React Native at Traveloka: Hybrid Development Experience
Article Summary
Adrian Hartanto from Traveloka reveals how his team pulled off a seemingly impossible challenge: integrating React Native into production iOS and Android apps in just 3 weeks without disrupting native development.
Traveloka needed to add React Native to their existing native mobile apps (a 'brownfield' integration). The engineering team had to solve complex problems around repository management, app size bloat, and keeping native and React Native workflows completely separate.
Key Takeaways
- Used git submodules to isolate React Native, iOS, and Android workflows
- Cut Android APK size by 7MB after initial 15MB bloat
- Reduced React Native startup time from 3 seconds to 100-200ms with preloading
- Created no-op modules on Android so native devs never need Node.js installed
- Daily release builds catch deployment issues before production
Critical Insight
Brownfield React Native integration is complex upfront, but the one-time setup cost pays off with faster feature development and code sharing across platforms.
