React Native Tools

This extension provides a development environment for React Native projects. You can debug your code, quickly run react-native commands from the command palette and use IntelliSense to browse objects, functions and parameters for React Native APIs.

Getting started

Install VS Code (0.10.10+ is preferred).
Install the extension in VS Code:
1. Type F1, then ext install + Enter, wait a moment while the list of available extensions is populated
2. Type react-native and select React Native Tools
3. For more guidance view VS Code Extension Gallery
If you haven't already, install React Native:
1. Run npm install -g react-native-cli to install React Native CLI (0.1.10+)
2. Set up React Native (0.19+) using the steps detailed on the React Native getting started documentation
Open your React Native project root folder in VS Code.

Debugging

Setup debug environment

Click the debugging icon in the View bar, and then click the configure gear icon to choose the React Native debug environment.

VS Code will generate a launch.json in your project with some default configurations such as shown below.

You can modify these configurations or add new ones to the list. You can use other fields in these configurations as well.

For example, you can modify the target field to specify the simulator you want to target for iOS debugging.

Start debug session

To start the debug session, select a configuration from the Configuration dropdown, and then click the start button (or press F5).

You can debug your app on an Android emulator, Android device or iOS simulator. This extension provides experiemental support for iOS devices.

More information about debugging using VS Code can be found in this guide.

Debugging on iOS device

Debugging on iOS device would require following manual steps.

Change the jsCodeLocation IP in your app using the steps detailed here.
Choose Debug iOS configuration from the Configuration dropdown and press F5.
Shake the device to open development menu and select "Debug in Chrome".

Using React Native commands in the Command Palette

In the Command Palette, type React Native and choose a command.

The Run Android command triggers react-native run-android and starts your app for android.

The Run iOS command similarly triggers react-native run-ios and starts your app in iOS simulator (iPhone 6).

The Packager commands allow you to start/stop the React-packager.

Using IntelliSense

IntelliSense helps you discover objects, functions, and parameters in React Native.

Enabling IntelliSense

Note: This section relates to older versions of VS Code and React Native Tools. The latest version of VS Code (0.10.10+) natively supports IntelliSense for Salsa. These instructions apply to older versions of VS Code (<= 0.10.9).
- When using VS Code 0.10.10+ with a newer React Native Tools extension (> 0.1.0) the extension will update project settings to remove the workaround described below if it was applied while using an older version of this extension or VS Code.

React Native IntelliSense depends on experimental features to support JSX in VS Code. To enable these experimental features, you will see the following prompt immediately after opening a React Native project.

This is a one-time prompt and will enable JSX support. You will need to restart VS Code once for changes to take effect.

You can verify that you have Salsa enabled and you have an installed TypeScript version that supports Salsa by checking the status indicator in the Status Bar. This shows that all is OK

Once you have enabled IntelliSense by following the above steps, you can start typing in the code editor to see the objects, functions, and parameters of your React Native libraries and your own code.

Here is what happens behind the scenes to enable JSX support: 1. The environment variable VSCODE_TSJS=1 is set to enable Salsa 2. Salsa requires TypeScript 1.8, the extension will install typescript@1.8.2 in ~/.vscode. 3. A settings.json file is created in the .vscode directory with typescript.tsdk pointing to the typescript install location. 4. A tsconfig.json file is created in the project root with allowJs: true to allow TypeScript to process JavaScript files. 5. Typings for React Native are copied into the .vscode directory.

Known Issues

Here is the list of common known issues you may experience while using the extension:

Issue	Description
Debugger doesn't stop at breakpoints	The debugger only works if the packager is started by VS Code. Stop the packager if it is already running outside VSCode.
'adb: command not found'	If you receive an error `adb: command not found`, you need to update your path variable to include the location of your ADB executable.The ADB executable file is located in a subdirectory along with your other Android SDK files.
Targeting iPhone 6 doesn't work	There is a known issue #5850 while running an app targeting iPhone 6

Known-Issues provides a complete list of active and resolved issues.

Disable telemetry reporting

VS Code React Native extension collects usage data and sends it to Microsoft to help improve our products and services. Read our privacy statement to learn more.

If you don’t wish to send usage data to Microsoft, please follow the instructions below to disable its collection.

Edit VSCodeTelemetrySettings.json file at ~/.vscode-react-native and add optIn:false.