🚀 Starship

⭐ Finding Starship useful? Star the repo — it takes one click and helps others discover it: github.com/hasangonen91/react-native-starship

No cables. No Expo. Just scan the QR code and your app is running on your phone.

If you use bare React Native CLI (custom native modules, specific SDKs, brownfield apps), you lost the wireless development magic that Expo Go provides. You're stuck with USB cables, manual IP config, and slow iteration cycles.

Starship brings it back. One command, and your app is on your phone over WiFi.

TL;DR: Expo Go convenience + bare RN CLI power = Starship.

npm install -g react-native-starship
# or
yarn global add react-native-starship

Then just run from anywhere inside your RN project:

starship

Or without installing (one-off):

npx react-native-starship

starship

That's it. One command:

1. Builds your app
2. Shows QR code
3. Phone scans → installs → runs
4. Fast Refresh over WiFi

TL;DR: Connect iPhone via USB once → starship --ios-device → unplug → Fast Refresh over WiFi forever.

Apple does not allow wireless app installation without prior trust. This is a hardware-level restriction — no tool can bypass it. But Starship makes the one-time USB step as painless as possible.

starship --ios-device

What happens:

1. Detects your USB-connected iPhone automatically
2. Builds with xcodebuild directly to your device (free Apple account is enough — no $99/year needed)
3. Installs and launches the app
4. You can now unplug the USB cable — Fast Refresh continues over WiFi

Requirements:

• Mac with Xcode installed
• iPhone connected via USB
• iPhone trusted this computer (tap "Trust" on first connect)
• Free Apple ID (no paid developer account needed for debug builds)

Or press p while starship is running to deploy to a connected iPhone at any time.

Why USB at all? Apple enforces this at the hardware level — iOS will not install an app from an unknown source without a prior trust handshake over USB. Once trusted, the cable is never needed again for that Mac/iPhone pair.

starship build apk                # Debug APK
starship build apk --release      # Signed release APK
starship build aab                # Android App Bundle (Play Store)
starship build ipa                # iOS IPA
starship build ipa --export ad-hoc -o ./dist

Also:

starship clean                    # Clear build cache
starship devices                  # List connected devices

1. Builds debug APK with your IP embedded (cached if unchanged)
2. Serves APK over local network
3. Shows QR code in terminal
4. Phone scans → downloads → installs → app auto-connects to Metro
5. Edit code → see changes instantly via Fast Refresh

No manual "Debug server host" setup needed. Starship embeds your IP directly into the APK.

1. Builds with xcodebuild
2. Installs and launches on simulator automatically
3. Fast Refresh works immediately

1. Connect iPhone via USB
2. Run starship --ios-device
3. Starship detects device, builds, installs
4. Unplug USB — Fast Refresh works over WiFi from now on

Build and deploy iOS apps from Windows or Linux. No Mac required.

# One-time setup (5 min)
starship cloud init

# Build IPA via GitHub Actions (free)
starship build ipa --cloud

# Submit to App Store
starship build ipa --cloud --export app-store --submit

How it works:

1. cloud init → uploads Apple certs to GitHub Secrets + creates workflow
2. --cloud → triggers GitHub Actions macOS runner (free for public repos)
3. IPA is built, downloaded, and served via QR code
4. iPhone scans QR → installs → done

Requirements:

• GitHub account (free)
• Apple Developer account ($99/year)
• No Mac, no Xcode, no macOS knowledge needed

Gate system — each step unlocks the next:

cloud init  →  build ipa --cloud  →  --submit
   [1]              [2]                 [3]

Starship ships with aggressive build optimizations enabled automatically:

React Native's C++ dependencies (Hermes, Folly, ReactCommon) take the most time to compile. ccache caches these compilation results — after the first build, subsequent builds skip recompiling unchanged native code entirely.

brew install ccache

Starship detects ccache automatically. No extra config needed — just install it and your next iOS build will populate the cache. From then on, clean builds that were taking 10+ minutes can drop to under a minute.

Bonus: Starship uses a machine-wide ccache directory (~/.starship-ccache), so switching between multiple React Native projects doesn't flush your warm cache — every project benefits from the first build of any of them.

starship                        # default
starship --ios-device           # build & install on USB iPhone, then WiFi Fast Refresh
starship --port 8082            # custom Metro port
starship --watch                # auto-rebuild on native changes
starship --no-cache             # force fresh build
starship --ios                  # iOS simulator only
starship --server-port 9999     # custom HTTP server port

• Zero config — works in any bare RN CLI project
• Auto Metro connection — no manual IP setup on phone
• APK cache — instant restart if native code unchanged
• Multi-device — deploy to all connected devices at once
• iOS physical device — USB once, WiFi forever
• Device identification — model + OS shown in terminal
• Build time tracking — duration comparison with previous builds
• Watch mode — auto-rebuild on .java/.kt/.xml changes
• QR code distribution — scan and install, no cables
• Custom ports — --port for Metro, --server-port for HTTP
• Graceful shutdown — Ctrl+C cleans up everything

Development-only tool. Safety measures:

• ContentProvider only runs in debug builds (FLAG_DEBUGGABLE guard)
• Injected files cleaned up after build (no project pollution)
• Release builds (assembleRelease) never include Starship code
• Input sanitization on all endpoints
• Google Play rejects debuggable=true APKs automatically

Use on trusted networks only (home/office WiFi).

starship
├── Detect WiFi IP + connected devices
├── Start Metro (--host 0.0.0.0) ← parallel with builds, zero wait
├── Auto adb reverse on all devices
├── Build APK (with IP embedded via ContentProvider)
│   └── Build iOS for simulator (cache-aware)
├── Install on all devices + serve via HTTP
├── Show QR code → phone scans → installs → auto-connects
└── Fast Refresh over WiFi — edit and see changes instantly

starship --ios-device
├── Detect USB iPhone (xcrun devicectl / instruments)
├── Build with xcodebuild → device destination (auto-provisioning)
├── Install + launch on device
└── Unplug USB → Fast Refresh over WiFi continues

MIT

Hasan Gönen — @hasangonen91

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