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react-native-kernel is in active development (v0.0.0) — APIs may change before v1.
DocsInstallation & Requirements

Installation & Requirements

Requirements

react-native-kernel requires the New Architecture (TurboModules / Fabric). There is no legacy-bridge fallback — every native module in this package is written against Codegen only.

Declared range (peerDependencies)Notes
React Native≥ 0.74.0Must have the New Architecture enabled. Developed & verified end-to-end against 0.87.1 — see the note below.
React≥ 18.2.0Nothing here uses React 19-only APIs; the actual floor is whatever your React Native version itself requires. Verified against 19.2.3.
Android minSdkVersion24 (Android 7.0)
iOS deployment target15.1Set by the React Native version you build with, not by this package

react-native-kernel has no runtime dependencies of its own — every feature is built directly on platform APIs, so there’s nothing else to install and no third-party version-compatibility matrix to track.

Why 0.74, and not “any version with TypeScript support”? TypeScript availability isn’t actually what gates this package — React Native has supported TypeScript since 0.71’s default template (and via community templates well before that). The real constraint is the New Architecture: every native module here is TurboModule/Codegen-only, with no legacy-bridge implementation, and useNetwork()/useBattery() specifically depend on Codegen’s TurboModule event emitters (EventEmitter<T>).

That feature has a rougher history than the New Architecture in general:

  • Codegen had confirmed bugs emitting events from TurboModules on RN 0.70.5  — this is why the floor isn’t lower than 0.74.
  • TypeScript’s own type definitions for Codegen’s EventEmitter (PR #46484 ) landed September 2024, which lines up with the 0.76 release window, not 0.74. Since this package’s specs are TypeScript (not Flow), 0.74 and 0.75 are declared but unconfirmed for the TS-side Codegen path specifically — they may simply fail to generate the native spec for the event-emitting methods. 0.76+ is on firmer ground.

Only React Native 0.87.1 / React 19.2.3 has actually been built and run end-to-end (both iOS and Android) so far. Treat the range as: 0.76+ should work, 0.74–0.75 is a declared-but-unverified guess, and 0.87.1 is the only version actually confirmed.

Install

Terminal
npm install react-native-kernel

iOS

TurboModules autolink through CocoaPods, but you still need to install pods after adding the package:

Terminal
cd ios && pod install

Android

No extra step — Gradle’s autolinking picks up the module automatically the next time you build.

Enable the New Architecture

If your app was scaffolded before the New Architecture became the default (React Native 0.76+), turn it on explicitly:

android/gradle.properties
newArchEnabled=true
ios/Podfile
# RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1 pod install

Permissions this package declares for you

The native module ships its own AndroidManifest.xml with the permissions its default behavior needs. You don’t add these yourself:

  • INTERNET
  • ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE — powers useNetwork()’s connectivity state
  • ACCESS_WIFI_STATE — a “normal” permission (no runtime prompt); powers isWifiEnabled and is a prerequisite for ssid/bssid

Permissions you need to add for optional features

A couple of fields are intentionally not turned on by default, because they’d force every consuming app into a permission or entitlement it might not want just for linking this package:

WiFi SSID / BSSID (useNetwork().ssid / .bssid) require:

  • Android (API 27+): your app must declare and be granted ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION at runtime.
  • iOS: your app’s target needs the “Access WiFi Information” entitlement (Signing & Capabilities in Xcode), plus location authorization.

Without these, ssid/bssid simply resolve to "" — nothing crashes or throws.

Permissions for kernel/permissions and kernel/media

Camera, location, notifications, and photo-library access are never added to your manifest/Info.plist automatically — add only the entries for the usePermission() types and useSmartScanner() modes you actually use.

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Used to scan codes and documents.</string>
<key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>Used to show content near you.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Used to access your photos.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>Used to save photos.</string>

Notifications need no Info.plist key — usePermission('notifications') triggers the system prompt directly.

useSmartScanner() only ever needs CAMERA — document scanning doesn’t need a separate storage permission, since Google’s and Apple’s scanner UIs write pages to a location your app already has access to.

Next: kernel/system.

Last updated on
Introductionkernel/system