Capawesome Cloud

Capawesome Cloud

Set up and manage native builds, live updates, and app store publishing for Capacitor and Cordova apps using Capawesome Cloud.

Prerequisites

1. A Capawesome Cloud account and organization.
2. A Capacitor 6/7/8 or Cordova app. Notes:

• Live Updates: supported on both Capacitor and Cordova.
• Native Builds: supported on Capacitor, Cordova, and native iOS/Android projects.
• App Store Publishing: framework-agnostic — works with any native build produced by Native Builds.

1. Node.js and npm installed.
2. For Native Builds: The app must be in a Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps).
3. For Apple App Store Publishing: An active Apple Developer Program membership and an app created in App Store Connect.
4. For Google Play Store Publishing: A Google Play Developer account and an app created in Google Play Console with at least one version uploaded manually.

General Rules

Before running any @capawesome/cli command for the first time, run it with the --help flag to review all available options.

Procedures

Step 1: Authenticate with Capawesome Cloud

npx @capawesome/cli login

For CI/CD, use token-based auth:

npx @capawesome/cli login --token 

Step 2: Create an App in Capawesome Cloud

Skip if the user already has an app ID.

npx @capawesome/cli apps:create

The CLI prompts for organization and app name, then outputs the app ID (UUID). Save for subsequent steps.

The app type defaults to capacitor. For a Cordova app, pass --type cordova (allowed values: android, capacitor, cordova, ios):

npx @capawesome/cli apps:create --type cordova

Step 3: Identify Required Feature(s)

Ask the user which Capawesome Cloud feature(s) to set up:

1. Native Builds — Build iOS and Android apps in the cloud.
2. Live Updates — Push OTA web updates to deployed apps.
3. App Store Publishing — Automate submissions to Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

The user may select one or more features. Proceed to the corresponding sections below.

Native Builds

Read references/native-builds.md for the full native builds setup and usage procedure. This covers:

• Connecting a Git repository
• Uploading signing certificates (Android keystores, iOS .p12 + provisioning profiles)
• Configuring environments and secrets
• Configuring build settings (monorepos, custom build commands)
• Triggering builds
• Monitoring and downloading build artifacts
• Configuring native configuration overwriting with Trapeze
• Setting up CI/CD pipelines

Live Updates

Read references/live-updates.md first — it detects the framework (Capacitor or Cordova) and routes to the matching procedure (live-updates-capacitor.md or live-updates-cordova.md). Both procedures cover:

• Installing the Live Update plugin (@capawesome/capacitor-live-update for Capacitor, @capawesome/cordova-live-update for Cordova)
• Configuring the plugin (Capacitor config or Cordova config.xml preferences)
• Adding rollback protection
• Adding update logic (Always Latest, Manual Sync, Force Update)
• Configuring iOS Privacy Manifest
• Configuring version handling (versioned channels, versioned bundles)
• Testing the setup

App Store Publishing

Read references/app-store-publishing.md for the full app store publishing setup and usage procedure. This covers:

• Creating Apple App Store destinations (API Key or Apple ID auth)
• Creating Google Play Store destinations
• Deploying builds to destinations
• Building and deploying in one step

Error Handling

Native Builds

• invalid source release: 21 → Set JAVA_VERSION env var to 17 or 21. Read references/build-troubleshooting.md.
• JavaScript heap out of memory → Set NODE_OPTIONS env var to --max-old-space-size=4096. Read references/build-troubleshooting.md.
• Authentication errors → Re-run npx @capawesome/cli login. For CI/CD, verify the token.
• Missing signing certificate → Upload via apps:certificates:create. Read references/certificates-android.md or references/certificates-ios.md.
• Expired provisioning profile → Regenerate in Apple Developer Portal and re-upload. Read references/certificates-ios.md.
• Web build step fails → Ensure package.json has capawesome:build or build script. Read references/build-configuration.md.

Live Updates

• npx cap sync fails (Capacitor) → Verify plugin version matches Capacitor version in package.json.
• Bundles not applied → Ensure ready() is called before readyTimeout/READY_TIMEOUT expires.
• App reverts to default bundle after restart → ready() likely not called. Add it early in app init (in Cordova, inside the deviceready listener).
• Upload auth errors → Re-run npx @capawesome/cli login.
• Updates not detected with autoUpdateStrategy: "background" / AUTO_UPDATE_STRATEGY=background → Updates only checked if last check was >15 min ago. Force-close and restart.
• Cordova: preference changes have no effect → Cordova reads preferences only on platform add. Run cordova platform rm then cordova platform add .
• Cordova: updates never apply / WebView errors → The plugin requires the default custom WebView scheme. Ensure config.xml does not set Scheme=file or AndroidInsecureFileModeEnabled=true.
• Read references/live-update-plugin-api.md for the full SDK API reference.
• Read references/live-update-faq.md for compliance, billing, and limitations.

App Store Publishing

• Authentication errors → Re-run npx @capawesome/cli login.
• Destination creation fails → Verify credentials. Read references/apple-app-store-credentials.md or references/google-play-store-credentials.md.
• iOS build not appearing in TestFlight → Build processing may take time. Common causes: build number not incremented, missing Privacy Descriptions in Info.plist, insufficient permissions.
• Google Play deployment fails → Ensure first version was uploaded manually. Verify service account has Release permissions.
• Deployment timeout → Use --detached flag and check logs with apps:deployments:logs.
• apps:deployments:create fails with "build not found" → Ensure the build completed successfully.
• Cancel a stuck deployment → npx @capawesome/cli apps:deployments:cancel --app-id --deployment-id .

Related Skills

• capacitor-app-development — For general Capacitor development topics, CI/CD patterns, and troubleshooting.
• capawesome-cli — For the full Capawesome CLI command reference, project configuration, and CI/CD integration details.
• capacitor-plugins — For installing and configuring Capacitor plugins, including the @capawesome/capacitor-live-update plugin.
• ionic-appflow-migration — For migrating existing Ionic Appflow projects to Capawesome Cloud.
• capacitor-in-app-purchases — For setting up in-app purchases and subscriptions before publishing to app stores.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: capawesome-team
• Source: capawesome-team/skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.