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Quick Start

Get your first OTA update running in minutes with a minimal local setup.

tip

This guide uses local storage, local keys, and local cache — the simplest configuration possible. For production setups (S3, Redis, CloudFront), see Server Configuration.

1. Get your Expo credentials​

You need two things from Expo:

2. Generate signing certificates​

In your Expo project directory, generate the signing key pair:

cd ./my-expo-project
npx eoas generate-certs

This creates three files in certs/:

  • private-key.pem and public-key.pem — used by the server to sign and verify updates
  • certificate.pem — commit this to your Expo project (used by the client to verify updates)

3. Start the server​

Pull and run the Docker image with a minimal configuration:

docker run --rm -it \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000 \
  -e EXPO_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-expo-token \
  -e EXPO_APP_ID=your-project-id \
  -e JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32) \
  -e STORAGE_MODE=local \
  -e KEYS_STORAGE_TYPE=local \
  -e PUBLIC_LOCAL_EXPO_KEY_PATH=/keys/public-key.pem \
  -e PRIVATE_LOCAL_EXPO_KEY_PATH=/keys/private-key.pem \
  -e CACHE_MODE=local \
  -e USE_DASHBOARD=true \
  -e ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin \
  -v $(pwd)/certs:/keys:ro \
  -v ./updates:/updates \
  ghcr.io/axelmarciano/expo-open-ota:latest

The server is now running on http://localhost:3000. You can verify with:

curl http://localhost:3000/hc

4. Configure your Expo app​

In your Expo project, point your app to your local server:

cd ./my-expo-project
npx eoas init

Follow the prompts — it will update your app.config.js to use your Expo Open OTA server.

warning

After running eoas init, you need to create a new build of your app for the configuration to take effect. See EAS Build guide.

5. Create a release channel​

Your app uses a release channel to know which branch to pull updates from. The server queries Expo for this channel→branch mapping when your app checks for updates.

Go to your Expo dashboard, navigate to your project under Over-the-air-updates → Channels, and create a channel (e.g. production) pointing to the branch you'll publish to (e.g. production).

info

Branches are created automatically when you publish. Channels must be created manually on expo.dev. If you have the EAS CLI installed, you can also run eas channel:create production.

6. Publish your first update​

cd ./my-expo-project
npx eoas publish --branch production

That's it! Your app will now receive OTA updates from your self-hosted server.

Next steps​

You now have a working local setup. To move to production: