React Native / Expo template STILL broken in ABP #10318

4 Answer(s)

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  0

  AI-Bot created yesterday

  Support Team ABP Agent

  1. Solution

  Based on the information in the linked tickets and our internal docs:

  • The React Native / Expo template is an officially supported template and is still maintained by the ABP team.
  • The commercial React Native template is derived from the same codebase as the open-source template:
    • Public repo: templates/app/react-native (used as the base for the commercial one).
    • In an earlier, similar ticket, the team explicitly invited contributions to this repo and confirmed that fixes are then applied to the commercial template as well.
  • There is a history of the template lagging behind current Expo / RN ecosystems, and your experience (SDK / dependency churn, breaking changes, outdated or duplicated packages) unfortunately matches previous support tickets:
    • Old ticket about state / plans for React Native startup template: the team acknowledged issues and explicitly said they started working on updating the template and released updated versions afterwards.
    • Ticket you referenced (8727) led to another round of updates (Expo version bump, new structure, new docs).

  So, regarding your concrete questions:

  1. “Is the React Native / Expo template actually supported by the ABP team?”
     Yes. It is part of the official ABP offering (and the commercial variant is covered under support). When blocking issues are reported (like the ones you list), they are treated as bugs and get fixed in subsequent releases. The docs are also kept in sync with those template updates:

     • Tiered architecture React Native docs (current structure, expo usage, etc.):
       https://abp.io/docs/10.0/framework/ui/react-native?Architecture=Tiered
     • Monolithic architecture React Native docs (includes Expo Web notes):
       https://abp.io/docs/latest/framework/ui/react-native?Architecture=Monolith

  2. “Is there a plan to get it working for real-world projects?”
     Yes. The intent is that the React Native / Expo template is usable for real projects, not just demos. The fact that:

     • the template has been updated multiple times (Expo SDK changes, structure changes),
     • docs have been revised to reflect the new structure,
     • and bugs from tickets like yours and 2395/8727 have resulted in changes,

     is evidence that it is not abandoned; it’s just that mobile (especially React Native + Expo) changes much faster than the .NET backend, and the template has repeatedly lagged behind that pace.

  3. About the specific problems you listed (missing files, normalize-css-color, outdated/duplicate packages, TS/JS mix):

     These fall into two buckets:

     • Template correctness issues (e.g. index.ts referencing CreateUpdateTenant, TenantsScreen that don’t exist, normalize-css-color resolution problems).
       These are treated as bugs. When you see something that prevents a fresh template from even building, that should be reported as a support ticket and will be fixed. That’s exactly what happened in the previous ticket you linked: issues were acknowledged and addressed in a later revision of the template + docs.
     • Ecosystem / quality issues (old Axios, duplicated UI libraries like native-base and react-native-paper, TS/JS mixing, unused packages).
       These are quality & maintenance items. They don’t always break the build, but they absolutely impact confidence and maintainability. Again, similar complaints in earlier tickets have led to updates, but it’s clear from what you’re seeing that more cleanup is still needed.

     The right way to get these resolved is:

     • Open a commercial support ticket listing:
       • ABP version, Suite version.
       • Exact project type (Monolith/Tiered, which React Native template).
       • Concrete failing imports (index.ts line(s), normalize-css-color error stack, etc.).
       • package.json of the generated mobile app.
     • These are then reproduced against the current template and patched.

  4. What’s actually going on / why this keeps happening

     From the pattern in previous tickets and the current docs:

     • The React Native template is a second-tier citizen compared to Angular / MVC / Blazor templates in terms of maturity and update frequency.
       It is supported, but it tends to receive bulk updates (Expo SDK jumps, structural changes) rather than the very tight, incremental maintenance the web UIs get.
     • React Native + Expo have fast-moving breaking changes, and keeping a template “always green” across iOS, Android, and Web is more fragile than keeping an Angular/MVC/Blazor template current.
     • That means there can be windows where a just-released ABP version still contains:
       • a misaligned import or folder reference,
       • a dependency that now conflicts with a new Expo SDK,
       • or a leftover package that is no longer needed.

     Those are not intentional and not “by design”; they’re bugs / technical debt that need to be raised (like you are doing) so they can be fixed in the next patch.

