React Universe On Air

VisionCamera v5 was five years in the making, and in this episode, Marc Rousavy joins Mike Grabowski to explain what changed, why v5 is more than a version bump, and how Nitro reshaped the foundation of one of the most widely used camera libraries in React Native.

They cover the bridge and JSI limitations that pushed VisionCamera toward a new architecture, the move to Nitro Modules, and the API decisions behind v5. The conversation also gets into the new constraints model, output objects, in-memory photo handling, barcode scanning, migration from v4, and the testing work needed to make camera features hold up across real devices.

If you build React Native camera apps, this episode is a detailed look at the engineering behind VisionCamera v5 and the decisions behind making complex camera features easier to ship and maintain.

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Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to React Universe On Air
2:07 What VisionCamera is today
4:51 Barcode scanning and the new Data Scanner library
7:25 How VisionCamera helped shape Nitro
10:55 Frame processors, C++ glue, and the old JSI era
18:56 What is actually new in VisionCamera v5
21:45 The constraints API explained
30:12 Why third-party camera apps still struggle
33:29 The new output system and custom outputs
37:31 Imperative API, hooks, and components
39:01 Migrating from v4 to v5
43:25 AI, agents, and building VisionCamera v5
45:33 Testing, stability, and what comes next
48:25 Advice for teams building camera apps
50:50 Why web support is not on the roadmap

Some animations do not need a full animation engine. Sometimes you just want a view to fade in, translate, or move slowly without burning frame budget every time the UI thread gets busy.

Łukasz Chludziński talks with Janic Duplessis from App & Flow about React Native Ease, a small animation library built around platform-native primitives. They cover early React Native days, why Reanimated is still the right tool for complex interactions, and where a simpler React-like API can make sense.

Key takeaways:

- Why React Native Ease was created and what problem it solves
- How Core Animation can run animations outside the UI thread on iOS
- Why simple transitions do not always need Reanimated’s full flexibility
- Where Reanimated remains the right tool, especially for gestures and complex interactions
- How animation performance relates to frame budget, not just visible frame drops
- Why React Native’s maturity shifts more innovation into third-party libraries
- How focused open-source tools can push the whole ecosystem forward

Guest introduction:

Janic Duplessis is a developer at App & Flow and the creator of React Native Ease. He has been working with React Native since the early iOS-only days and has contributed to React Native Core, including work around animation internals and native-driver concepts.

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Rudrank Riyam joins React Universe On Air to talk about App Store Connect CLI, an open-source tool for automating App Store Connect workflows without living in the dashboard.

What started as a way to pull TestFlight feedback turned into a broader interface for metadata, submissions, localization, analytics, reviews, and release operations. Mike Grabowski and Rudrank discuss why these workflows are a strong fit for CLI automation, why Go became the right language for an agent-built tool, how teams are using it in CI/CD and agent workflows, and what changes when multiple coding agents build against the same codebase.

They also get into code structure, command design, agents.md, public vs. private App Store Connect endpoints, and what changed after Rork acquired the project while keeping it open source.

What we cover:

- Why App Store Connect workflows are a good fit for CLI automation
- How the tool handles TestFlight feedback, metadata, localization, analytics, reviews, and submissions
- Why Rudrank chose Go over Swift for an agent-built CLI
- What he learned from running multiple agents against one open-source project
- How clear structure and command naming make a codebase easier for both humans and agents
- What Rork’s acquisition means for the project going forward

Guest: Rudrank Riyam is a software engineer at Rork and the creator of App Store Connect CLI. He works at the intersection of Apple development, release tooling, and agentic workflows.

Zack Ebenfeld joins Michał Pierzchała to talk about AI-assisted coding, testing, QA, code review, and why verification matters more than ever in mobile workflows. It is a practical conversation about trust, feedback loops, and how engineering work is shifting from pure implementation toward judgment, architecture, and product thinking.

What happens when you combine voice agents and teddy bears? A hands-on look at local-first systems, voice AI, and security lessons from poking real apps. Kraen Hansen and Ola Desmurs-Linczewska talk about Software, AI Agents, parenting, stoicism and more!