Build a React Native iOS app without a Mac, in the cloud

Start the build from your project root.

vibeview build --cloud --platform ios

The first run asks for two things and saves them to vibeview.json as the development profile: the build command, and where the finished .app lands. When the CLI can find your Xcode workspace, it suggests an xcodebuild command for the simulator. Make sure the command installs your dependencies first, because node_modules and ios/Pods are never uploaded. If you take the suggested command, the CLI also saves a preview profile, the same build in Release:

{
  "defaultPlatform": "ios",
  "platforms": {
    "ios": {
      "build": {
        "profiles": {
          "development": {
            "command": "yarn install --immutable && cd ios && pod install && cd .. && xcodebuild -workspace ios/MyApp.xcworkspace -scheme MyApp -configuration Debug -sdk iphonesimulator -derivedDataPath ios/build CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=-",
            "artifact": "ios/build/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/*.app"
          },
          "preview": {
            "command": "yarn install --immutable && cd ios && pod install && cd .. && xcodebuild -workspace ios/MyApp.xcworkspace -scheme MyApp -configuration Release -sdk iphonesimulator -derivedDataPath ios/build CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=-",
            "artifact": "ios/build/Build/Products/Release-iphonesimulator/*.app"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The development build loads its JavaScript from Metro, which is what vibeview dev wants. The preview build has the JavaScript inside and runs by itself, so it’s the one to share or test; build it with vibeview build --cloud --platform ios --profile preview.

Use whatever your lockfile calls for: npm ci, yarn install --immutable (Yarn 1: yarn install --frozen-lockfile with "packageManager": "yarn@1.x" in package.json, or npx --yes yarn@1 install --frozen-lockfile without it), pnpm install --frozen-lockfile or bun install.

Watch the log. The CLI packs every file git tracks plus untracked files that .gitignore doesn’t exclude, uploads them, and streams the build output. The log opens with the Xcode and iOS SDK versions your app is compiled against. Add --no-wait to start the build and leave; vibeview builds logs <id> --follow picks it back up.

Run it. A succeeded simulator build lands in the app’s Build history with a cloud badge. If the project had no app yet, the build creates one from the binary and the CLI writes its appId into vibeview.json. Open the build’s page and choose Run this build to start it on a cloud iPhone in the browser, or run vibeview dev --platform ios to work on it with Metro and hot reload.

Store an App Store Connect API key. This is what lets VibeView create signing material and upload builds for your team, with no Apple ID password and no two-factor prompts. In App Store Connect, open Users and Access → Integrations, generate a team key with the App Manager or Admin role, note its Key ID and your Issuer ID, and download the .p8 file (Apple lets you download it once). Then:

vibeview credentials asc-key add --key-id <KEY_ID> --issuer-id <ISSUER_ID> --file AuthKey_<KEY_ID>.p8

Generate the certificate and profile. One command replaces exporting a .p12 from Keychain Access and downloading a profile from the developer portal:

vibeview credentials generate --platform ios --name release --app <app-id>

VibeView creates an Apple Distribution certificate for your team (or reuses the one it made earlier), registers the app’s bundle id with Apple if needed, creates an App Store provisioning profile, and stores both as a signing credential. Already have your own signing files? Upload them instead; the .p12 password is prompted with hidden input:

vibeview credentials add --platform ios --file cert.p12 --profile app.mobileprovision --app <app-id>

Set manual signing on the app target. A build machine has no signed-in Apple ID, so Xcode’s automatic signing can’t work there; the app target has to sign manually with your team and profile. Setting it on the app target is safer than passing the profile on the xcodebuild command line: in a CocoaPods project (which nearly every React Native app is) a command-line profile reaches every Pod target too, and some Pods reject it and fail the archive.

• Expo or a prebuild workflow: a small config plugin writes manual signing onto the app target during prebuild, using the team and profile VibeView provides to the build. The Kitlist sample app has a working one in plugins/.
• Bare React Native: set CODE_SIGN_STYLE = Manual, your DEVELOPMENT_TEAM and the PROVISIONING_PROFILE_SPECIFIER on the app target’s Release configuration in ios/MyApp.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj. That’s the usual setup for a project that already ships to the App Store; App Signing explains exactly what the archive step needs.

Turn on automatic build numbers. App Store Connect refuses an upload that reuses a build number. Set autoIncrement on the production profile and every production build gets the next number from a counter VibeView keeps per app, passed to the build as VIBEVIEW_BUILD_NUMBER. Map it to your app’s build number once (how). Because an App Store Connect key is stored, the first number starts above the builds your app already has in App Store Connect.

Build the release.

vibeview build --cloud --profile production --platform ios

The first run asks for the release command: an xcodebuild archive followed by an export. Pass only the signing identity on the archive step, and the export options file VibeView writes from your profile on the export step. The CLI saves it as the production profile, next to the other two (--production is short for --profile production):

{
  "platforms": {
    "ios": {
      "appId": "my-app-abc123",
      "build": {
        "profiles": {
          "development": {
            "command": "...",
            "artifact": "ios/build/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/*.app"
          },
          "preview": {
            "command": "...",
            "artifact": "ios/build/Build/Products/Release-iphonesimulator/*.app"
          },
          "production": {
            "command": "yarn install --immutable && cd ios && pod install && cd .. && xcodebuild archive -workspace ios/MyApp.xcworkspace -scheme MyApp -configuration Release -archivePath ios/build/MyApp.xcarchive ${VIBEVIEW_CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY:+\"CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=$VIBEVIEW_CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY\"} && xcodebuild -exportArchive -archivePath ios/build/MyApp.xcarchive -exportPath ios/build -exportOptionsPlist \"$VIBEVIEW_EXPORT_OPTIONS_PLIST\"",
            "artifact": "ios/build/*.ipa",
            "autoIncrement": true
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Keep the quotes inside ${...:+"..."}: the identity name contains spaces, and without them xcodebuild splits it into separate arguments. vibeview builds download <id> saves the .ipa locally if you want the file itself.