How to Create an Expo Template for React Native Development

I recently created a simple free Expo template to make building React Native tutorials easier and, hopefully, help the community out a bit.

In doing so I had to ask the question... how do I actually create an Expo template?

As with all things Expo related, it was simple.

How to Create An Expo Template

As I found out in my research (which consisted of looking at existing Expo templates) I found out that any Expo app can be turned into a template.

Note: You'll need to have the Expo CLI installed.

Then create a new project.

expo init TemplateApp

Next you'll need to actually create the starter/template app you want to use.

In my case I added some components, prettier, eslint, navigation, and project structure.

First, make sure to create a good (or at least decent) README so people know how to use the template.

In summary this means updating your package.json.

Set the name property to something unique (like @react-native-school/expo-template)
Remove private: true
Give it a description
Add some keywords
Add a homepage link
Add a repository link
Add a license
Set the author - give yourself some credit!

Run npm publish.

And you're set!

Using the template is likewise very easy. Just init the project with the template you published to NPM.

expo init my-app --template @react-native-school/expo-template