Generating a signed APK builds a broken APK from a working project

Question

---Edit---
Forgot to include original manifest. Here it is:

    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="app.web.scratch_v2">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name="android.support.customtabs.trusted.LauncherActivity"
            android:label="${launcherName}">

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.customtabs.trusted.DEFAULT_URL"
                android:value="${defaultUrl}"/>


            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>


            <intent-filter android:autoVerify="true">
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"/>
                <data
                    android:scheme="https"
                    android:host="${hostName}"/>
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <meta-data
            android:name="asset_statements"
            android:value="${assetStatements}" />
    </application>
</manifest>

Original Post:

I'm very new to android dev but am currently trying to package my PWA as an APK via trusted web activities.

Where I'm at:
- the app installs and runs on an emulated device
- it runs in a TWA, not as a custom tab. However, after generating a signed APK

The Problem:
- When I profile the generated APK, I get the error "Error running app-release, default activity not found".

My assessment:

The problem seems to be in the manifest generated by the signed apk process and here's that manifest. There are a few namespace errors that do not exist in the manifest of the project I am building from, as well as an unresolved package (customtabs) in the activity. Here is the manifest from the generated signed APK (this APK is output in a different directory than the project):

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><manifest
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0"
    android:compileSdkVersion="29"
    android:compileSdkVersionCodename="10"
    package="app.web.scratch_v2"
    platformBuildVersionCode="29"
    platformBuildVersionName="10">

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="19"
        android:targetSdkVersion="29" />

    <application
        android:theme="@ref/0x7f0d0005"
        android:label="@ref/0x7f0c001b"
        android:icon="@ref/0x7f0b0000"
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:roundIcon="@ref/0x7f0b0001"
        android:appComponentFactory="androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory">

        <activity
            android:label="my-name"
            android:name="android.support.customtabs.trusted.LauncherActivity">

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.customtabs.trusted.DEFAULT_URL"
                android:value="my-url" />

            <intent-filter>

                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>

            <intent-filter
                android:autoVerify="true">

                <action
                    android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />

                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />

                <category
                    android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />

                <data
                    android:scheme="https"
                    android:host="my-host-here" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <meta-data
            android:name="asset_statements"
            android:value="[{ "relation": ["delegate_permission/common.handle_all_urls"], "target": {"namespace": "web", "site": "https://my-link-here/"}}]" />
    </application>
</manifest>

But, when I replace that manifest path with the manifest in the "/app/build/intermediates/bundle_manifest/release/bundle-manifest/AndroidManifest.xml" (from the same project) everything is fixed, and the APK runs great. Here's that manifest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="app.web.scratch_v2"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="19"
        android:targetSdkVersion="29" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:appComponentFactory="androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:testOnly="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name="android.support.customtabs.trusted.LauncherActivity"
            android:label="my-name" >
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.customtabs.trusted.DEFAULT_URL"
                android:value="my-url" />

            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
            <intent-filter android:autoVerify="true" >
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />

                <data
                    android:host="my-host-here"
                    android:scheme="https" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>

        <meta-data
            android:name="asset_statements"
            android:value="[{ "relation": ["delegate_permission/common.handle_all_urls"], "target": {"namespace": "web", "site": "https://my-link-here/"}}]" />
    </application>

</manifest>

So, I'm sure it is poor config in my project that is breaking this, but I cannot find the mistake. Any suggestions are appreciated!