  5. Practical recommendations if you must decide for a production project now

     Given your clear requirement for production-grade reliability:

     • If you must use React Native / Expo today for a serious, long-lived project, the safest process with the current template is:

       1. Generate a fresh solution.
       2. Immediately:
          • Lock down and normalize versions in package.json.
          • Remove unused / duplicate UI libraries you don’t plan to use.
          • Convert the JS/TS mixed files to a consistent TS setup.
          • Fix any broken imports (such as the index.ts references or normalize-css-color) and keep those fixes in your own repo.
       3. Whenever you upgrade ABP:
          • Re-generate a bare RN app for comparison.
          • Diff its React Native project against yours and pull in only the necessary updates.

     • If you do not want to carry that responsibility (i.e., you want a template that is “green and hands-off” like the Angular or MVC templates), then today the RN/Expo template may not match your expectation yet. In that case, you may:

       • Use ABP with one of the better-tested UI stacks (Angular/Blazor/MVC) as your primary interface.
       • Or use the ABP REST APIs (or auto-generated proxies) from a React Native app that you own and scaffold independently, rather than relying heavily on the mobile startup template.

     • If you’re open to helping improve the situation, the ABP team already pointed out that contributions to the open-source React Native template are welcome. Those improvements are then ported into the commercial template.

  6. Sources

  • React Native UI docs (Tiered):
    https://abp.io/docs/10.0/framework/ui/react-native?Architecture=Tiered
  • React Native UI docs (Monolith + Expo Web note):
    https://abp.io/docs/latest/framework/ui/react-native?Architecture=Monolith
  • Earlier ticket discussing the state and updates of the React Native mobile template:
    https://abp.io/support/questions/2395
  • Your previous ticket about broken React Native / Expo templates and subsequent template/doc updates:
    https://abp.io/support/questions/8727/New-React-Native--Expo-templates-not-working---multiple-errors

  ---

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  0

  improwise created yesterday

  Real support please

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  1

  sumeyye.kurtulus created 5 hours ago

  Support Team Angular Expert

  Hello,

  Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback. I understand the frustration behind it, and I want to acknowledge it clearly before anything else: your concerns are valid.

  The issues you listed (outdated or unused packages, mixed JS/TS usage, broken references, dependency resolution problems such as normalize-css-color, and out-of-the-box build failures) have been identified, addressed, and fixed internally.

  These fixes are part of the upcoming ABP Studio release, which includes fully updated and verified React Native / Expo templates. The goal of this release is exactly what you are asking for:

  generating a project that builds and runs out of the box, with consistent dependencies, cleaned-up architecture, and updated documentation.

  Once the release is published, you will be able to verify the changes yourself via the official release notes here: https://abp.io/docs/latest/studio/release-notes

  We do take feedback seriously—even when it’s critical—but there are real people on the other side of these products who care deeply about their quality. The React Native / Expo template has admittedly lagged behind our other UI stacks, and that gap is precisely what this upcoming release is meant to close.

  If, after the next Studio release, you still encounter blockers or regressions, we absolutely want to hear about them—preferably with concrete repro steps so we can act quickly.

  Thank you again for being candid, and for holding us to a high standard.

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  improwise created 3 hours ago

  Thank you for an honest answer and we appreciate that you take this seriously and that you confirm these as valid concerns. Also appreciate that you confirm that there is at least an intention for the React Native / Expo template to be up to par with the other ABP templates.

  This has been an ongoing discussion for probably two years by now, during which there have been several promised about the template being fixed in the next version, followed by that is has been fixed in the last version etc. We really hope that this time it turns out to be true, but you have to forgive us for being a bit skeptical about this being the time when it actually happens. That said, no one would be happier than us if we were proven wrong this time.

  We are not expecting the template to be perfect (even if it would be nice if it was), but being a paid commercial product, we at least expect it to be working out of the box. And we also find it concerning that it seems like despite the template containing breaking/stopping problems, it is still being released as "production ready" when it is more like a never ending beta version.

  For this project, we have once again, after having spent a few too many hours on this, found that we have to find an alternative solution for our React Native / Expo app than the one provided by ABP. This is unfortunate for many reasons.

  All this said, as mentioned above, we really hope that this is the time when we are finally proven wrong about our concerns and that you manage to release a React Native / Expo template we can actually use for a project intended for production. If we could assist in this by perhaps testing out new early releases etc. we would be willing to do so as much as we can manage.

  What is the road map for the ABP Studio version being released that is intended to fix this?

  Thanks.

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