Expo RN Runner

A compact Docker image and helper scripts to test React Native / Expo Android CI/CD pipelines locally — no full Android toolchain installation required.

Learn More

I wrote a detailed article explaining the motivation behind this project and how to test React Native CI/CD pipelines locally using Docker and the act CLI.

📖 Test React Native GitHub Actions Locally

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Table of Contents

• Why This Exists
• Prerequisites
• How to Use This Image
• Example CI Workflow
• Image Contents
• Build Locally
• Customization
• License

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Why This Exists

Setting up a full Android toolchain (JDK, SDK, build-tools, Node, Yarn, EAS CLI) consistently across machines and CI runners is tedious and error-prone. This image packages everything into a single reproducible environment so you can:

• Run Gradle / Yarn tasks in CI without pre-installing any SDKs on the runner.
• Reproduce CI builds exactly on your local machine before pushing.
• Test GitHub Actions workflows locally using the act CLI.

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Prerequisites

• Docker installed and running.
• (Optional) act CLI if you want to run GitHub Actions workflows locally.

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How to Use This Image

This image is published to both Docker Hub and GitHub Container Registry (GHCR). Replace the tag with the version you need (examples below use 0.0.1).

Docker Hub

# Pull
docker pull sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1

# Run a shell (mounts current directory into /workspace)
docker run --rm -it -v "$(pwd):/workspace" -w /workspace sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1 bash

GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) — Public

# Pull
docker pull ghcr.io/sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1

# Run a shell
docker run --rm -it -v "$(pwd):/workspace" -w /workspace ghcr.io/sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1 bash

GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) — Private

# Authenticate with a GitHub PAT (read:packages scope required)
echo "$GHCR_TOKEN" | docker login ghcr.io -u YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME --password-stdin

# Then pull
docker pull ghcr.io/sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1

CI tip: In GitHub Actions use docker/login-action with GITHUB_TOKEN to authenticate against GHCR automatically — no manual token handling needed.

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Example CI Workflow

Here is a minimal GitHub Actions workflow that uses this image to build an Expo Android app:

name: Build Android

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1

    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Build Android (local Gradle)
        run: cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

      # Or use EAS Build
      # - name: EAS Build
      #   run: eas build --platform android --profile production --non-interactive
      #   env:
      #     EXPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.EXPO_TOKEN }}

To run this workflow locally before pushing, use act:

act push --container-architecture linux/amd64

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Image Contents

Component	Name	Version	Verify
Base OS	Ubuntu	22.04	docker run --rm IMAGE lsb_release -a
Java	OpenJDK	17 (openjdk-17-jdk)	docker run --rm IMAGE java -version
Node.js	Node.js	22.x	docker run --rm IMAGE node -v
Package Manager	Yarn	latest (global)	docker run --rm IMAGE yarn -v
Expo CLI	EAS CLI	latest (global)	docker run --rm IMAGE eas --version
Android cmdline tools	Android command-line tools	8512546	docker run --rm IMAGE sdkmanager --version
Android SDK root	ANDROID_SDK_ROOT	/opt/android-sdk	docker run --rm IMAGE bash -lc 'echo $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT'
Platform tools	adb, fastboot	via sdkmanager	docker run --rm IMAGE adb --version
Android Platform	android-35	35	docker run --rm IMAGE sdkmanager --list
Build tools	Android build-tools	35.0.0	ls ${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}/build-tools/
System utilities	apt packages	curl, wget, unzip, git, jq, etc.	docker run --rm IMAGE dpkg -l <package>
Non-root user	expo-rn-runner	—	docker run --rm IMAGE id expo-rn-runner

Node.js, Yarn, and EAS CLI use latest at build time, so exact patch versions depend on when the image was built.

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Build Locally

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/SulthanNK/Expo-RN-Runner.git
cd Expo-RN-Runner/docker

2. Build the image:

./build-image.sh

3. Run a container and open a shell:

docker run --rm -it -v "$(pwd):/workspace" -w /workspace sulthannk/expo-rn-runner:0.0.1 bash

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Customization

To change Node/Java versions or Android SDK packages, edit the Dockerfile or pass build args to docker build. For example:

docker build --build-arg NODE_VERSION=20 -t my-custom-runner .

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License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright © 2026 Sulthan Mohaideen

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Built with ❤️ by SulthanNK — simple, fast, and repeatable Android builds for React Native / Expo. 🧪🚀