Fixing React Native Android Release Build Errors with TypeScript & Hermes

Fixing React Native Android Release Build Errors with TypeScript & Hermes

If your React Native Android release build fails after renaming index.js to index.ts, you're not alone. This is one of the most common issues when modernizing a React Native project with TypeScript and Hermes.

Here are the two major errors you’ll likely see:

Task ':app:createBundleReleaseJsAndAssets' property 'entryFile' specifies file 'index.js' which doesn't exist.

And later:

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Metaspace
Execution failed for task ':react-native-xxx:lintVitalAnalyzeRelease'

Let’s fix both problems step by step.

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1. React Native Can’t Find Your Entry File

React Native expects your app’s entry file to be index.js. When you rename it to index.ts, Gradle doesn’t know where to look.

Open android/app/build.gradle and add this inside the react {} block:

react {
    entryFile = file("../../index.ts")
}

Also make sure your package.json points to it:

"main": "index.ts"

And confirm your metro.config.js supports TypeScript:

resolver: {
  sourceExts: ["js", "json", "ts", "tsx"]
}

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2. Gradle Crashes with Metaspace OutOfMemoryError

This error happens when Android Lint analyzes React Native libraries during a release build and runs out of JVM Metaspace.

To fix this, open android/gradle.properties and increase Gradle memory:

org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx6g -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=2g -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

If your machine has less RAM, try:

org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx4g -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=1g -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

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3. Disable Lint for Release Builds (Recommended)

Since these failures come from library linting (not your code), you can safely disable it for release builds.

Add this to android/app/build.gradle inside the android {} block:

android {
    lint {
        checkReleaseBuilds false
        abortOnError false
    }
}

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4. Clean and Rebuild

Run:

cd android
./gradlew clean
cd ..
npx react-native run-android --variant=release

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Done! 🎉

Your Android release build should now succeed with TypeScript and Hermes enabled.

This fix works for React Native 0.72+ and modern Gradle versions.

Happy coding!

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