Native Modules

Native Modules Expert

Specialized in React Native native module integration, including custom native module development, third-party native library integration, and troubleshooting native code issues.

What I Know

Native Module Fundamentals

What Are Native Modules?

• Bridge between JavaScript and native platform code
• Access platform-specific APIs (Bluetooth, NFC, etc.)
• Performance-critical operations
• Integration with existing native SDKs

Modern Architecture

• Old Architecture: Bridge-based (React Native < 0.68)
• New Architecture (React Native 0.68+):
  • JSI (JavaScript Interface): Direct JS ↔ Native communication
  • Turbo Modules: Lazy-loaded native modules
  • Fabric: New rendering engine

Using Third-Party Native Modules

Installation with Autolinking

# Install module
npm install react-native-camera

# iOS: Install pods (autolinking handles most configuration)
cd ios && pod install && cd ..

# Rebuild the app
npm run ios
npm run android

Manual Linking (Legacy)

# React Native < 0.60 (rarely needed now)
react-native link react-native-camera

Expo Integration

# For Expo managed workflow, use config plugins
npx expo install react-native-camera

# Add plugin to app.json
{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "react-native-camera",
        {
          "cameraPermission": "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your camera"
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

# Rebuild dev client
eas build --profile development --platform all

Creating Custom Native Modules

iOS Native Module (Swift)

// RCTCalendarModule.swift
import Foundation

@objc(CalendarModule)
class CalendarModule: NSObject {

  @objc
  static func requiresMainQueueSetup() -> Bool {
    return false
  }

  @objc
  func createEvent(_ name: String, location: String, date: NSNumber) {
    // Native implementation
    print("Creating event: \(name) at \(location)")
  }

  @objc
  func getEvents(_ callback: @escaping RCTResponseSenderBlock) {
    let events = ["Event 1", "Event 2", "Event 3"]
    callback([NSNull(), events])
  }

  @objc
  func findEvents(_ resolve: @escaping RCTPromiseResolveBlock, rejecter reject: @escaping RCTPromiseRejectBlock) {
    // Async with Promise
    DispatchQueue.global().async {
      let events = self.fetchEventsFromNativeAPI()
      resolve(events)
    }
  }
}

// RCTCalendarModule.m (Bridge file)
#import <React/RCTBridgeModule.h>

@interface RCT_EXTERN_MODULE(CalendarModule, NSObject)

RCT_EXTERN_METHOD(createEvent:(NSString *)name location:(NSString *)location date:(nonnull NSNumber *)date)

RCT_EXTERN_METHOD(getEvents:(RCTResponseSenderBlock)callback)

RCT_EXTERN_METHOD(findEvents:(RCTPromiseResolveBlock)resolve rejecter:(RCTPromiseRejectBlock)reject)

@end

Android Native Module (Kotlin)

// CalendarModule.kt
package com.myapp

import com.facebook.react.bridge.*

class CalendarModule(reactContext: ReactApplicationContext) :
    ReactContextBaseJavaModule(reactContext) {

    override fun getName(): String {
        return "CalendarModule"
    }

    @ReactMethod
    fun createEvent(name: String, location: String, date: Double) {
        // Native implementation
        println("Creating event: $name at $location")
    }

    @ReactMethod
    fun getEvents(callback: Callback) {
        val events = WritableNativeArray().apply {
            pushString("Event 1")
            pushString("Event 2")
            pushString("Event 3")
        }
        callback.invoke(null, events)
    }

    @ReactMethod
    fun findEvents(promise: Promise) {
        try {
            val events = fetchEventsFromNativeAPI()
            promise.resolve(events)
        } catch (e: Exception) {
            promise.reject("ERROR", e.message, e)
        }
    }
}

// CalendarPackage.kt
package com.myapp

import com.facebook.react.ReactPackage
import com.facebook.react.bridge.NativeModule
import com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactApplicationContext
import com.facebook.react.uimanager.ViewManager

class CalendarPackage : ReactPackage {
    override fun createNativeModules(reactContext: ReactApplicationContext): List<NativeModule> {
        return listOf(CalendarModule(reactContext))
    }

    override fun createViewManagers(reactContext: ReactApplicationContext): List<ViewManager<*, *>> {
        return emptyList()
    }
}

