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How to run an iOS Simulator in GitHub Actions with Expo Simulators

Blog post from Expo

Post Details
Company
Date Published
Author
Expo
Word Count
1,308
Company Posts That Month
35
Language
English
Hacker News Points
-
Post removed?
No
Summary

Expo Simulators can be integrated into GitHub Actions to run iOS Simulator checks automatically for pull requests without requiring a macOS runner or local simulator. The workflow uses an Expo robot-user access token stored as an `EXPO_TOKEN` secret, builds an unsigned iOS Simulator app through EAS Build, starts a time-limited remote simulator session, drives the app with agent-device, Argent, or Appium, uploads screenshots and recordings as GitHub artifacts, and reliably stops the session even after failures or cancellations. Setup requires an Expo project ID in the app configuration, access to the limited-beta Expo Simulators service, and an EAS build profile with iOS simulator support enabled. Security guidance emphasizes using a minimally privileged robot account, never exposing the session-token file generated during startup, and avoiding command output that includes session connection details. The workflow can reuse suitable builds when native code is unchanged, while Android APK sessions are also possible but remain under development; it does not work unchanged for pull requests from forks because GitHub does not provide repository secrets to those workflows.

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