.

For example:

• Running npx create-expo-app --example with-router sets up a project with the Expo Router library
• Running npx create-expo-app --example with-react-navigation sets up a project similar to the default template, but configured with plain React Navigation library

--version

Prints the version number and exits.

--help

Prints the list of available options and exits.

Node Package Managers support

Creating a new project with create-expo-app also handles setting up additional configuration needed for a specific Node Package Manager.

If you are migrating from one package manager to another, you've to manually carry out the additional configuration in your project. If you are using EAS, you also have to configure your project for any additional required steps manually.

All the additional steps for each package manager are listed below.

npm

Local installation

npm is installed as part of Node.js installation. See Node.js documentation for installation instructions.

EAS installation

Supported by default if the project directory contains package-lock.json.

Yarn 1 (Classic)

Local installation

Yarn 1 (Classic) is usually installed as a global dependency of npm. See Yarn 1 documentation for installation instructions.

EAS installation

Supported by default if the project directory contains yarn.lock.

Yarn 2+ (Modern)

Local installation

See Yarn documentation for installation instructions.

Yarn 2+ handles package management differently than Yarn 1. One of the core changes in Yarn 2+ is the Plug'n'Play (PnP) node linking model that does not work with React Native.

By default, a project created with create-expo-app and Yarn 2+ uses nodeLinker with its value set to node-modules to install dependencies.

nodeLinker: node-modules

EAS installation

Yarn Modern on EAS requires adding eas-build-pre-install hook. In your project's package.json, add the following configuration:

{
  "scripts": {
    "eas-build-pre-install": "corepack enable && yarn set version 4"
  }
}

pnpm

Local installation

Requires installing Node.js. See pnpm documentation for installation instructions.

By default, a project created with create-expo-app and pnpm uses node-linker with its value set to hoisted to install dependencies.

node-linker=hoisted

info In SDK 54 and later, Expo supports isolated installations, and you can delete the node-linker setting if you prefer to use isolated dependencies.

EAS installation

Supported by default if the project directory contains pnpm-lock.yaml.

Bun

See Bun guide for details on creating a new Expo project with bun, migration from another package manager, and usage with EAS.