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Dev Loop Guide

revyl dev gives you a live cloud device connected to your local dev server. Change code locally, see it on the device instantly, and convert successful flows into regression tests.

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Prerequisites

  • Revyl CLI installed and authenticated (revyl auth login)
  • An Expo or React Native project with a dev client build

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Step 1: Configure hot reload

revyl init
Hot reload is configured automatically during init. If detection picks the wrong provider (common in monorepos), use revyl init --provider expo. This updates .revyl/config.yaml with the hot reload settings.

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Expo configuration

hotreload:
  default: expo
  providers:
    expo:
      app_scheme: myapp
      port: 8081
      platform_keys:
        ios: ios-dev
        android: android-dev

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React Native (bare) configuration

hotreload:
  default: react-native
  providers:
    react-native:
      port: 8081
      platform_keys:
        ios: ios-dev
        android: android-dev

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Step 2: Upload a dev build

Upload a development client build for the branch you’re working on: 
revyl build upload --platform ios-dev
For Expo, this is a dev client build. For bare React Native, it’s your debug build. revyl dev automatically picks the build that matches your current git branch. If no match is found, it falls back to the latest available build.

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Step 3: Start the dev loop

revyl dev
This:
  1. Starts your local dev server (Expo via npx expo start --dev-client, or Metro via npx react-native start)
  2. Creates a Cloudflare tunnel to expose it to cloud devices
  3. Installs the dev client build on a cloud device
  4. Opens the device session in your browser
Now edit code locally and see changes reflected on the device instantly.

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Platform and build overrides

revyl dev --platform android              # Explicit platform
revyl dev --no-open                       # Don't open browser (headless/SSH)
revyl dev --platform ios --build          # Force a fresh dev build first
revyl dev --build-version-id <id>         # Pin a specific build

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Step 4: Run tests in dev mode

While the dev loop is active, run existing tests against your local code: 
revyl dev test run login-flow

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Step 5: Create tests from the dev loop

After verifying a flow manually, convert it to a regression test: 
revyl dev test create checkout-flow --platform ios
revyl dev test open checkout-flow

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Step 6: Promote to regression

Once the test is stable, push and run it outside dev mode: 
revyl test push checkout-flow --force
revyl test run checkout-flow

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New branch workflow

When you create a new branch and want revyl dev to use that branch’s build: 
git checkout -b feature/new-login
revyl build upload --platform ios-dev     # Tagged with your branch
revyl dev --platform ios                  # Auto-picks the branch build

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When do you need a new build?

  • Expo / React Native: Only when native dependencies change (new native modules, Podfile changes, Gradle dependency changes). JS/TS changes are served live via the tunnel.
  • Swift / Kotlin (native): Every code change requires a new build.

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Team sharing

All developers push builds to a shared app container (the app_id in config). Each developer gets their own cloud device session, tunnel, and local server. For JS projects, multiple developers can share the same dev build and still see their own code changes.

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What’s Next