Installation (Expo)

npx expo install @open-ota/react-native @expo/fingerprint
npx @open-ota/cli init

ota init creates or links a project, writes ota.config.json, and adds the plugin entry to app.json. Then:

ota fingerprint      # stamp the native compatibility hash and commit it
npx expo prebuild    # inject the native boot path
ota doctor           # confirm the wiring took

The plugin entry

{
  "expo": {
    "scheme": "myapp",
    "plugins": [
      ["@open-ota/react-native", {
        "projectId": "0198f3a2-6c41-7e19-9a30-2b7c5d1e4f80",
        "apiUrl": "https://ota.example.com",
        "channel": "production",
        "scheme": "myapp"
      }]
    ]
  }
}

The plugin reads these options first, then falls back to ota.config.json and fingerprint.json, both of which ota init and ota fingerprint write and you commit.

Option	Falls back to	Notes
projectId	ota.config.json	required
apiUrl	ota.config.json	required
appKey	ota.config.json	required; the project’s public app key, which identifies the app to the Device API
publicKey	ota.config.json	required; the project’s RSA public key, PEM or bare base64
channel	ota.config.json, then "production"	the channel this build asks for
scheme	ota.config.json, then expo.scheme	deep link scheme for preview links
runtimeVersion	fingerprint.json	the fingerprint hash; do not set this by hand

Missing apiUrl, appKey, projectId or publicKey fails the prebuild with the list of what is absent. A missing runtime version fails with a pointer to ota fingerprint — updates are matched to the binary by that hash, so there is nothing sensible to do without it.

embeddedFloorId is not an option. The plugin mints a fresh UUIDv7 on every prebuild, because it is the release floor and has to move with the binary. See Native compatibility.

ota init only rewrites app.json. If your project uses app.config.js or app.config.ts it prints the entry to paste instead — evaluating and re-emitting your own code is a worse trade than four lines of copying.

What prebuild injects

Four edits, two of them code and two of them configuration.

MainApplication — getJSBundleFile() on the ReactNativeHost, which feeds the bridge and the ReactHost derived from it, plus a rewrite of the reactHost getter so a bridgeless template loads from the same place. Both architectures, one boot path.

AppDelegate — a prepend to bundleURL() (or sourceURL(for:)) guarded by #if !DEBUG, so Metro stays in charge during development and whatever fallback the template shipped with is preserved.

AndroidManifest — the project’s identity as <meta-data> on <application>:

dev.openota.API_URL            dev.openota.PUBLIC_KEY
dev.openota.APP_KEY            dev.openota.EMBEDDED_FLOOR_ID
dev.openota.PROJECT_ID         dev.openota.DEEP_LINK_SCHEME
dev.openota.CHANNEL            dev.openota.RUNTIME_VERSION

plus, when a scheme is set, an intent filter on the launcher activity for <scheme>://ota with VIEW, DEFAULT and BROWSABLE.

Info.plist — the same values under their OpenOta keys, plus a CFBundleURLTypes entry named dev.openota.preview carrying the scheme.

PEM armor is stripped from the public key at build time; both platforms want the DER bytes.

The code edits go through the same marker-delimited transforms ota init applies to a bare project, so re-running prebuild is a no-op. The manifest and plist go through Expo’s XML and plist object APIs instead, because Expo’s own base mods re-serialize those files.

Wire the app

import { OpenOta, OtaProvider } from "@open-ota/react-native";

export default OpenOta.wrap(function App() {
  return <OtaProvider>{/* your app */}</OtaProvider>;
});

That is the whole integration. <OtaProvider> syncs on mount and confirms a healthy launch after the first frame. See the JavaScript API for the props and the escape hatches.

Expo Go cannot work

Open OTA replaces the JavaScript bundle a binary loads at boot. That requires native code inside the binary — a custom module, and an edit to the file that decides which bundle to load. Expo Go is a fixed binary shipped by Expo; nothing can be added to it, and its boot path is not yours to change.

Calling the SDK without the native module throws with the reason:

Open OTA: native module not found. Rebuild the app (expo prebuild && expo run:ios/android,
or `ota init` for bare React Native) — this SDK cannot run over a JS-only reload.

Use a development build, or a release build. isNativeModuleAvailable() lets you branch in code that has to run in both.

expo-updates is mutually exclusive

Two libraries taking over the JS bundle at boot is undefined behaviour: whichever wins the boot path decides what runs, and their rollback state diverges. The plugin fails the prebuild rather than letting that ship, and it names what it found — the dependency in package.json, the plugin entry, or an updates.url in the app config.

[@open-ota/react-native] expo-updates is also configured (expo-updates is in
package.json; "updates.url" is set in the app config).
Both libraries take over the JS bundle at boot, so only one can be installed.

ota doctor reports the same conflict without needing a prebuild.