What files need to be added to version control for a react-native project's continuous integration pipeline?

Question

I'm adding my react-native project to version control. My intent is to configure a continuous integration pipeline using Microsoft's AppCenter.

When I try to push my project to GitHub, there are a few files that are too large. One is a file in the iOS/Pods directory, the other is a .hprof file In the android directory.

Im hard-pressed to find a quality explanation of what files need to be included in version control for these ci/cd pipelines.

currently my .gitignore (taken from https://www.gitignore.io/api/reactnative) looks like:

### ReactNative ###
# React Native Stack Base
### ReactNative.Xcode Stack ###
# Xcode
#
# gitignore contributors: remember to update Global/Xcode.gitignore, Objective-C.gitignore & Swift.gitignore

## Build generated
build/
DerivedData/

## Pods
ios/Pods/ <- can this be ignored and still have successful CI builds?

## Various settings
*.pbxuser
!default.pbxuser
*.mode1v3
!default.mode1v3
*.mode2v3
!default.mode2v3
*.perspectivev3
!default.perspectivev3
xcuserdata/

## Other
*.moved-aside
*.xccheckout
*.xcscmblueprint

### ReactNative.Node Stack ###
# Logs
logs
*.log
npm-debug.log*
yarn-debug.log*
yarn-error.log*

# Runtime data
pids
*.pid
*.seed
*.pid.lock

# Directory for instrumented libs generated by jscoverage/JSCover
lib-cov

# Coverage directory used by tools like istanbul
coverage

# nyc test coverage
.nyc_output

# Grunt intermediate storage (http://gruntjs.com/creating-plugins#storing-task-files)
.grunt

# Bower dependency directory (https://bower.io/)
bower_components

# node-waf configuration
.lock-wscript

# Compiled binary addons (http://nodejs.org/api/addons.html)
build/Release

# Dependency directories
node_modules/
jspm_packages/

# Typescript v1 declaration files
typings/

# Optional npm cache directory
.npm

# Optional eslint cache
.eslintcache

# Optional REPL history
.node_repl_history

# Output of 'npm pack'
*.tgz

# Yarn Integrity file
.yarn-integrity

# dotenv environment variables file
.env


### ReactNative.Buck Stack ###
buck-out/
.buckconfig.local
.buckd/
.buckversion
.fakebuckversion

### ReactNative.macOS Stack ###
*.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two \r
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

### ReactNative.Gradle Stack ###
.gradle
**/build/

# Ignore Gradle GUI config
gradle-app.setting

# Avoid ignoring Gradle wrapper jar file (.jar files are usually ignored)
!gradle-wrapper.jar

# Cache of project
.gradletasknamecache

# # Work around https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-116898
# gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties

### ReactNative.Android Stack ###
# Built application files
*.apk
*.ap_

# Files for the ART/Dalvik VM
*.dex

# Java class files
*.class

# Generated files
bin/
gen/
out/

# Gradle files
.gradle/

# Local configuration file (sdk path, etc)
local.properties

# Proguard folder generated by Eclipse
proguard/

# Log Files

# Android Studio Navigation editor temp files
.navigation/

# Android Studio captures folder
captures/

# Intellij
*.iml
.idea/workspace.xml
.idea/tasks.xml
.idea/gradle.xml
.idea/dictionaries
.idea/libraries

# External native build folder generated in Android Studio 2.2 and later
.externalNativeBuild

# Freeline
freeline.py
freeline/
freeline_project_description.json

### ReactNative.Linux Stack ###
*~

# temporary files which can be created if a process still has a handle open of a deleted file
.fuse_hidden*

# KDE directory preferences
.directory

# Linux trash folder which might appear on any partition or disk
.Trash-*

# .nfs files are created when an open file is removed but is still being accessed
.nfs*

# End of https://www.gitignore.io/api/reactnative

Im not sure which files can be ignored, and which NEED to exist in version control so AppCenter can build the project. for example, can iOS/Pods be excluded from VC? why/why not etc. for initial commit, my untracked files are:

.buckconfig
 .eslintrc.js
 .firebaserc
 .flowconfig
 .gitignore
 .idea/
 .prettierrc.js
 .watchmanconfig
 App.js
 __tests__/
 android/
 app.json
 babel.config.js
 firebase.json
 functions/
 index.android.js
 index.js
 ios/
 metro.config.js
 package-lock.json
 package.json
 src/

For the initial commit, which do and which dont need to be added to VC?

Did you ever find an answer to this? I'm trying to figure out the same thing — Ryker, Jul 29 '21 at 15:20
i believe you can exclude .idea/...everything else in that list youll want to keep — Jim, Jul 29 '21 at 16:02

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 29 '21 at 17:52

For future viewers of this question, you can pretty do your first commit and just let the .gitignore (automatically with react-native init) handle the first commit. Then add the untracked config files in the next commit. If you don't have the .gitignore you can grab it from the React Native git repo or here:

# OSX
#
.DS_Store

# Xcode
#
build/
*.pbxuser
!default.pbxuser
*.mode1v3
!default.mode1v3
*.mode2v3
!default.mode2v3
*.perspectivev3
!default.perspectivev3
xcuserdata
*.xccheckout
*.moved-aside
DerivedData
*.hmap
*.ipa
*.xcuserstate

# Android/IntelliJ
#
build/
.idea
.gradle
local.properties
*.iml
*.hprof

# node.js
#
node_modules/
npm-debug.log
yarn-error.log

# BUCK
buck-out/
\.buckd/
*.keystore
!debug.keystore

# fastlane
#
# It is recommended to not store the screenshots in the git repo. Instead, use fastlane to re-generate the
# screenshots whenever they are needed.
# For more information about the recommended setup visit:
# https://docs.fastlane.tools/best-practices/source-control/

*/fastlane/report.xml
*/fastlane/Preview.html
*/fastlane/screenshots

# Bundle artifact
*.jsbundle

# CocoaPods
/ios/Pods/

My untracked files looked like this after my initial commit:

.buckconfig
.cvsignore.txt
.editorconfig
.eslintrc.js
.flowconfig
.gitattributes
.gitignore
.prettierrc.js
.watchmanconfig
babel.config.js
metro.config.js
tsconfig.json

and I ended up including all of them as per OP's suggestions. IDE specific folders like .vscode and .idea folders can also be excluded (Source). Some other big ones that should be ignored are the Pods, and node_modules folders as they are automatically generated when you run pod install and yarn/npm install respectively.

What files need to be added to version control for a react-native project's continuous integration pipeline?

1 Answers1