JavaScript Usage

// CalendarModule.js
import { NativeModules } from 'react-native';

const { CalendarModule } = NativeModules;

export default {
  createEvent: (name, location, date) => {
    CalendarModule.createEvent(name, location, date);
  },

  getEvents: (callback) => {
    CalendarModule.getEvents((error, events) => {
      if (error) {
        console.error(error);
      } else {
        callback(events);
      }
    });
  },

  findEvents: async () => {
    try {
      const events = await CalendarModule.findEvents();
      return events;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(error);
      throw error;
    }
  }
};

// Usage in components
import CalendarModule from './CalendarModule';

function MyComponent() {
  const handleCreateEvent = () => {
    CalendarModule.createEvent('Meeting', 'Office', Date.now());
  };

  const handleGetEvents = async () => {
    const events = await CalendarModule.findEvents();
    console.log('Events:', events);
  };

  return (
    <View>
      <Button title="Create Event" />
      <Button title="Get Events" />
    </View>
  );
}

Turbo Modules (New Architecture)

Creating a Turbo Module

// NativeCalendarModule.ts (Codegen spec)
import type { TurboModule } from 'react-native';
import { TurboModuleRegistry } from 'react-native';

export interface Spec extends TurboModule {
  createEvent(name: string, location: string, date: number): void;
  findEvents(): Promise<string[]>;
}

export default TurboModuleRegistry.getEnforcing<Spec>('CalendarModule');

Benefits of Turbo Modules

• Lazy loading: Loaded only when used
• Type safety with TypeScript
• Faster initialization
• Better performance via JSI

Native UI Components

Custom Native View (iOS - Swift)

// RCTCustomViewManager.swift
import UIKit

@objc(CustomViewManager)
class CustomViewManager: RCTViewManager {

  override static func requiresMainQueueSetup() -> Bool {
    return true
  }

  override func view() -> UIView! {
    return CustomView()
  }

  @objc func setColor(_ view: CustomView, color: NSNumber) {
    view.backgroundColor = RCTConvert.uiColor(color)
  }
}

class CustomView: UIView {
  override init(frame: CGRect) {
    super.init(frame: frame)
    self.backgroundColor = .blue
  }

  required init?(coder: NSCoder) {
    fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
  }
}

Custom Native View (Android - Kotlin)

// CustomViewManager.kt
class CustomViewManager : SimpleViewManager<View>() {

    override fun getName(): String {
        return "CustomView"
    }

    override fun createViewInstance(reactContext: ThemedReactContext): View {
        return View(reactContext).apply {
            setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE)
        }
    }

    @ReactProp(name = "color")
    fun setColor(view: View, color: Int) {
        view.setBackgroundColor(color)
    }
}

JavaScript Usage

import { requireNativeComponent } from 'react-native';

const CustomView = requireNativeComponent('CustomView');

function MyComponent() {
  return (
    <CustomView
      style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }}
      color="red"
    />
  );
}

Common Native Module Issues

Module Not Found

# iOS: Clear build and reinstall pods
cd ios && rm -rf build Pods && pod install && cd ..
npm run ios

# Android: Clean and rebuild
cd android && ./gradlew clean && cd ..
npm run android

# Clear Metro cache
npx react-native start --reset-cache

Autolinking Not Working

# Verify module in package.json
npm list react-native-camera

# Re-run pod install
cd ios && pod install && cd ..

# Check react-native.config.js for custom linking config

Native Crashes

# iOS: Check Xcode console for crash logs
# Look for:
# - Unrecognized selector sent to instance
# - Null pointer exceptions
# - Memory issues

# Android: Check logcat
adb logcat *:E
# Look for:
# - Java exceptions
# - JNI errors
# - Null pointer exceptions

When to Use This Skill

Ask me when you need help with:

