# Building discourse hub for Android fails

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/building-discourse-hub-for-android-fails/417344>\
**Category:** Development\
**Tags:** discourse-hub, android-app\
**Created:** [November 13, 2026, 12:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/building-discourse-hub-for-android-fails/417344 "2026-11-13T12:13:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

## AI-generated summary

[trs80](/t/-/417344/1) reports difficulty building the DiscourseHub Android app on macOS while attempting to debug a [forum entry issue](https://meta.discourse.org/t/forum-entries-jump-on-android-app-after-opening-the-app/384604/5?u=trs80). Although they managed to set up the environment, they note that the existing instructions lack critical steps for installing Java and Android Studio, referencing the [React Native environment setup guide](https://reactnative.dev/docs/set-up-your-environment). Upon running `npx react-native run-android`, the build fails with an exception in `build.gradle` at line 88. The error states: "Could not get unknown property 'MYAPP_VERSION'". [trs80](/t/-/417344/1) observes that `versionName` is null in the `DefaultConfig` while `versionCode` is set, suggesting the missing `MYAPP_VERSION` property is likely related to the version name configuration. They express confusion over why a fresh checkout fails and request guidance on where to correctly define or configure this missing property to resolve the build error.

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trs80](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/trs80/32/233027_2.png) [@trs80](https://meta.discourse.org/u/trs80)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 12:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/building-discourse-hub-for-android-fails/417344/1 "2026-11-13T12:13:14Z")

</div>

I’m trying to build DiscourseHub on macOS to debug [Forum entries jump on Android app after opening the app - #5 by trs80](https://meta.discourse.org/t/forum-entries-jump-on-android-app-after-opening-the-app/384604/5) and after some effort I got the build environment set up (the instructions notably miss installing Java and Android Studio [Set Up Your Environment · React Native](https://reactnative.dev/docs/set-up-your-environment) ), but running `npx react-native run-android` gets me

```plaintext
FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Build file '/Users/james/Software/discoursemobile/android/app/build.gradle' line: 88

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating project ':app'.
> Could not get unknown property 'MYAPP_VERSION' for DefaultConfig$AgpDecorated_Decorated{name=main, dimension=null, minSdkVersion=DefaultApiVersion{mApiLevel=26, mCodename='null'}, targetSdkVersion=DefaultApiVersion{mApiLevel=35, mCodename='null'}, renderscriptTargetApi=null, renderscriptSupportModeEnabled=null, renderscriptSupportModeBlasEnabled=null, renderscriptNdkModeEnabled=null, versionCode=243, versionName=null, applicationId=com.discourse, testApplicationId=null, testInstrumentationRunner=null, testInstrumentationRunnerArguments={}, testHandleProfiling=null, testFunctionalTest=null, signingConfig=null, resConfig=[], buildConfigFields={}, resValues={}, proguardFiles=[], consumerProguardFiles=[], manifestPlaceholders={}, wearAppUnbundled=null} of type com.android.build.gradle.internal.dsl.DefaultConfig$AgpDecorated.

```

which seems like it should be a simple fix but I don’t know where to do it and also it should just work given this is a fresh checkout. Any thoughts on what’s going on?