I have a React Native application created with Expo and use Expo EAS Build for my preview and production builds.

I have three environment variables:

• EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL: This changes based on whether the build is for preview or production.
• Two secret keys, one of which is SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN.

Locally, I use a .env file for environment variables when working in development, but I don’t include SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN there because Sentry isn’t needed in development.

For EAS Build, I have added EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL to eas.json as follows:

{
  "preview": {
    "channel": "preview",
    "distribution": "internal",
    "env": {
      "APP_VARIANT": "preview",
      "EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL": "https://my-staging-url.com"
    }
  },
  "production": {
    "channel": "production",
    "autoIncrement": true,
    "env": {
      "APP_VARIANT": "production",
      "EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL": "https://my-prod-url.com"
    }
  }
}

The other two environment variables have been added as secrets in the Expo dashboard. So far, everything works perfectly.

I’m now setting up Expo EAS Update based on the documentation:
https://docs.expo.dev/guides/using-sentry/#app-configuration

When I run the command eas update --branch preview, I noticed that EAS Update takes the environment variables from my local .env file. However, it doesn’t have access to the secrets from the Expo dashboard.

As a result, when I make an update, the app doesn’t report errors to Sentry because SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN is undefined. I also run the command npx sentry-expo-upload-sourcemaps dist but get the same result.

How can I ensure that EAS Update has access to the secrets from the Expo dashboard, specifically for SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN, to properly report errors to Sentry?

I understand that Expo environment variables need to start with EXPO_PUBLIC_ to be recognised, so that’s why I can’t add it to my local .env file as I do with the other two.

Any ideas or suggestions?