ReactNativeApplicationEntryPoint.java doesn't generate correctly during release .aab build

[ArturBuja]

Hey everyone, my set:

    "react": "19.1.0",
    "react-native": "0.80.1",

devDependencies:
    "@react-native-community/cli": "19.0.0",
    "@react-native-community/cli-platform-android": "19.0.0",
    "@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios": "19.0.0",
    "babel-plugin-react-compiler": "^19.1.0-rc.2",

I’m experiencing (what seems to be?) a non-standard caching issue that did not occur in previous versions of React Native.

Previously, on react-native: 0.76.9 and react: 18.3.1, I did not encounter this problem.

Context

My app uses a shared codebase but serves multiple clients/entities. I achieve this by using react-native-config to switch between .env files. Each flavor has different keys and assets (logos, etc.). So essentially, I have multiple apps with the same code, but different .env configurations and resources.

I build each version with a command like:
cd android && ./gradlew bundle[Appname]app

Problem

During build, the file:
android/app/build/generated/autolinking/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/ReactNativeApplicationEntryPoint.java

somehow gets injected with stale .env data — specifically this block:
if (com.[company].[Appname].BuildConfig.IS_NEW_ARCHITECTURE_ENABLED) { DefaultNewArchitectureEntryPoint.load(); }

Now here’s the strange part:
• The [Appname] used in this file is outdated — it does not match the currently selected .env file.
• In fact, the outdated [Appname] no longer exists in any .env file, yet it still gets inserted into the generated Java class.
• Console logs during the Gradle build clearly show the correct current values.
• I also verified the build.gradle flavor setup:

flavorDimensions "env"
productFlavors {
  project.ext.envConfigFiles.each { flavorName, _ ->
    "$flavorName" {
      dimension 'env'
    }
  }
}

Everything seems to be correct.

What I Tried:

• ./gradlew clean — did not help.
• Manually clearing the android/app/build directory — did not help.
• Only thing that helps: deleting yarn.lock and reinstalling with yarn install — which makes me suspect some kind of caching is happening inside node_modules.

From what I’ve read, autolinking is handled by the @react-native-community/cli package — so maybe it’s caching something unexpectedly?

Before opening an issue on the React Native repo, I wanted to ask here — maybe someone has encountered something similar?

Thanks in advance for any help, and have a great day! 🙌

[cakesoft-shashank]

Hi @ArturBuja, did you fix this?

[ArturBuja]

Hi @ArturBuja, did you fix this?

@cakesoft-shashank No, unfortunately not. I also posted on the official React Native repo link and there I was advised to use the workaround command:
./gradlew bundle[Appname]app --rerun-tasks.
It works, but significantly increases the build time.
They also mentioned that I could create a reproducer, but without using the react-native-config library — which complicates things a bit, since that library is central to the issue.
So for now, there’s no fix — just a workaround.
It would be great if @luancurti could take a look, maybe he’ll have more insight.

[giantslogik]

I'm experiencing this issue as well. I'm not using react-native-config , so likely a react-native issue.

[giantslogik]

I'm guessing react-native-config fails to update one of the files use by the @react-native-community/cli config command. See here

[farzullali]

Hi @ArturBuja, did you fix this? same issue on assembleRelease

[ArturBuja]

Hi @ArturBuja, did you fix this? same issue on assembleRelease

Hi,
No, unfortunately not. However, @giantslogik managed to locate the file that causes this issue, namely android/build/generated/autolinking/autolinking.json. It doesn’t get cleared before/after each build, and that’s where the incorrect values are being pulled from. My workaround solution is simply to delete this .json file before each build whenever the packageName changes.