Cache packages

Commands use stim. If it is not installed globally, replace stim with npx stim.

Stim supplies its own cache arguments when it runs Metro and native builds. A project does not need these packages for stim start, stim ios, or stim android.

The npm packages are useful when the same project also runs tools outside Stim.

@stim-cli/metro

This package exports a shared Metro FileStore and the NDJSON reporter used by Stim. Add it to a custom Metro process when that process must share transforms with Stim-managed workspaces.

npm install --save-dev @stim-cli/metro

const { sharedCacheStores } = require('@stim-cli/metro');

config.cacheStores = sharedCacheStores('my-app');

@stim-cli/expo-build-cache

This package is a local Expo build-cache provider. It lets direct Expo builds share native artifacts with Stim. Stim and Expo CLI compute the fingerprint that keys this cache separately, and Stim ignores two machine-local Android paths (android/local.properties, android/.idea) that Expo CLI does not. On a machine where those exist, the two hashes differ and each side fills its own entry. List them in the project's .fingerprintignore to bring the hashes back together.

npm install --save-dev @stim-cli/expo-build-cache

For current Expo SDK versions:

{
  "expo": {
    "buildCacheProvider": {
      "plugin": "@stim-cli/expo-build-cache"
    }
  }
}

Expo SDK 53 reads the provider under expo.experiments.buildCacheProvider. Confirm the key for the project's SDK before adding it.

Both packages work without the stim npm package. They register their cache directories in Stim's cache manifest when available, so stim gc can report and trim them.