Android build errorAndroid: “SDK location not found. Define a valid SDK location with an ANDROID_HOME environment variable or by setting the sdk.dir path in your project’s local properties file”

Why Gradle can’t find the SDK, and the fix

1. 01

   local.properties is missing after a clone

   “Sets the path to the SDK installation directory.” Android Developers, Environment variables

   Android Studio writes local.properties when it opens the project, and .gitignore keeps it out of the repo. A fresh clone built from the terminal has no file. Create it in the android folder for React Native and Flutter (the project root for a plain Android app), not the repo root. On Linux the SDK is usually in ~/Android/Sdk.

   # android/local.properties (macOS)
   sdk.dir=/Users/YOUR_NAME/Library/Android/sdk
   
   # Windows: escape the backslashes
   sdk.dir=C\:\\Users\\YOUR_NAME\\AppData\\Local\\Android\\Sdk

2. 02

   ANDROID_HOME isn’t set in this shell

   “The React Native tools require some environment variables to be set up in order to build apps with native code.” React Native, Set Up Your Environment

   React Native and the command-line tools read ANDROID_HOME. Add it to ~/.zprofile or ~/.zshrc, then open a new terminal or run source. Check with echo $ANDROID_HOME. An editor or terminal opened before the change still has the old environment, and an IDE launched from the Dock or Start menu may not read your shell profile at all, so local.properties is the more reliable fix there.

   export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
   export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator
   export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools

3. 03

   An old ANDROID_SDK_ROOT that disagrees

   “ANDROID_SDK_ROOT, which also points to the SDK installation directory, is deprecated.” Android Developers, Environment variables

   Older guides set ANDROID_SDK_ROOT. If it points somewhere different from ANDROID_HOME, the build can fail or pick the wrong SDK. Remove ANDROID_SDK_ROOT, or set both to the same path.

4. 04

   Flutter, or a CI runner with no SDK

   Flutter keeps its own setting: run flutter config --android-sdk with the path, then flutter doctor to confirm. Flutter writes sdk.dir into android/local.properties on the next build once it knows the path. On CI, use an image that has the Android SDK installed and set ANDROID_HOME in the job, rather than committing a local.properties with a path from your laptop.

   flutter config --android-sdk ~/Library/Android/sdk
   flutter doctor -v

Checked against the vendor’s docs on November 8, 2026: Android Developers: Environment variables (ANDROID_HOME); React Native: Set Up Your Environment (Android).

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