EAS Build for TV

Local builds are great for fast iteration. EAS builds are required for: signed artifacts, builds reproducible in CI, and store submission. The TV story on EAS is the same as mobile with one extra: the EXPO_TV env var per profile.

Profiles for TV

In eas.json:

{
  "cli": { "version": ">= 7.0.0" },
  "build": {
    "preview-tv-android": {
      "extends": "preview",
      "env": { "EXPO_TV": "1" },
      "android": { "buildType": "apk" },
      "distribution": "internal"
    },
    "preview-tv-firetv": {
      "extends": "preview-tv-android",
      "env": { "EXPO_TV": "1" }
    },
    "preview-tv-ios": {
      "extends": "preview",
      "env": { "EXPO_TV": "1" },
      "ios": {
        "simulator": false,
        "image": "latest"
      },
      "distribution": "internal"
    },
    "production-tv-android": {
      "env": { "EXPO_TV": "1" },
      "android": { "buildType": "app-bundle" },
      "distribution": "store"
    },
    "production-tv-ios": {
      "env": { "EXPO_TV": "1" },
      "ios": { "simulator": false },
      "distribution": "store"
    }
  }
}

Why two Android profiles? Fire TV and Android TV produce the same APK technically, but Fire TV gets distributed via the Amazon Appstore and Android TV via Google Play. The profiles differ in store metadata, not in the build. Keep them separate so submission later is clean.

Build invocation

# From apps/expo-multi-tv/
eas build --profile preview-tv-android --platform android
eas build --profile preview-tv-ios --platform ios

The eas_build tool wraps these. Each build is 10–25 min on EAS infra. Don't wait synchronously in the harness — kick it off, return the build ID, poll status, or use webhooks.

Vega is NOT built via EAS

EAS doesn't currently support Vega. Vega builds go through Amazon's Vega CLI / Kepler toolchain. The vega_build tool handles it. EAS profiles in eas.json are for the Expo app only.

Simulator vs device builds (iOS / tvOS)

• "simulator": true produces a build runnable in the tvOS Simulator (.tar.gz with .app inside). Fastest, no Apple Developer account needed.
• "simulator": false produces a .ipa runnable on a real Apple TV or for TestFlight. Requires Apple Developer membership and provisioning.

For the harness:

• Smoke testing in CI → simulator build.
• Internal sharing to a real TV → device build, internal distribution.
• Store submission → device build, store distribution.

Credentials

On first build, EAS prompts for credentials:

• Android: keystore (let EAS generate one and store it, or upload your own).
• iOS / tvOS: Apple Developer account, distribution cert, provisioning profile. Let EAS manage these unless the user has a specific reason not to.

The harness should not prompt interactively in v1. Either:

• Pre-configure credentials before the run, and let EAS reuse them silently.
• Skip EAS entirely if credentials aren't set up, and produce local artifacts only.

Build artifacts and where they end up

EAS builds finish on Anthropic's — sorry, Expo's — servers. Get artifacts via:

eas build:list --status finished --json --limit 1

Or via the API. The eas_build tool downloads the artifact URL and saves to out/<run_id>/artifacts/.

Common EAS failures and fixes

CI integration (out of v1 scope, but flag)

EAS integrates with CI via the EAS CLI. Most teams set up:

• Push to main → preview build for both platforms.
• Tag a release → production build, auto-submit to internal track.

The harness produces an EAS-ready repo. Wiring it into CI is the user's next step.

Cost — be aware

EAS is metered. Free tier covers small teams; busier projects need a paid plan. A typical harness run with production-tv-android + production-tv-ios + preview-tv-firetv = 3 builds. Multiply by users / iterations.

For dev runs, prefer local builds. On Android, prebuild with Expo, compile with the Gradle wrapper, and deploy with Android CLI. Use EAS only when you need a signed or distributable artifact.

Decision: EAS or local build?

Anti-patterns

• Running EAS for every smoke test. Each is 10–25 min and metered. Local is seconds.
• Forgetting EXPO_TV in production profiles. Same symptom as forgetting it locally — phone app on a TV.
• Bundling Vega target into EAS profiles. Vega is a different toolchain; EAS won't know what to do.
• Mixing dev and prod credentials. Use distinct keystores / provisioning per environment.