One-Time Setup

Do this once per machine (and once per project, for the Firebase side). If you haven’t installed the tools yet, see Getting Started → Prerequisites & Tooling.

1. Log in to the CLIs 

npx firebase login    # Google account with access to the Firebase project
eas login             # Expo account

2. Create your .env

The distribution script reads three variables. Copy the template and fill them from Firebase Console → Project settings → General → Your apps:

cp scripts/.env.example .env

FIREBASE_ANDROID_APP_ID=1:000000000000:android:xxxxxxxxxxxx
FIREBASE_IOS_APP_ID=1:000000000000:ios:xxxxxxxxxxxx
FIREBASE_TESTER_GROUP=internal

.env is git-ignored — never commit it.

3. Create the Firebase project + tester group (first time only)

  1. Create the project in the Firebase console. Analytics is optional — App Distribution doesn’t need it.
  2. Register the apps with your production identifiers: the Android app with your production package name, the iOS app with your production bundle id. You can skip downloading google-services.json / GoogleService-Info.plist and the SDK install steps — App Distribution only needs the CLI.
  3. Enable App Distribution and create a testers group. Make sure the group’s alias exactly matches FIREBASE_TESTER_GROUP (e.g. internal), then add your testers’ emails to it.