• Integrating third-party native modules
• Creating custom native modules
• Troubleshooting native module installation
• Writing iOS native code (Swift/Objective-C)
• Writing Android native code (Kotlin/Java)
• Debugging native crashes
• Understanding Turbo Modules and JSI
• Migrating to New Architecture
• Creating custom native UI components
• Handling platform-specific APIs
• Resolving autolinking issues

Essential Commands

Module Development

# Create module template
npx create-react-native-module my-module

# Build iOS module
cd ios && xcodebuild

# Build Android module
cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

# Test module locally
npm link
cd ../MyApp && npm link my-module

Debugging Native Code

# iOS: Run with Xcode debugger
open ios/MyApp.xcworkspace

# Android: Run with Android Studio debugger
# Open android/ folder in Android Studio

# Print native logs
# iOS
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/*.crash

# Android
adb logcat | grep "CalendarModule"

Pro Tips & Tricks

1. Type-Safe Native Modules with Codegen

Use Codegen (New Architecture) for type safety:

// NativeMyModule.ts
import type { TurboModule } from 'react-native';
import { TurboModuleRegistry } from 'react-native';

export interface Spec extends TurboModule {
  getString(key: string): Promise<string>;
  setString(key: string, value: string): void;
}

export default TurboModuleRegistry.getEnforcing<Spec>('MyModule');

2. Event Emitters for Native → JS Communication

// iOS - Emit events to JavaScript
import Foundation

@objc(DeviceOrientationModule)
class DeviceOrientationModule: RCTEventEmitter {

  override func supportedEvents() -> [String]! {
    return ["OrientationChanged"]
  }

  @objc
  override static func requiresMainQueueSetup() -> Bool {
    return true
  }

  @objc
  func startObserving() {
    NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
      self,
      selector: #selector(orientationChanged),
      name: UIDevice.orientationDidChangeNotification,
      object: nil
    )
  }

  @objc
  func stopObserving() {
    NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self)
  }

  @objc
  func orientationChanged() {
    let orientation = UIDevice.current.orientation
    sendEvent(withName: "OrientationChanged", body: ["orientation": orientation.rawValue])
  }
}

// JavaScript - Listen to native events
import { NativeEventEmitter, NativeModules } from 'react-native';

const { DeviceOrientationModule } = NativeModules;
const eventEmitter = new NativeEventEmitter(DeviceOrientationModule);

function MyComponent() {
  useEffect(() => {
    const subscription = eventEmitter.addListener('OrientationChanged', (data) => {
      console.log('Orientation:', data.orientation);
    });

    return () => subscription.remove();
  }, []);

  return <View />;
}

3. Native Module with Callbacks

// Android - Pass callbacks
@ReactMethod
fun processData(data: String, successCallback: Callback, errorCallback: Callback) {
    try {
        val result = heavyProcessing(data)
        successCallback.invoke(result)
    } catch (e: Exception) {
        errorCallback.invoke(e.message)
    }
}

// JavaScript
CalendarModule.processData(
  'input data',
  (result) => console.log('Success:', result),
  (error) => console.error('Error:', error)
);

4. Synchronous Native Methods (Use Sparingly)

// iOS - Synchronous method (blocks JS thread!)
@objc
func getDeviceId() -> String {
    return UIDevice.current.identifierForVendor?.uuidString ?? "unknown"
}

// JavaScript - Synchronous call
const deviceId = CalendarModule.getDeviceId();
console.log(deviceId);  // Returns immediately

Warning: Synchronous methods block the JS thread. Use only for very fast operations (<5ms).

Integration with SpecWeave

Native Module Planning

• Document native dependencies in spec.md
• Include native module setup in plan.md
• Add native code compilation to tasks.md

Testing Strategy

• Unit test native code separately
• Integration test JS ↔ Native bridge
• Test on both iOS and Android
• Document platform-specific behaviors

Documentation

• Maintain native module API documentation
• Document platform-specific quirks
• Keep runbooks for common native issues