Using react-native-dotenv with productFlavors for CI/CD

[aokdev06]

Problem:
When I run the ./gradlew assembleStagingRelease command, the build process uses the default .env file instead of the .env.staging file.

Question:
Is there a way to make the ./gradlew assembleStagingRelease command use the .env.staging file for building with the react-native-dotenv package?

Additional Context:
I am using a third-party CI/CD tool that does not support setting environment variables in the build command, so I need a solution that works directly with Gradle.

Current Setup:

• babel.config.js:

module.exports = {
  presets: ['module:metro-react-native-babel-preset'],
  plugins: [
    [
      'module:react-native-dotenv',
      {
        moduleName: '@env',
        path: '.env',
        blocklist: null,
        allowlist: null,
        safe: false,
        allowUndefined: true,
        verbose: false,
      },
    ],
  ],
}

• android/app/build.gradle:

android {
    ...
    flavorDimensions "env"
    productFlavors {
        dev {
            dimension "env"
        }
        staging {
            dimension "env"
            versionNameSuffix "-staging"
        }
        preprod {
            dimension "env"
            versionNameSuffix "-preprod"
        }
        prod {
            dimension "env"
            versionNameSuffix "-prod"
        }
    }

    buildTypes {
        debug {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
        }
        release {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
            minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }

    applicationVariants.all { variant ->
        variant.outputs.all { output ->
            def versionName = variant.versionName
            def flavor = variant.flavorName
            def buildType = variant.buildType.name
            def newApkName = "app-v${versionName}-${flavor}-${buildType}.apk"
            def newAabName = "app-v${versionName}-${flavor}-${buildType}.aab"
            if (output.outputFile.name.endsWith('.apk')) {
                outputFileName = newApkName
            } else if (output.outputFile.name.endsWith('.aab')) {
                outputFileName = newAabName
            }
        }
    }
}

[github-actions]

Hey, thank you for opening this issue! 🙂 To boost priority on this issue and support open source please tip the team at https://issuehunt.io/r/goatandsheep/react-native-dotenv/issues/515

[phubner]

I think per the documentation you can do APP_ENV=staging ./gradlew assembleStagingRelease. Note I haven't run this, but I believe this is the intent.

[aokdev06]

I think per the documentation you can do APP_ENV=staging ./gradlew assembleStagingRelease. Note I haven't run this, but I believe this is the intent.

Hi @phubner, thanks for your response.

Normally, I can successfully build on my local device using the following command:
"android:staging-release": "APP_ENV=staging npx react-native build-android --mode=release --tasks assembleRelease"

However, the CI/CD tool I’m using supports productFlavors methods for Android. When I specify StagingRelease as the release method, it runs ./gradlew assembleStagingRelease. Because of this, I can’t prepend the command with APP_ENV.

Still, I appreciate your help.

[phubner]

I see, sorry for the confusion @aokdev06. I am looking for a clean solution to this as well.