Submitting to TestFlight

rnd submit uploads an .ipa to App Store Connect with asc, waits for Apple to process it, and adds it to TestFlight groups.

Before the first submission

1. An App Store Connect API key in asc: asc auth login. rnd submit uses asc's default key unless the submit profile names one (below).
2. An app record. Apple has no API for creating apps: create it once at App Store Connect → Apps → + with your bundle id. Note its numeric Apple ID.
3. A signed store build: distribution: "store" with credentials set up.
4. Optional: a TestFlight group to send it to. asc testflight groups create --app <apple-id> --name "QA" --internal

The submit profile

{
  "submit": {
    "production": {
      "ios": {
        "ascAppId": "6817907751",
        "groups": ["QA"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Field	Meaning
ascAppId	The app's Apple ID. Without it, the app is found by ios.bundleIdentifier
groups	TestFlight groups to add the build to. --groups on the command line replaces this list
ascApiKeyPath, ascApiKeyId, ascApiKeyIssuerId	Use a specific API key instead of asc's default; $VAR references are expanded
language	Locale for the "What to Test" note (default en-US)

Submitting

rnd build -p ios -e production
rnd build:download -p ios
cd build && unzip *.zip && cd ..
rnd submit -p ios --profile production --path build/MyApp.ipa \
  --what-to-test "Checkout flow rewrite"

What happens:

1. asc builds upload sends the .ipa.
2. When groups are set, it waits for processing: Apple has to know the build before it can be added to a group. This usually takes a few minutes.
3. The build is added to each group, and the TestFlight link is printed.

rnd submit without --path finds your latest store build and tells you the two commands to download it: asc uploads local files only.

rnd submit:status -p ios        # live App Store version and recent TestFlight builds

Getting it onto a phone

Internal testers must be users of your App Store Connect team and members of the group. Add yourself under TestFlight → (group) → Testers, then install from the TestFlight app.

Build numbers

App Store Connect rejects an upload whose build number it has already seen for that version. autoIncrement is not applied yet, so bump ios.buildNumber in app.json before each store build.

Android

Not wired up yet: Google Play needs a service account rather than asc. The .aab from a store build uploads to Play Console unchanged.