Quickstart

Get from zero to shipping OTA updates in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

An Expo or React Native project
An AppDispatch account and API key (Settings → API Keys in the dashboard)

1. Install the CLI

See the CLI reference for platform-specific binaries, or on macOS:


curl -sL https://github.com/AppDispatch/cli/releases/latest/download/dispatch-darwin-arm64 \
  -o /usr/local/bin/dispatch && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/dispatch

2. Log in


dispatch login --server https://api.appdispatch.com --key YOUR_API_KEY

3. Initialize your project

From your Expo project root:


dispatch init

Select your project, and the CLI will configure app.json automatically.

4. Install the SDK


npm install @appdispatch/react-native


pnpm add @appdispatch/react-native


yarn add @appdispatch/react-native


bun add @appdispatch/react-native

5. Set up your app

Add the SDK to your root layout. AppDispatch.init() configures everything — OTA updates, feature flags, and health reporting — in one call:

app/_layout.tsx


import {
  AppDispatch,
  AppDispatchProvider,
  useOTAUpdates,
} from '@appdispatch/react-native'
 
AppDispatch.init({
  baseUrl: 'https://api.appdispatch.com',
  projectSlug: 'my-app',
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  channel: 'production',
})
 
export default function RootLayout() {
  useOTAUpdates()
 
  return (
    <AppDispatchProvider>
      <YourApp />
    </AppDispatchProvider>
  )
}

AppDispatch.init() — Initializes the OpenFeature provider and health reporter at module level
useOTAUpdates() — Checks for updates on launch, generates a stable device ID for rollout bucketing, and applies critical updates immediately. No-ops in __DEV__ mode.
AppDispatchProvider — Wraps your app with the OpenFeature context and starts health monitoring

6. Publish your first release


dispatch publish -m "Initial release"

7. Verify

Open your app on a device or simulator. On the next launch, expo-updates will fetch the new bundle from AppDispatch and apply it.

What just happened?

dispatch publish exported your app and uploaded the bundle
Your device’s useOTAUpdates hook checked for a new manifest
Changed assets were downloaded and applied
On next launch, the new code runs