Rahul Mandyal

Manually running eas build and eas submit every time gets old fast. Let's automate it with GitHub Actions.

What We'll Set Up

Run tests and lint on every push
Build iOS and Android on pull requests
Auto-submit to stores when you create a release

Prerequisites

Expo project with EAS configured
GitHub repository
App Store and Play Store apps created

Step 1: Get Your Expo Token

Generate an access token:

eas login
eas credentials

Or get it from expo.dev/settings/access-tokens.

Add it to your GitHub repo: Settings → Secrets → New repository secret → Name it EXPO_TOKEN.

Step 2: Basic CI Workflow

Create .github/workflows/ci.yml:

name: CI
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
 
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
 
      - name: Run linter
        run: npm run lint
 
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test

Step 3: Build Workflow

Create .github/workflows/build.yml:

name: EAS Build
 
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:
 
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
 
      - name: Setup Expo
        uses: expo/expo-github-action@v8
        with:
          expo-version: latest
          eas-version: latest
          token: ${{ secrets.EXPO_TOKEN }}
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
 
      - name: Build Android
        run: eas build --platform android --profile preview --non-interactive
 
      - name: Build iOS
        run: eas build --platform ios --profile preview --non-interactive

Step 4: Production Build and Submit

Create .github/workflows/release.yml:

name: Release
 
on:
  release:
    types: [published]
 
jobs:
  build-and-submit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
 
      - name: Setup Expo
        uses: expo/expo-github-action@v8
        with:
          expo-version: latest
          eas-version: latest
          token: ${{ secrets.EXPO_TOKEN }}
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
 
      - name: Build and Submit Android
        run: |
          eas build --platform android --profile production --non-interactive --auto-submit
 
      - name: Build and Submit iOS
        run: |
          eas build --platform ios --profile production --non-interactive --auto-submit

Step 5: Configure EAS for Auto-Submit

Update your eas.json:

{
  "cli": {
    "version": ">= 5.0.0"
  },
  "build": {
    "preview": {
      "distribution": "internal"
    },
    "production": {
      "autoIncrement": true
    }
  },
  "submit": {
    "production": {
      "ios": {
        "appleId": "your@email.com",
        "ascAppId": "1234567890",
        "appleTeamId": "ABCD1234"
      },
      "android": {
        "serviceAccountKeyPath": "./google-service-account.json",
        "track": "internal"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 6: Add Store Credentials

For iOS:

Add these secrets to GitHub:

EXPO_APPLE_ID - Your Apple ID email
EXPO_APPLE_PASSWORD - App-specific password

For Android:

Create a service account in Google Play Console
Download the JSON key
Base64 encode it: base64 -i google-service-account.json
Add as GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY secret

Update the workflow to create the file:

- name: Setup Google Service Account
  run: echo "${{ secrets.GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY }}" | base64 -d > google-service-account.json

Bonus: Version Bumping

Add automatic version bumping on release:

- name: Bump version
  run: |
    VERSION=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/v}
    npx json -I -f app.json -e "this.expo.version='$VERSION'"

My Workflow

Here's my typical flow:

Push to feature branch → CI runs tests
Open PR to main → Preview build created
Merge to main → Nothing (just tests)
Create GitHub release v1.2.3 → Production build + auto submit

The whole process from tagging a release to seeing it in TestFlight/Internal Testing takes about 20-30 minutes, completely hands-off.

Troubleshooting

Build fails with credential errors:

Make sure EXPO_TOKEN is set correctly and has the right permissions.

iOS submit fails:

You need an app-specific password, not your regular Apple ID password. Generate one at appleid.apple.com.

Android submit fails:

The service account needs "Release manager" permissions in Google Play Console.

Cost Considerations

EAS Build has a free tier with limited builds per month. For more builds, you'll need a paid plan. GitHub Actions is free for public repos and has generous limits for private repos.

That's it! Now every release is just a git tag away from production.