docs: update and rearrange documentation

README.md

@@ -1,27 +1,56 @@
 # React Native CLI
 
-Command Line Interface for React Native.
+Command line tools to interact with React Native projects.
 
 [![Build Status][build-badge]][build] [![Version][version-badge]][package] [![MIT License][license-badge]][license] [![PRs Welcome][prs-welcome-badge]][prs-welcome]
 
 _Note: CLI has been extracted from core `react-native` as a part of "[Lean Core](https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/23313)" effort. Please read [this blog post](https://blog.callstack.io/the-react-native-cli-has-a-new-home-79b63838f0e6) for more details._
 
+## Compatibility
+
+This CLI is intended to be used with a certain version of React Native. You'll find the support table with compatible versions below.
+
+| CLI    | React Native |
+| ------ | ------------ |
+| ^2.0.0 | ^0.60.0      |
+| ^1.0.0 | ^0.59.0      |
+
+## Documentation
+
+- [commands](./docs/commands.md)
+- [autolinking](./docs/autolinking.md)
+- [plugins](./docs/plugins.md)
+
 ## About
 
 This repository contains tools and helpers for React Native projects in form of a CLI. We want to make a couple of things clear for you first:
 
 - this is a monorepo;
-- there are currently two CLIs: the actual one called [`@react-native-community/cli`](./packages/cli) that does all the job and global `react-native-cli` which is used as its proxy;
+- there are currently two CLIs: the actual one called [`@react-native-community/cli`](./packages/cli) that does all the job and global [`react-native-cli`](./packages/global-cli) which is used as its proxy and installation helper;
 
 We know it's confusing, but we're actively working to make this indirection gone.
 
 ## Creating a new React Native project
 
-To start a new React Native project, you'll need to install a global module [`react-native-cli`](./packages/global-cli) and follow instructions there.
+There are two ways to start a React Native project.
+
+### Using `npx`
+
+> Available since `react-native@0.60`
+
+This method is preferred if you don't want to install global packages.
+
+```sh
+npx react-native init MyApp
+```
+
+### Using global CLI
+
+You'll need to install a global module [`react-native-cli`](./packages/global-cli) and follow instructions there.
 
 We strongly encourage you to **only use global `react-native-cli` for bootstrapping new projects**. Use local version for everything else.
 
-## Usage in existing React Native project
+## Usage in an existing React Native project
 
 Once you're inside an existing project, a local `react-native` binary will be available for you to use. Feel free to use Yarn to call it directly.
 
@@ -49,8 +78,8 @@ Everything inside this repository is [MIT licensed](./LICENSE).
 
 <!-- badges -->
 
-[build-badge]: https://img.shields.io/circleci/project/github/react-native-community/react-native-cli/master.svg?style=flat-square
-[build]: https://circleci.com/gh/react-native-community/react-native-cli/tree/master
+[build-badge]: https://img.shields.io/circleci/project/github/react-native-community/cli/master.svg?style=flat-square
+[build]: https://circleci.com/gh/react-native-community/cli/tree/master
 [version-badge]: https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@react-native-community/cli.svg?style=flat-square
 [package]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@react-native-community/cli.svg
 [license-badge]: https://img.shields.io/npm/l/@react-native-community/cli.svg?style=flat-square

docs/autolinking.md

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+# Autolinking
+
+Autolinking is a mechanism built into CLI that allows adding a dependency with native components for React Native to be as simple as:
+
+```sh
+yarn add react-native-firebase
+```
+
+## How does it work
+
+React Native CLI provides a [`config`](./commands.md#config) command which grabs all of the configuration for React Native packages installed in the project (by scanning dependenecies in `package.json`) and outputs it in JSON format.
+
+This information is then used by the projects advertised as platforms (with `react-native` being a default project supporting both iOS and Android platforms) that implement their autolinking behavior.
+
+This design ensures consistent settings for any platform and allows `react-native config` to update the implementation of how to source this information (be it specified filenames, entries in the module’s package.json, etc).
+
+## Platform iOS
+
+The `Podfile` gets the package metadata from `react-native config` and:
+
+1. Adds dependencies via CocoaPods dev pods (using files from a local path).
+1. Adds build phase scripts to the App project’s build phase. (see examples below)
+
+This means that all libraries need to ship a Podspec in the root of their folder to work seamlessly. This references the native code that your library depends on, and notes any of its other native dependencies.
+
+The implementation ensures that a library is imported only once, so if you need to have a custom `pod` directive then including it above the function `use_native_modules!`.
+
+Script Phases
+A project which wants to add an Xcode script phase to a user's app can use the custom support in iOS auto-linking via custom settings in either the project's `package.json` under `"react-native"` or via a `react-native.config.js` file in the root.
+
+The options for the build phase are passed more-or-less directly to the `Podfile` via `build_phase`. Here's an example of adding the settings in your `package.json`:
+
+```json
+{
+  "react-native":
+   "ios":
+     "scriptPhases": {
+        "name": "My Dep pre-parser",
+        "path": "relative/path/to/script.sh",
+        "execution_position": "after_compile"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+`"path"` is an extra option provided to simplify storing the scripts in your repo, it sets `"script"` for you. You can see all available options [here](https://www.rubydoc.info/gems/cocoapods-core/Pod/Podfile/DSL#script_phase-instance_method).
+
+See implementation of [native_modules.rb](https://github.com/react-native-community/cli/blob/master/packages/platform-ios/native_modules.rb).
+
+## Platform Android
+
+1. At build time, before the build script is run, a first gradle plugin (`settings.gradle`) is ran that takes the package metadata from `react-native config` to dynamically include Android library projects into the build.
+1. A second plugin then adds those dependencies to the app project and generates a manifest of React Native packages to include in the fully generated file `/android/build/generated/rn/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/PackageList.java`.
+1. Finally, at runtime (on startup) the list of React Native packages, generated in step 2, is used to instruct the React Native runtime of what native modules are available.
+
+See implementation of [native_modules.gradle](https://github.com/react-native-community/cli/blob/master/packages/platform-android/native_modules.gradle).
+
+## What do I need to have in my package to make it work?
+
+You’re already using Gradle, so Android support will work by default.
+
+On the iOS side, you will need to ensure you have a Podspec to the root of your repo. The `react-native-webview` Podspec is a good example of a [`package.json`](https://github.com/react-native-community/react-native-webview/blob/master/react-native-webview.podspec)-driven Podspec.
+
+## How can I customize how autolinking works for my package?
+
+A library can add a `react-native.config.js` configuration file, which will customize the defaults.