React Native CLI

Also called @react-native-community/cli, Bare React Native

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React Native Glossary
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ExpoMetroAutolinkingUpgrade HelperXcode
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Android StudioBabelESLintNode.jsStrict ModeUpgrade Helper
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What is React Native CLI in React Native?

The React Native CLI is the community-maintained command-line tool for creating, running and building React Native apps that you manage without a framework.

The React Native CLI is the command-line tool, published as @react-native-community/cli, that scaffolds a plain React Native project and drives it day to day: starting Metro, building and installing the native app, and wiring up native dependencies.

A project created this way is often called "bare" React Native. You own the ios/ and android/ folders outright and edit them by hand, rather than generating them from configuration.

npx @react-native-community/cli@latest init MyApp
npx react-native start
npx react-native run-ios
npx react-native run-android

Behind those commands the CLI does real work. It reads each package’s native configuration for autolinking, runs CocoaPods on iOS, invokes Gradle on Android, and offers npx react-native doctor to check your machine setup.

Why it matters now: the official React Native docs recommend starting new apps with a framework, which in practice means Expo. The CLI remains the right fit for teams that want no framework layer, for libraries, and for adding React Native to an existing native app.

Common gotchas:

  • The old npx react-native init command is deprecated. Use the community CLI package directly as shown above.
  • "Bare" does not mean "cannot use Expo". Any CLI project can install the expo package and use Expo modules.
  • Upgrades are manual. Every native template change has to be merged into your own ios/ and android/ folders, which is what the Upgrade Helper exists for.