reactnative.run Goes Open
reactnative.run launched an open-source tool that runs React Native/Expo apps in the browser with Metro bundler, HMR, Expo Router, assets, and source maps — making web-based demos of mobile apps much easier. The tool is a tidy option for fullstack portfolio projects that need playable demos. (x.com)
The project is published by RapidNative as RapidNative/reactnative-run on GitHub and the repository shows 67 commits and 35 stars in its main view. (github.com) The codebase is split into three named components — browser-metro (client-side bundler), reactnative-esm (an Express ESM server), and website (Next.js landing, docs, and playground) as listed in the README. (github.com) browser-metro is implemented to run entirely inside a Web Worker and explicitly mirrors Metro’s architecture to provide in-browser bundling, HMR, React Refresh, and source-map support. (github.com) The reactnative-esm server resolves and bundles npm packages on-demand using esbuild, applies SHA-256 hashing for dependency cache keys, and writes bundles to a local cache. (github.com) The repository’s Quick Start instructs users to run npm run dev, which starts reactnative-esm on localhost:5200, the in-browser playground on localhost:5201, and the website on localhost:3000. (github.com) RapidNative states browser-metro is released under the MIT License and also clarifies reactnative.run is an independent open-source project not affiliated with Meta, with the site noting the preview target is web-only (no native iOS/Android runtime). (rapidnative.com) The repository includes an example App.tsx in browser-metro/example for quick demos and documents a Monaco-based editor with TypeScript support, syntax highlighting, and autocomplete inside the playground. (github.com) The README also lists an operational production endpoint for the ESM server at esm.reactnative.run, which the project points to as an in-production service for resolving external packages. (github.com)
