SilverOTA

Channel Management ​

Manage deployment channels for your React Native app using the channel command.

What are Channels? ​

Channels allow you to maintain separate update streams for different environments or user groups. Common channels include:

  • production - Updates for your end users
  • staging - Updates for internal testing before production release
  • beta - Updates for beta testers
  • development - Updates for active development

Each channel has its own API key and independent deployment history.

Commands ​

Display Current Channel ​

Show the configured channel for iOS and Android:

bash
silverbullet-ota channel

Example output:

Current Channels:
  iOS:     production (from ios/MyApp/Info.plist)
  Android: production (from android/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml)

Set Channel ​

Update the channel configuration for both platforms:

bash
silverbullet-ota channel set <channel>

Example:

bash
silverbullet-ota channel set staging

Output:

✓ Updated iOS channel to: staging
✓ Updated Android channel to: staging
⚠ You must rebuild your native app for changes to take effect!

How Channels Work ​

Channels are configured in your native code and embedded at build time. This means:

  1. Build-time Configuration: Channel values are set when you build your app
  2. Runtime Behavior: The app checks for updates only from its configured channel
  3. No Hot-Switching: You cannot change channels without rebuilding the app

Native Configuration ​

iOS: Stored in Info.plist

xml
<key>SILVERBULLET_OTA_CHANNEL</key>
<string>production</string>

Android: Stored in strings.xml

xml
<string name="silverbullet_ota_channel" moduleConfig="true">production</string>

Usage Examples ​

Switch to Staging ​

bash
# Set channel to staging
npx silverbullet-ota channel set staging

# Rebuild your app
npx react-native run-ios
npx react-native run-android

# Deploy to staging
npx silverbullet-ota deploy --platform ios --channel staging

Check Current Channel ​

Before deploying, verify which channel your app is configured for:

bash
npx silverbullet-ota channel

Per-Platform Channels ​

You can manually configure different channels for iOS and Android by editing the native files directly:

For iOS: Edit ios/YourApp/Info.plist:

xml
<key>SILVERBULLET_OTA_CHANNEL</key>
<string>beta</string>

For Android: Edit android/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml:

xml
<string name="silverbullet_ota_channel" moduleConfig="true">staging</string>

WARNING

Manual edits will be overwritten if you run channel set again. For persistent per-platform configurations, consider using build variants or schemes.

Channel Workflow Example ​

Development Workflow ​

bash
# 1. Set to development channel
npx silverbullet-ota channel set development

# 2. Rebuild app
npx react-native run-ios

# 3. Make changes to your code
# ... edit files ...

# 4. Deploy to development channel
npx silverbullet-ota deploy --platform ios --channel development

# 5. Test the update
# ... restart app, verify changes ...

Staging → Production Workflow ​

bash
# 1. Deploy to staging first
npx silverbullet-ota deploy --platform ios --channel staging

# 2. Test on staging builds
# ... internal testing ...

# 3. If tests pass, deploy same bundle to production
npx silverbullet-ota deploy --platform ios --channel production

Build Variants and Channels ​

For production apps, you might want different builds with different channels:

iOS with Schemes ​

Create different schemes (Debug, Staging, Release) and configure Info.plist per scheme:

  1. Duplicate your Info.plist for each scheme
  2. Set different SILVERBULLET_OTA_CHANNEL values
  3. Configure your schemes to use the appropriate Info.plist

Android with Build Flavors ​

Use build flavors in android/app/build.gradle:

gradle
android {
    flavorDimensions "environment"
    productFlavors {
        development {
            dimension "environment"
            resValue "string", "silverbullet_ota_channel", "development"
        }
        staging {
            dimension "environment"
            resValue "string", "silverbullet_ota_channel", "staging"
        }
        production {
            dimension "environment"
            resValue "string", "silverbullet_ota_channel", "production"
        }
    }
}

Then build different variants:

bash
./gradlew assembleDevelopmentDebug
./gradlew assembleStagingDebug
./gradlew assembleProductionRelease

Next Steps ​