Manually set up your React Native iOS App

These instructions are aimed at people manually adding Flipper to a React Native 0.62+ app. This should only be necessary if you have an existing app that cannot be upgraded with the React Native Upgrade tool.

Dependencies

React Native 0.63+

If using React Native 0.63 or later, your ios/Podfile should look like this:

platform :ios, '10.0'

require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
require_relative '../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'

target 'your-app-name' do
  config = use_native_modules!
  use_react_native!(path: config['reactNativePath'])

  # Enables Flipper.
  #
  # Note that if you have use_frameworks! enabled, Flipper will not work and
  # you should disable these next few lines.
  use_flipper!({'Flipper' => '0.58.0'}) # should match the version of your Flipper client app
  post_install do |installer|
    flipper_post_install(installer)
  end
end

Install the dependencies by running cd ios && pod install. Then continue to Initialization.

React Native 0.62

In 0.62, the setup includes a bit more code (which was moved to a helper in 0.63). Add all of the code below to your ios/Podfile:

platform :ios, '9.0'

def flipper_pods()
  flipperkit_version = '0.128.4' # should match the version of your Flipper client app
  pod 'FlipperKit', '~>' + flipperkit_version, :configuration => 'Debug'
  pod 'FlipperKit/FlipperKitLayoutPlugin', '~>' + flipperkit_version, :configuration => 'Debug'
  pod 'FlipperKit/SKIOSNetworkPlugin', '~>' + flipperkit_version, :configuration => 'Debug'
  pod 'FlipperKit/FlipperKitUserDefaultsPlugin', '~>' + flipperkit_version, :configuration => 'Debug'
  pod 'FlipperKit/FlipperKitReactPlugin', '~>' + flipperkit_version, :configuration => 'Debug'
end

# Post Install processing for Flipper
def flipper_post_install(installer)
  file_name = Dir.glob("*.xcodeproj")[0]
  app_project = Xcodeproj::Project.open(file_name)
  app_project.native_targets.each do |target|
    target.build_configurations.each do |config|
      cflags = config.build_settings['OTHER_CFLAGS'] || '$(inherited) '
      unless cflags.include? '-DFB_SONARKIT_ENABLED=1'
        puts 'Adding -DFB_SONARKIT_ENABLED=1 in OTHER_CFLAGS...'
        cflags << '-DFB_SONARKIT_ENABLED=1'
      end
      config.build_settings['OTHER_CFLAGS'] = cflags
    end
    app_project.save
  end
  installer.pods_project.save
end

target 'your-app-name' do
  ...
  # Replace the existing yoga import with the following (adding modular_headers):
  pod 'Yoga', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/ReactCommon/yoga', :modular_headers => true
  ...
  use_native_modules!

  # For enabling Flipper.
  # Note that if you use_framework!, flipper will not work.
  # Disable these lines if you are doing use_framework!
  flipper_pods()
  post_install do |installer|
    flipper_post_install(installer)
  end
end

Install the dependencies by running cd ios && pod install. You can now import and initialize Flipper in your AppDelegate.

Initialization

The code below enables the following integrations:

• Layout Inspector
• Network
• Shared Preferences
• Crash Reporter

iOS

...
#if DEBUG
#ifdef FB_SONARKIT_ENABLED
#import <FlipperKit/FlipperClient.h>
#import <FlipperKitLayoutPlugin/FlipperKitLayoutPlugin.h>
#import <FlipperKitLayoutPlugin/SKDescriptorMapper.h>
#import <FlipperKitNetworkPlugin/FlipperKitNetworkPlugin.h>
#import <FlipperKitReactPlugin/FlipperKitReactPlugin.h>
#import <FlipperKitUserDefaultsPlugin/FKUserDefaultsPlugin.h>
#import <SKIOSNetworkPlugin/SKIOSNetworkAdapter.h>
#endif
#endif

@implementation AppDelegate

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
  [self initializeFlipper:application];
  ...
}

- (void) initializeFlipper:(UIApplication *)application {
  #if DEBUG
  #ifdef FB_SONARKIT_ENABLED
    FlipperClient *client = [FlipperClient sharedClient];
    SKDescriptorMapper *layoutDescriptorMapper = [[SKDescriptorMapper alloc] initWithDefaults];
    [client addPlugin: [[FlipperKitLayoutPlugin alloc] initWithRootNode: application withDescriptorMapper: layoutDescriptorMapper]];
    [client addPlugin: [[FKUserDefaultsPlugin alloc] initWithSuiteName:nil]];
    [client addPlugin: [FlipperKitReactPlugin new]];
    [client addPlugin: [[FlipperKitNetworkPlugin alloc] initWithNetworkAdapter:[SKIOSNetworkAdapter new]]];
    [client start];
  #endif
  #endif
}

@end

Swift

...
#if DEBUG
#if FB_SONARKIT_ENABLED
import FlipperKit
#endif
#endif

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

  func application(
      _ application: UIApplication,
      didFinishLaunchingWithOptions
      launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?
    ) -> Bool {
    initializeFlipper(with: application)
    ...
  }

  private func initializeFlipper(with application: UIApplication) {
    #if DEBUG
    #if FB_SONARKIT_ENABLED
      let client = FlipperClient.shared()
      let layoutDescriptorMapper = SKDescriptorMapper(defaults: ())
      FlipperKitLayoutComponentKitSupport.setUpWith(layoutDescriptorMapper)
      client?.add(FlipperKitLayoutPlugin(rootNode: application, with: layoutDescriptorMapper!))
      client?.add(FKUserDefaultsPlugin(suiteName: nil))
      client?.add(FlipperKitReactPlugin())
      client?.add(FlipperKitNetworkPlugin(networkAdapter: SKIOSNetworkAdapter()))
      client?.add(FlipperReactPerformancePlugin.sharedInstance())
      client?.start()
    #endif
    #endif
  }
}

Lastly, open the Flipper desktop app, and run yarn ios in your terminal.

Troubleshooting

See the troubleshooting page for help with known problems.

Further Steps

To create your own plugins and integrate with Flipper using JavaScript, check out our writing plugins for React Native tutorial!