cometchat-react-native-production

Ground truth: @cometchat/chat-uikit-react-native@5 + catalogs/rn-sdk-v4.json. Docs: /ui-kit/react-native/react-native-cli-integration · /sdk/react-native/authentication-overview.

Companion skills (read first)

• cometchat-react-native-core — install, provider chain, init→login→render. Assumed, not repeated here.

Use this skill when

• "is this safe to ship" · "swap the auth key for a token" · "prepare the release build"

Prerequisites & install

None beyond core, plus a backend endpoint you control for minting tokens.

The one rule: the Auth Key never ships

login({ uid }) uses the Auth Key, which can create and impersonate any user in your app. Fine on your laptop; unacceptable in a shipped binary.

Nothing in a mobile app is secret

This is the part web developers get wrong. A React Native bundle is not a server. .env files, react-native-config, Constants.expoConfig, obfuscation, ProGuard — all of them end up readable in the shipped app. Anyone can unzip an IPA or APK.

"Hide the Auth Key in an env var" is not a mitigation. Remove it.

Production shape

import { CometChatUIKit } from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react-native";

// your backend authenticates the user, then mints a short-lived CometChat
// auth token for that UID and returns it
const authToken: string = await fetchAuthTokenFromYourBackend();
await CometChatUIKit.login({ authToken });

The client never sees the Auth Key. The token is per-user, short-lived and revocable. UIKitSettings.authKey is only needed for the login({ uid }) path — a production build should not carry it at all.

User creation belongs on the server

CometChat.createUser needs the Auth Key, so it is a backend call made when your own signup completes. A client that can create users can create any user.

Logout hygiene

CometChatUIKit.logout() on sign-out, and unregister the push token first (see the push skill) — otherwise the device keeps receiving the previous user's notifications. On a shared device that is a privacy incident, not a bug.

Before you ship

• Test a release build, not just debug. Some failures appear only there — most notably the react-native-gesture-handler import-ordering crash (bare-patterns).
• Build, then grep the output bundle for the Auth Key. It must not be present.
• Verify calls and push on real devices — neither is provable on a simulator.
• Check both platforms; Android and iOS diverge in native config, permissions and build failures.

Common pitfalls

1. Shipping the Auth Key — env vars and obfuscation do not hide it.
2. Creating users client-side — needs the Auth Key; move it to the backend.
3. Not unregistering push on logout — the next user receives the previous user's messages.
4. Signing off from a debug build — release-only failures exist.
5. Testing one platform only — the native layer differs.

Verify it works

• Every emitted symbol is in catalogs/rn-sdk-v4.json / rn-v5.json.
• npm run verify:fences:rn-v5 is green.
• Grep a release bundle for the Auth Key — absent.
• Sign out, then confirm the device stops receiving that user's notifications.