fix(ios): resolve reactHost lazily so paste works under Expo bridgeless

[janicduplessis]

Problem

On v2.0.x with the New Architecture (bridgeless), iOS paste interception silently never registers when the app is hosted by Expo (ExpoReactNativeFactory / EXReactRootViewFactory). onPaste never fires and the system "Paste" affordance falls through to the default UITextView handler — so for image-only clipboard contents the library appears to do nothing.

This is distinct from #54 / #55: even with a valid native tag (registration reaches the native module), the native side can't locate the backing text view to swizzle, so the interception is never installed.

Reproduced on React Native 0.85.3 + Expo SDK 56, RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1 (bridgeless).

Root cause

PasteInputModule resolves the Fabric surface presenter (used to look up the backing UITextView by tag) from a reactHost captured once in +setup::

+ (void)setup:(RCTRootViewFactory *)rootViewFactory {
#ifdef RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED
_reactHost = rootViewFactory.reactHost; // nil at this point under Expo
#endif
}

But the base RCTRootViewFactory creates the RCTHostlazily, inside viewWithModuleName: → createReactHostIfNeeded: — it only assigns self.reactHost when the first surface mounts. Under Expo that mount happens afterapplication:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: returns, i.e. after the app's PasteInputModule.setup(factory.rootViewFactory) call. So rootViewFactory.reactHost is still nil when setup captures it, and because it's stored in a static it is never refreshed.

The bridge fallback in getSurfacePresenter doesn't help either: in bridgeless mode self.bridge is an RCTBridgeProxy whose surfacePresenter is nil.

Net effect: getSurfacePresenter returns nil → findBackingTextViewForTag: finds nothing → the register retry loop exhausts and gives up → the paste: / canPerformAction: swizzle is never applied.

Evidence

Captured with temporary NSLogs while diagnosing.

Before:

setup: rootViewFactory=<EXReactRootViewFactory: 0x…> reactHost=(null)
findBackingTextViewForTag 5556: reactHost=(null) bridge=<RCTBridgeProxy> surfacePresenter=(null)
view not found for PasteInput_5556 retry=1 … retry=9
GAVE UP finding view for PasteInput_5556 after 10 retries

After:

lazy reactHost from rootViewFactory=<RCTHost: 0x…>
registry lookup tag=4152 -> view=RCTTextInputComponentView
found backing view for PasteInput_4152 -> RCTUITextView
after subclassing PasteInput_4152 -> PasteInput_RCTUITextView
canPerformAction(paste:) hasImages=1 -> 1
onPaste event data=[{ image/png … }]

Fix

Drop the _reactHost static captured in +setup: and instead retain the rootViewFactory, reading reactHost fresh from it in getSurfacePresenter at view-lookup time. By then the host has been created. Reading it fresh each time (rather than caching a value that may have been nil at setup) keeps a single source of truth.

Only touches ios/PasteInputModule.mm. No behavior change on setups where rootViewFactory.reactHost is already populated at setup time.

Testing

• RN 0.85.3 + Expo SDK 56, bridgeless. <PasteInput onPaste={…} /> focused, PNG on the pasteboard (host → sim via xcrun simctl pbsync host). System Paste → onPaste fires with the image after this change; nothing before.
• Verified the swizzle installs (canPerformAction(paste:) returns YES for image contents) and unregisters cleanly on unmount.

Notes

• Independent of fix(ios): use findNodeHandle to register PasteInput on Fabric #55: this is the native-side half of "paste silently does nothing on new arch." On some setups the JS __nativeTag issue (v2 paste interception silently bails on RN 0.76+ Fabric (uses __nativeTag which is undefined) #54 / fix(ios): use findNodeHandle to register PasteInput on Fabric #55) also applies; on RN 0.85 __nativeTag is populated, so this native fix alone restores paste.
• Likely also explains the runtime half of the Expo + new-arch reports (Expo compatibility  #7, Issues with Expo 53 + new arch #47).

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Review details

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 92c49f25-ea15-4fa8-ab97-8a36e5cf67b5

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4d2b76b and 7344307.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• ios/PasteInputModule.mm

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Updated ios/PasteInputModule.mm so +setup: stores the RCTRootViewFactory and getSurfacePresenter resolves reactHost from that factory at call time under RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED.

Changes

Lazy reactHost resolution

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Store factory and lazily resolve reactHost ios/PasteInputModule.mm	Adds a static _rootViewFactory variable, stores it during +setup:, and reads reactHost from it in getSurfacePresenter when needed.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the main fix: lazily resolving reactHost so paste works in Expo bridgeless iOS.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description matches the change and explains the bug, root cause, fix, and testing.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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