Capacitor Workflow

Working with Capacitor involves several key additions to your workflow.

Develop and build your Web App

Capacitor turns your web app into a native binary for each platform. Thus, much of your work will consist of developing and then building a mobile-focused web app.

You will interact with the native platform underneath using Capacitor’s plugins (such as Camera), or by using existing Cordova plugins with Capacitor’s Cordova Compatibility.

To deploy your web app to native devices, you will first need to build the web assets into an output directory. Consult your JavaScript framework’s documentation for the exact command. For most, it’s npm run build.

Sync your Project

You may wish to sync your web app with your native project(s) in the following circumstances:

When you want to copy web assets into your native project(s).
Before you run your project using a Native IDE.
After you install a new Capacitor plugin.
After you clone your project.
When you want to setup or reconfigure the native project(s) for Capacitor.
When you want to install native dependencies (e.g. with Gradle or CocoaPods).

To sync your project, run:

npx cap sync

If you get an error about not being able to find the web assets directory, you may need to configure webDir in the Capacitor configuration.

Learn more about sync ›

Run your Project

There are a few ways to deploy your project on native devices, depending on your use case. Most common is on the command-line with npx cap run.

Learn more about running your app on iOS ›

Learn more about running your app on Android ›

Build your Project

After you build your web assets (e.g. with npm run build) and copy them into your native project(s) with npx cap sync, you are ready to build a native binary.

Capacitor does not have a “build” command. After sync, you are encouraged to open your target platform’s IDE for building, running, and debugging your native app.

For building your app on the command-line or in CI environments, you are encouraged to use your target platform’s tooling: Gradle for Android and xcodebuild for iOS. Third-party tools such as Fastlane may make this easier. Cloud builds and more are available when using Appflow.

To see what the release process looks like for Capacitor, read the publishing guides for iOS and Android.

Open your Native IDE

You may wish to open your project in a Native IDE (e.g. Xcode and Android Studio) in the following circumstances:

When you want to run your project on a native device using the IDE.
When you want to debug native Java/Kotlin or Swift/Objective-C code.
When you want to work on the native side of your app.
When you want to compile a release build for the app store.

Learn more about opening your app in Xcode ›

Learn more about opening your app in Android Studio ›

Updating Capacitor

To update Capacitor Core and CLI:

npm install @capacitor/cli@next
npm install @capacitor/core@next

To update any or all of the platforms you are using:

npm install @capacitor/ios@next
npm install @capacitor/android@next

You can subscribe to the Capacitor repo to be notified of new releases. At the top of the repository index, click Watch -> Releases only.

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