React Native UI Lib build fails on Expo SDK 56 – HighlighterViewPackage and KeyboardInputPackage not found in PackageList.java

[milan-greycube]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to use React Native UI Lib in a fresh Expo SDK 56 project. I was previously using the same library with Expo SDK 54, and everything worked without any issues.

However, after creating a new project with Expo SDK 56 and installing react-native-ui-lib, the Android build fails with the following errors:

PackageList.java:80: error: cannot find symbol
new HighlighterViewPackage(),
^
PackageList.java:81: error: cannot find symbol
new KeyboardInputPackage(getApplication()),
^
Environment
Expo SDK: 56
React Native: (version bundled with Expo SDK 56)
Platform: Android
Library: react-native-ui-lib
What I Tried
Installed react-native-ui-lib in a fresh Expo SDK 56 project.
Cleared node modules and reinstalled dependencies.
Regenerated native folders (android / ios).
Ran a clean Android build.

The build still fails with the same PackageList.java errors.

Question

Has anyone successfully used react-native-ui-lib with Expo SDK 56?

Are HighlighterViewPackage and KeyboardInputPackage currently incompatible with the React Native version used by Expo 56, or is there any additional setup/migration step required?

Any guidance or working configuration would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[lMysticl]

This is not an extra Expo 56 setup step for HighlighterViewPackage or KeyboardInputPackage. The error matches the duplicate Android autolinking problem already tracked in #3950.

react-native-ui-lib uses uilib-native for those native packages, but the published JS package also contains Android autolinking metadata. Recent React Native/Expo autolinking can therefore treat both packages as native owners and generate a PackageList.java from the wrong/duplicate entry. PR #4014 proposed removing that copied metadata at publish time, but it was closed without merging on 26 August. Issue #3950 remains open; this PR must not be cited as a released fix.

For an affected installation, exclude only react-native-ui-lib from Android autolinking and leave uilib-native enabled. With Expo SDK 56 you can put this in the app's package.json:

{
  "expo": {
    "autolinking": {
      "android": {
        "exclude": ["react-native-ui-lib"]
      }
    }
  }
}

The equivalent React Native CLI override is:

// react-native.config.js
module.exports = {
  dependencies: {
    'react-native-ui-lib': {
      platforms: { android: null },
    },
  },
}

Use one mechanism, not both. Also check that the native peer is actually present:

npm ls react-native-ui-lib uilib-native
npx expo-modules-autolinking verify --verbose

After the override, the verification output should show uilib-native as the Android native package and should no longer resolve a second Android entry from react-native-ui-lib. Then regenerate the native project if you use Expo prebuild/CNG, or at least clean the Android generated autolinking output before rebuilding. Do not manually add these packages to MainApplication; that would create another registration path.

The same exclusion workaround was tested by several users in #3805. If it still fails, please paste the two npm ls versions and the expo-modules-autolinking verify --verbose entries; that will distinguish this known duplicate from a separate SDK 56 compatibility issue.

Scope of this workaround: inspect the installed react-native-ui-lib and uilib-native versions and generated autolinking entries before applying it to a different Expo/React Native version. The closure of the old PR does not establish what every newer published package contains.