upgrading-expo

SKILL.md

Structured guidance for upgrading Expo SDK versions and resolving dependency conflicts.

Provides step-by-step upgrade process including diagnostics, cache clearing, and prebuild workflows for native changes

Covers breaking changes across SDK 53–55, including React 19 migration, New Architecture defaults, React Compiler setup, and native module updates (tabs, audio, video)

Includes deprecation map for packages like expo-av, expo-permissions, and AsyncStorage with replacement recommendations

Offers housekeeping checklist: removing implicit dependencies, cleaning config files, reviewing exclusions and patches, and Metro configuration cleanup

References

./references/react-19.md -- SDK +54: React 19 changes (useContext → use, Context.Provider → Context, forwardRef removal)

./references/new-architecture.md -- SDK +53: New Architecture migration guide

./references/react-compiler.md -- SDK +54: React Compiler setup and migration guide

./references/native-tabs.md -- SDK +55: Native tabs changes (Icon/Label/Badge now accessed via NativeTabs.Trigger.*)

./references/expo-av-to-audio.md -- SDK +55: Migrate audio playback and recording from expo-av to expo-audio

./references/expo-av-to-video.md -- SDK +55: Migrate video playback from expo-av to expo-video

./references/react-navigation-to-expo-router.md -- SDK +56: Migrate @react-navigation/* imports to expo-router entry points (codemod + manual mapping)

Beta/Preview Releases

Beta versions use .preview suffix (e.g., 55.0.0-preview.2), published under @next tag.

Check if latest is beta: https://exp.host/--/api/v2/versions (look for -preview in expoVersion)

npx expo install expo@next --fix  # install beta