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JavaScript bundle was not built into the app

iOS / Xcode · last reviewed 2026-11-10

The error looks like this

error: File /Users/robert/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/App/Release-iphoneos/App.app/main.jsbundle does not exist.

Why it happens

The "Bundle React Native code and images" build phase failed or was skipped (often node not found, or a JS error in release mode).

How to fix it

  1. Build the bundle by hand to see the real error: npx react-native bundle --platform ios --dev false --entry-file index.js --bundle-output /tmp/main.jsbundle
  2. Create ios/.xcode.env.local with: export NODE_BINARY=$(command -v node)
  3. Fix the JS error it prints, then Archive again.

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