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Skillscapacitor-app-upgrade-v4-to-v5

capacitor-app-upgrade-v4-to-v5

Coding & development

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Updated 10-15 12:55

About this skill

Capacitor App Upgrade v4 to v5

Move a Capacitor 4 app to Capacitor 5. Source of truth: https://capacitorjs.com/docs/updating/5-0

When to Use

  • @capacitor/core in the snapshot below is 4.x and the user wants 5.x.
  • Android build fails after bumping to Capacitor 5 with Namespace not specified, a Java 11 vs 17 mismatch, or AGP 8 errors.
  • The user asks for the exact 4 -> 5 checklist for iOS, Android, or official plugins.

Do not use:

  • App on 5.x or later -> capacitor-app-upgrade-v5-to-v6 (then v6-to-v7, v7-to-v8). Multi-hop planning -> capacitor-app-upgrades.
  • Upgrading a plugin library -> capacitor-plugin-upgrade-v4-to-v5.
  • App on 3.x -> upgrade to 4 first (npx cap migrate in 5.x refuses projects below 4).

Live Project Snapshot

Current Capacitor packages from package.json: !node -e "const fs=require('fs');if(!fs.existsSync('package.json'))process.exit(0);const pkg=JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('package.json','utf8'));const out=[];for(const section of ['dependencies','devDependencies']){for(const [name,version] of Object.entries(pkg[section]||{})){if(name.startsWith('@capacitor/'))out.push(section+'.'+name+'='+version)}}console.log(out.sort().join('\n'))"

References

Only load a reference when its topic is in play.

File Load when
references/android.md Editing variables.gradle, build.gradle, wrapper, manifest, or Kotlin by hand
references/plugins.md The app uses official @capacitor/* plugins (Camera, Device, Push, Local Notifications, Google Maps, ...)

Preflight

Check and report before touching files. Ask the user to upgrade tooling if any minimum is missing.

Tool Minimum for Capacitor 5
Node.js 16+ (latest LTS recommended)
Xcode 14.1+
Android Studio Flamingo 2022.2.1+ (bundles JDK 17)
Java (Gradle JDK) 17
AGP / Gradle 8.0.0 / 8.0.2
Android SDK minSdk 22, compileSdk 33, targetSdk 33
iOS deployment target 13.0 (unchanged from v4) 
node -v
xcodebuild -version
java -version
git status --short   # start from a clean tree so the migration diff is reviewable

Procedure

  1. Confirm @capacitor/core is 4.x from the snapshot. If below 4, stop and route to a 3 -> 4 upgrade first.

  2. Run the automated migration:

    npm i -D @capacitor/cli@latest-5
npx cap migrate

    It bumps @capacitor/* packages, updates variables.gradle, AGP, the Gradle wrapper, moves package to namespace, trims the iOS app icon set, and runs cap sync. Read the output: every step it could not complete is printed and must be done by hand.

  3. Review git diff. Then finish anything the CLI skipped:

    • iOS: in ios/.gitignore replace App/Podfile.lock with App/output (commit Podfile.lock from now on). Optionally reduce AppIcon.appiconset to a single 1024x1024 icon.
    • Android: apply the variable table and diffs in references/android.md (AGP 8.0.0, Gradle 8.0.2, google-services 4.3.15, namespace, Jetifier, Kotlin 1.8.20).
    • Config: if server.androidScheme is not set, add androidScheme: "http" to capacitor.config.*. Capacitor 6 flips the default to https, which changes the WebView origin and wipes localStorage, IndexedDB and cookies. Pinning now prevents data loss later. Ask the user before choosing https instead.

  4. Update every official plugin to ^5.0.0 and community plugins to their Capacitor 5 release. Apply code changes from references/plugins.md.

  5. In Android Studio, run Tools -> AGP Upgrade Assistant if the Gradle files still show AGP 7 leftovers.

  6. Run verification below.

Traps

  • Removing android.enableJetifier=true breaks builds if any dependency still uses the old android.support.* libraries. Grep node_modules and native deps first; keep Jetifier if unsure.
  • namespace must equal the old manifest package value, not the applicationId if they differ.
  • Device plugin: getId() now returns { identifier }; uuid is gone. On iOS 16+, DeviceInfo.name returns a generic name without the user-assigned-device-name entitlement.
  • Android 13 (targetSdk 33): Push and Local Notifications need checkPermissions() / requestPermissions() at runtime or nothing is shown.

Verification

grep -rn "package=" android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml          # expect no package attribute
grep -n "namespace" android/app/build.gradle                          # expect namespace "<id>"
grep -n "gradle:8.0.0\|google-services" android/build.gradle
grep -n "distributionUrl" android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties  # gradle-8.0.2
grep -n "SdkVersion" android/variables.gradle                         # 22 / 33 / 33
grep -rn "androidScheme" capacitor.config.*                           # explicit value present
grep -rn "\.uuid\b" src/                                              # no Device uuid leftovers
npx cap sync
cd android && ./gradlew assembleDebug

Then build iOS in Xcode 14.1+ (or npx cap run ios) and launch both platforms. Confirm stored data (login, localStorage) survived the upgrade.

Error Handling

Error Fix
Migrate can only be used on capacitor 4 and above, please use the CLI in Capacitor 4 to upgrade to 4 first Project is on 3.x. Upgrade to 4 first.
Capacitor 5 requires JDK 17 or higher. Some steps may fail. Set Gradle JDK to 17 (Android Studio Settings -> Build Tools -> Gradle) and rerun.
Unable to find <file>. Try updating it manually Apply the matching diff from references/android.md.
Found namespace in build.gradle already, skipping migration Informational. Just confirm the manifest no longer has package=.
Namespace not specified (Gradle) Add namespace "<package id>" to the android {} block of the failing module. For a third-party plugin, update it to its Capacitor 5 release.
Android Gradle plugin requires Java 17 to run. You are currently using Java 11. Switch Gradle JDK to 17.
Data loss / logged out after upgrade on Android androidScheme changed. Set it back to the scheme the installed app used (http for v4 defaults).