skip-deployment

Skip Deployment

Build, sign, and distribute Skip apps for the App Store and Google Play.

Building for Distribution

skip export                     # Both platforms, debug
skip export -c release          # Both platforms, release
skip export --android           # Android only
skip export --ios               # iOS only
skip export -c release -d ./out # Custom output directory

App Metadata

Skip.env — the shared config file

Skip.env lives at the project root and is the single source of truth for app-level metadata. It's an xcconfig-style file consumed by both the Xcode build (via Darwin/ProjectName.xcconfig, which includes it) and the Gradle build (via Android/settings.gradle.kts, which parses it).

Skip's CLI commands (skip app launch, skip export, skip meta index) all read Skip.env to know what to build.

Recognised keys:

# Identity
PRODUCT_NAME=MyApp                          # app display name; matches Swift module name
PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.example.myapp # iOS bundle ID

# Versioning
MARKETING_VERSION=1.0.0                     # semantic version (CFBundleShortVersionString)
CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION=1                   # build number (CFBundleVersion / versionCode)

# Android-specific
ANDROID_PACKAGE_NAME=com.example.myapp      # Gradle package
ANDROID_APPLICATION_ID=com.example.myapp    # Play Console app ID (often same as package)

# Store linking (used by `skip meta index`)
APPLE_APP_STORE_ID=1234567890               # numeric App Store ID
GOOGLE_PLAY_STORE_ID=com.example.myapp      # Play Store app ID

Edit Skip.env in one place; both platform builds pick up the change.

SKIP_ACTION — control the Android build during iOS iteration

The Darwin/ProjectName.xcconfig file recognises a SKIP_ACTION knob that controls whether the Skip build plugin builds and/or launches the Android side when you build the iOS scheme from Xcode.

Value	Behaviour
launch (default)	Build the Android APK and install + launch it on the running emulator alongside the iOS launch.
build	Build the Android APK but don't launch it.
none	Skip the Android build entirely.

Set it in Darwin/ProjectName.xcconfig:

SKIP_ACTION = launch

SKIP_ACTION = none is the right setting for short bursts of iOS-only iteration when you're tuning UI on the Apple side and don't want every save to re-run the Gradle build. Don't leave it on for long — Android-specific regressions accumulate silently.

App Icons

skip icon icon-1024.png                          # source is a positional argument
skip icon --background "#1A73E8" --inset 0.25 logo.svg

See skip-icons for the full flag list and the in-app .symbolset workflow.

iOS Distribution

Archive via Xcode: Product > Archive, then Distribute App in Organizer.

Or via command line:

xcodebuild archive -workspace Project.xcworkspace -scheme MyApp -configuration Release -archivePath ./build/MyApp.xcarchive
xcodebuild -exportArchive -archivePath ./build/MyApp.xcarchive -exportOptionsPlist ExportOptions.plist -exportPath ./build/

Android Distribution

skip export produces both a debug and a release APK under .build/skip-export/:

• .build/skip-export/AppName-debug.apk — debug build, signed with a temporary key. Installs on emulators and devices for testing; you must uninstall before re-installing a newer version.
• .build/skip-export/AppName.apk — release build, unsigned by default.

Signing the release APK

Skip-generated projects ship with a build.gradle.kts that already looks for a keystore at Android/app/keystore.jks and credentials at Android/app/keystore.properties. You do not edit build.gradle.kts by hand — drop the two files in and skip export signs the release APK automatically.

Step 1: create the keystore

From the project root:

keytool -genkeypair -v -keystore Android/app/keystore.jks \
    -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias app

Remember the passwords; you'll need them in the next step. (For complete signing-key management, see Android's "Sign your app" docs.)

Step 2: write the credentials file

Create Android/app/keystore.properties:

keyAlias=app
storeFile=keystore.jks
storePassword=YOUR_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD
keyPassword=YOUR_KEY_PASSWORD

Add both files to .gitignore — they're sensitive.

Step 3: re-export

skip export -c release

The release APK at .build/skip-export/AppName.apk is now signed.

Verifying the signature

~/Library/Android/sdk/build-tools/<version>/apksigner verify --verbose .build/skip-export/AppName.apk

apksigner is part of the Android build-tools that Skip's installer pulls down.

Building an AAB for Play Store upload

.apk is for direct distribution and emulator install. The Play Store needs .aab:

gradle -p Android bundle
# Output: .build/Android/app/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab

The APK signature is the app's own signature; the Play Store also requires an upload key which is separate. For automated bundle signing and Play Store upload, fastlane is the documented route.

Fastlane configuration for Play Store uploads

skip init --fastlane (or the --fastlane flag on existing app creation) generates a fastlane configuration under Android/fastlane/ with the standard files (Appfile, Fastfile, README.md) plus the metadata/android/<locale>/ tree.

To enable automated Play Store uploads, you also need a Google Play service-account credentials file:

1. Open Google Play Console.
2. Navigate to Settings → API access.
3. Create a service account with the required Play permissions.
4. Download the JSON credentials file.
5. Save it to Android/fastlane/apikey.json.
6. Add apikey.json to .gitignore — it's sensitive.

With apikey.json in place, the standard fastlane Fastfile lanes (fastlane release, fastlane beta) can sign the AAB with the upload key and publish to the Play Store track of your choice.

The iOS side uses fastlane's deliver action for App Store Connect uploads. Credentials there come from an apikey_appstore.json file (App Store Connect API key) and an Appfile referencing your team ID.

For a complete CI workflow that wires both stores together, see references/cicd.md.

CI/CD

Consult the reference for a complete GitHub Actions workflow:

• ./references/cicd.md -- GitHub Actions workflow, environment setup, artifact upload

Minimal GitHub Actions

name: Build and Test
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: macos-14
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install Skip
        run: brew install skiptools/skip/skip
      - name: Test
        run: swift test
      - name: Export
        run: skip export -c release -d ./artifacts
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: app-artifacts
          path: ./artifacts/

Store metadata is translated separately

App Store Connect and Google Play storefront metadata — title, description, keywords, release notes, screenshots — lives under Darwin/fastlane/metadata/<locale>/ and Android/fastlane/metadata/android/<locale>/. Each file has a hard byte-budget limit (titles 30 bytes, Play short_description 80 bytes, descriptions 4000 bytes), and the store-specific locale codes (de-DE, pt-BR, zh-Hans/zh-CN, etc.) don't exactly match the BCP-47 codes used in Localizable.xcstrings. Run skip verify and skip meta index to catch overruns and schema issues before submission.

For the full localization workflow — in-app xcstrings translation, InfoPlist.xcstrings, fastlane metadata, byte budgets, language-code mapping per store — see the skip-localization skill.

Validation before exporting

Run the test suite before skip export — a release build that ships a Kotlin transpilation regression looks identical to a passing build until users open it on Android. The contract is:

swift test           # both Swift and transpiled Kotlin/JUnit
skip verify          # fastlane metadata schema + byte budgets
skip meta index      # full storefront metadata index
skip export -c release -d ./artifacts

See skip-testing for what swift test actually exercises (Swift side + auto-generated XCSkipTests harness that runs the same tests under Robolectric), and skip-ui-automation for maestro test runs against a release-configuration install (skip app launch --configuration release then maestro --device <UDID> test .maestro/*.yaml).