1--- 2title: Overview 3hideTOC: true 4description: An overview of bare React Native app with Expo tools. 5--- 6 7import { BoxLink } from '~/ui/components/BoxLink'; 8import { Terminal } from '~/ui/components/Snippet'; 9 10A bare React Native app is a project where developers make direct changes to their native **android** and **ios** project directories rather than continuously generating them on demand using the [app config (**app.json**) and prebuild](/workflow/prebuild). All tools and services offered by Expo including [EAS](/eas), Expo CLI, and the libraries in the Expo SDK, are built around bare React Native apps. 11 12Before you get started with a React Native app, make sure you set up your environment for [React Native CLI](https://reactnative.dev/docs/environment-setup). 13 14To bootstrap a new React Native project, you can use `create-expo-app`. If you have an existing project or want to bootstrap with `npx react-native init`, then you will need to [install the `expo` package](/bare/installing-expo-modules) manually. 15 16<Terminal 17 cmd={['# Create a new native project', '$ npx create-expo-app --template bare-minimum']} 18 cmdCopy="npx create-expo-app --template bare-minimum" 19/> 20 21Navigate into your project directory, then build the apps locally: 22 23<Terminal 24 cmd={[ 25 '# Build your native Android project', 26 '$ npx expo run:android', 27 '', 28 '# Build your native iOS project', 29 '$ npx expo run:ios', 30 ]} 31/> 32 33> Learn more about [compiling native apps](/more/expo-cli#compiling). 34 35## Next 36 37<BoxLink 38 title="Install Expo modules" 39 description="If you have already initialized a React Native app without `create-expo-app`, learn how to install the Expo module library." 40 href="/bare/installing-expo-modules" 41/> 42<BoxLink 43 title="Installing libraries" 44 description="Learn how to install and configure native libraries." 45 href="/workflow/using-libraries#installing-a-third-party-library" 46/> 47<BoxLink 48 title="Using the Expo SDK" 49 description="Start adding features to your app." 50 href="/versions/" 51/> 52<BoxLink 53 title="Adopting Prebuild" 54 description="Automate your native directories using the app.json." 55 href="/guides/adopting-prebuild" 56/> 57<BoxLink 58 title="Distributing your app" 59 description="Build and submit your app to the app store with a single command!" 60 href="/distribution/introduction" 61/> 62