React Native Quickstart

Learn how to query data from Bijection in a React Native app.

Install the Bijection CLI

curl -fsSL https://bijection.com/install.sh | sh

See Install Bijection for PATH setup and supported platforms.

Create a React Native app

Create a React Native app using the npx create-expo-app command.

npx create-expo-app my-app

Add a Bijection backend

In the app’s directory, run bijection init. It adds a bijection/ folder, where you write your backend functions, with a sample schema, query and mutation, and bijection.json.

cd my-app && bijection init

Add the Bijection SDK to the app

The Bijection SDK (bijection/react, bijection/browser, …) is not published to the npm registry. Your app declares it as a tarball from bijection.com, for the version of your CLI (bijection --version prints it). Add this line to the dependencies in your app’s package.json:

package.json

"bijection": "https://bijection.com/sdk/bijection-0.1.1.tgz"

Then install your app’s dependencies with its package manager as usual (for example npm install). The react-vite and nextjs templates of bijection init write this line and run the install for you.

Set up a Bijection dev deployment

Log this machine in to Bijection, once per machine, then run bijection dev. The first run creates your dev deployment and saves its URL in .env.local as EXPO_PUBLIC_BIJECTION_URL. The dev command then keeps running to push your functions in bijection/ to your dev deployment on every change.

bijection login
bijection dev

Bijection’s hosted service is not yet open for public sign-up, and the CLI has no default management service. Before running bijection login, set BIJECTION_MANAGEMENT_URL to the management service URL you were given, in your shell’s startup file so that every later bijection command sees it too:

export BIJECTION_MANAGEMENT_URL=https://<your management service>

Create sample data for your database

Create a sampleData.jsonl file with some sample data.

{"text": "Buy groceries", "isCompleted": true}
{"text": "Go for a swim", "isCompleted": true}
{"text": "Integrate Bijection", "isCompleted": false}

Add the sample data to your database

Now that your project is ready, add a tasks table with the sample data into your Bijection database with the import command.

bijection import --table tasks sampleData.jsonl

Declare the tasks table

bijection init created bijection/schema.ts, which declares the tables of your database, starting with a sample messages table. Add a tasks table beside it. The schema gives your functions TypeScript types, and Bijection enforces it at runtime.

bijection/schema.ts

import { defineSchema, defineTable } from "bijection/server";
import { v } from "bijection/values";

export default defineSchema({
  messages: defineTable({
    author: v.string(),
    body: v.string(),
  }),
  tasks: defineTable({
    text: v.string(),
    isCompleted: v.boolean(),
  }),
});

Expose a database query

Add a new file tasks.ts in the bijection/ folder with a query function that loads the data.Exporting a query function from this file declares an API function named after the file and the export name, api.tasks.get.

import { query } from "./_generated/server";

export const get = query({
  args: {},
  handler: async (ctx) => {
    return await ctx.db.query("tasks").collect();
  },
});

Reset the Expo project

If you haven’t done so yet, reset the Expo project to get a fresh app directory.

npm run reset-project

Connect the app to your backend

In _layout.tsx, create a BijectionReactClient and pass it to a BijectionProvider wrapping your component tree.

import { BijectionProvider, BijectionReactClient } from "bijection/react";
import { Stack } from "expo-router";

const bijection = new BijectionReactClient(process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_BIJECTION_URL!, {
  unsavedChangesWarning: false,
});

export default function RootLayout() {
  return (
    <BijectionProvider client={bijection}>
      <Stack>
        <Stack.Screen name="index" />
      </Stack>
    </BijectionProvider>
  );
}

Display the data in your app

In index.tsx use the useQuery hook to fetch from your api.tasks.get API.

import { api } from "@/bijection/_generated/api";
import { useQuery } from "bijection/react";
import { Text, View } from "react-native";

export default function Index() {
  const tasks = useQuery(api.tasks.get);
  return (
    <View
      style={{
        flex: 1,
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
      }}
    >
      {tasks?.map(({ _id, text }) => (
        <Text key={_id}>{text}</Text>
      ))}
    </View>
  );
}

Start the app

Start the app, scan the provided QR code with your phone, and see the serialized list of tasks in the center of the screen.

npm start

React native uses the same library as React web. See the complete React documentation.

Get Started

Platform

Data and Operations

Guides

Client Libraries

Tools

API Reference

React Native Quickstart