Expo

EAS CLI now tracks build performance via Expo Observe, adds App Store metadata tooling, and requires Node 20+.

Expo Observe ships for production performance monitoring. EAS added observe:metrics, observe:events, and observe:versions commands (v18.6.0) to surface real-world app performance data—launch times, device breakdowns, update impact—addressing a gap in React Native debugging that existed only at development time.

App Store metadata and App Clip support expanded. The CLI gained comprehensive Apple metadata handling: age ratings, content descriptions, App Clip bundle identifiers for multi-target builds, and full metadata:push/metadata:pull sync including per-locale subtitles, header images, and review invocation URLs (v18.5.0–v18.6.0). Non-interactive mode with ASC API Key auth lets CI workflows manage store metadata without prompts.

Build and workflow automation via MCP for AI assistants. EAS exposed build_info, build_list, build_logs, build_run, build_cancel, and build_submit tools through the Expo MCP Server, letting Claude, Cursor, and VS Code extensions trigger builds and check status directly from AI-assisted dev workflows (Feb 2026).

Compiler caching landed for 30% faster builds. Both Android and iOS builds now support ccache-backed compiler caching via EAS_USE_CACHE and related env vars, storing .o files and native library compilation results across builds at no extra cost (Jan 2026).

Breaking: Node 18/19 dropped; --environment required for SDK 55+ updates. v18.0.1 enforces Node 20+. v18.0.5 made --environment mandatory for eas update when targeting SDK 55, aligned with new update infrastructure.

Build ergonomics tightened. Added --skip-bundler and --skip-build-if-not-found flags to eas build:dev for faster iteration. Auto-detection of CI/non-TTY environments now enables --non-interactive without explicit flags. Android keystore auto-generation in non-interactive mode eliminated friction. Browser-based login via --browser flag replaced direct terminal auth; --non-interactive now auto-enables with --json output (v18.0.3–v18.2.0).

Orbit gains platform coverage. macOS and watchOS app launching, SF Symbols on macOS, improved iOS simulator reliability, and deep-link crash fixes rounded out device support. Upgraded to Expo SDK 54 and React Native 0.81.