Run after npm install and you can use node core modules and npm modules that use them in your React Native app.

If your project has no non-React-Native dependencies, you don't need this module, and you should just check out './shims.js' for the core node modules to use individually.

However, with bigger projects that don't reimplement every wheel from scratch, somewhere in your dependency tree, something uses a core node module. I found myself building this because in my React Native app, I wanted to use bitcoinjs-lib, levelup, bittorrent-dht, and lots of fun crypto. If that sounds like you, keep reading.

rn-nodeify --install installs shims for core node modules, see './shims.js' for the current mappings. It recurses down node_modules and modifies all the package.json's in there to add/update the browser and react-native fields. It sounds scary because it is. However, it does work.

rn-nodeify --hack Now that you're scared, I should also mention that there are some package-specific hacks (see './pkg-hacks.js'), for when the React Native packager choked on something that Webpack and Browserify swallowed.

If you're looking for a saner approach, check out ReactNativify. I haven't tested it myself, but I think philikon will be happy to help.

rn-nodeify <options>

--install     install node core shims (default: install all), fix the "browser"
              and "react-native" fields in the package.json's of dependencies
--hack        hack individual packages that are known to make the React Native packager choke
--yarn        use yarn instead of npm

# install all shims and run package-specific hacks
rn-nodeify --install --hack

# install specific shims
rn-nodeify --install "fs,dgram,process,path,console"

# install specific shims and hack
rn-nodeify --install "fs,dgram,process,path,console" --hack

It is recommended to add this command to the "postinstall" script in your project's package.json

"scripts": {
  "start": "node node_modules/react-native/local-cli/cli.js start",
  "postinstall": "rn-nodeify --install fs,dgram,process,path,console --hack"
}

rn-nodeify will create a shim.js file in your project root directory. The first line in index.ios.js / index.android.js should be to import it (NOT require it!)

import './shim'

If you are using the crypto shim, you will need to manually uncomment the line to require('crypto') in shim.js, this is because as of react-native 0.49, dynamically requiring a library is no longer allowed.

Some shims may require linking libraries, be sure to run react-native link after installing new shims if you run into problems.

• the react-native-crypto package has an example workflow for using crypto in a React Native app
• this example React Native app shows how you can use levelup in React Native

copied from react-native-crypto

1. Install and shim

npm i --save react-native-crypto
# install peer deps
npm i --save react-native-randombytes
react-native link react-native-randombytes
# install latest rn-nodeify
npm i --save-dev rn-nodeify@latest
# install node core shims and recursively hack package.json files
# in ./node_modules to add/update the "browser"/"react-native" field with relevant mappings
./node_modules/.bin/rn-nodeify --hack --install

2. rn-nodeify will create a shim.js in the project root directory

// index.ios.js or index.android.js
// make sure you use `import` and not `require`!
import './shim.js'
// ...the rest of your code
import crypto from 'crypto'
// use crypto
console.log(crypto.randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))

• rn-nodeify won't work with modules that are added using npm link.
• modules that contain a .babelrc will cause problems with the latest react-native version (0.20 at this time), remove them after installation (rm node_modules/*/.babelrc)
• when installing a package from git, the postinstall hook isn't triggered, run it manually instead (npm run postinstall)
• restart the react-native packager after installing a module!
• removing the packager cache helps as well sometimes (rm -fr $TMPDIR/react-*)
• use npm@3. npm@5 has some issues that cause node_modules to disappear. See:
  • #42
  • infinitered/ignite#1101
  • npm/npm#16839