Android release build is picking debug environment instead of prod

[Sterlingryan]

I'm having an issue where the Android release build is picking up the variables inside .env instead of variables inside .env.production. iOS works fine.

"react-native": "0.62.2",
"react-native-dotenv": "^2.3.0",
"babel-plugin-dotenv-import": "^2.1.0",

.bablerc:

{
    "plugins": [
        "add-react-displayname",
        "./node_modules/@heap/react-native-heap/instrumentor/src/index.js",
        ["dotenv-import", {
            "moduleName": "@env",
            "path": ".env",
            "blacklist": null,
            "whitelist": null,
            "safe": false,
            "allowUndefined": true
        }],
    ]
}

babel.config.js

module.exports = {
  presets: ['module:metro-react-native-babel-preset'],
};

[goatandsheep]

You can either wait / help #1 or set path to .env.production. Let me know if that works for you!

[goatandsheep]

you may also use the env option in babel

[FanchenBao]

I am having the same issue. Running react-native run-android --variant release does not pick up .env.production. It still loads .env. I am able to work around this problem by changing the path to .env.production, but that doesn't feel like a robust fix.

The same issue cannot be repeated in iOS, because for whatever reason, I need to manually bundle in iOS. And the react-native bundle commands is picking up .env.production if NODE_ENV=production is specified. However, specifying NODE_ENV=production does not help building release version for android.

[goatandsheep]

Some people are saying to follow the Android signing guide https://reactnative.dev/docs/signed-apk-android#adding-signing-config-to-your-apps-gradle-config

[FanchenBao]

Thanks for the response. I have signing set up already, but still not working. I keep getting this error message:

SyntaxError: /.../src/config/appConfig.js: "BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT" is not defined in .env
>  7 | import {BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT, ENV} from '@env';
   5 |  */
     |         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I think it is because .env.production is not loaded, so the system looks in .env for BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT. But BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT is not defined in .env; it is only defined in .env.production.

I have also tried to define BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT in .env and give it a dummy value, hoping that the system will overwrite the dummy with the real one in .env.production. Unfortunately, the system picks the dummy value directly.

[goatandsheep]

Do you think you can try adding the variable to .env just to troubleshoot? Maybe it's not loading properly at all!

[FanchenBao]

I did a bit more digging with the path set to .env.

1. I added BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT with a dummy value to .env and the dummy value is picked up. when running npx react-native run-android --variant release.
2. I then returned .env to its original state (i.e. without the added BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT). Surprisingly, when I use this command BABEL_ENV=production npx react-native run-android --variant release, .env.production is picked up.
3. However, running NODE_ENV=production npx react-native run-android --variant release still fails to pick up .env.production. It picks up .env and complains that BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT does not exist.
4. Running npx react-native run-android successfully picks up .env.development.

In conclusion, I can set path to .env and have react-native-dotenv pick the right environment for development, and production as long as I set BABEL_ENV=production.

Some correction on my previous post: I do NOT need to set NOTE_ENV=production to work in iOS. react-native-dotenv can pick up .env.production in command react-native bundle --dev false without the need of setting NODE_ENV.

[goatandsheep]

@FanchenBao thank you so much for your incredible detailed response! I'm going to have to look into this a bit more

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.