fix(cli): explicitly reference env vars in native template for Metro inlining

[shkumbinhasani]

Summary

• Replaces runtimeEnv: process.env with explicit per-variable references (process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_*) in the native env template so Metro can inline them during production Hermes bytecode bundling
• Without this, process.env resolves to an empty object in production iOS builds, causing Zod validation to throw and crash the app on startup

Details

Metro's transform for EXPO_PUBLIC_* environment variables only works on individual property accesses like process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL — it performs AST-level replacement. Passing process.env as a whole object to runtimeEnv results in an empty object in production Hermes bytecode bundles. This works in development because Metro dev server handles process.env differently.

Test plan

• Generate a project with each native env combination (convex, non-convex, clerk, better-auth) and verify the native.ts output has explicit env var references
• Build a production iOS release and confirm env vars are correctly inlined

Fixes #987

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Updated environment variable configuration for generated project templates. Environment variables are now selectively included based on your selected backend (Convex or standard server) and authentication method (Clerk or Better Auth). This ensures only required variables are available at runtime, improving both security and project efficiency.

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[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: b805ddfa-70f6-4aa2-91d0-c8d618f938c1

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 597a74e and 769bc2b.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• packages/template-generator/src/templates.generated.ts
• packages/template-generator/templates/packages/env/src/native.ts.hbs

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Walkthrough

The changes modify environment variable configuration in generated template files by replacing runtimeEnv: process.env with explicit conditional mappings for specific environment variables (EXPO_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL, EXPO_PUBLIC_CONVEX_SITE_URL, EXPO_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL, EXPO_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY) selected based on backend and auth options.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Environment Template Generation packages/template-generator/src/templates.generated.ts, packages/template-generator/templates/packages/env/src/native.ts.hbs	Replaced broad process.env reference with conditional explicit environment variable mappings for Convex backends (EXPO_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL, EXPO_PUBLIC_CONVEX_SITE_URL), standard backends (EXPO_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL), and Clerk authentication (EXPO_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY). Enables Metro to inline individual variables during production builds rather than passing entire process.env object.

Possibly related PRs

• PR #723: Modifies template environment variable bindings to add and condition CONVEX_SITE_URL and gate backend/auth-specific public keys similarly across multiple template files.
• PR #757: Adjusts env template logic for runtimeEnv/client mappings that selectively expose environment keys based on backend type configuration.
• PR #982: Updates template-generator's environment runtime mappings for Convex, Better-Auth, and Clerk integrations, applying equivalent conditional environment variable selection logic.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title directly describes the main change: replacing implicit process.env with explicit environment variable references in the native template for Metro inlining.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The code changes meet all primary requirements from issue #987: replacing runtimeEnv: process.env with explicit mappings of EXPO_PUBLIC_* variables to enable Metro inlining in production iOS builds.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are directly scoped to the native env template, focusing on fixing Metro inlining for production iOS builds as required by issue #987.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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