feat(android): publish release no-op artifact to strip all library code from production builds

[imsankalp]

Problem

Even after fixing NETWORK_TOOLS_ENABLED in build.gradle and wrapping MainApplication with if (BuildConfig.DEBUG), all library .class files — NetworkToolsInterceptor, NetworkRequestStorage, NetworkToolsEventEmitter, etc. — are still compiled into the release APK. They just happen to be dormant.

For a debug-only tool this is undesirable:

• Increases APK size
• Security audits flag unused network interception code in production binaries
• Violates the principle that debug tooling leaves zero footprint in production

Proposed solution — LeakCanary pattern

Publish two Android artifacts:

Artifact	Purpose
react-native-network-tools	Full implementation — used in debug builds
react-native-network-tools-no-op	Stub implementations — used in release builds

The no-op artifact contains hollow stubs with identical public API surfaces but no actual logic:

// no-op NetworkToolsManager.kt
object NetworkToolsManager {
    fun addInterceptor(builder: OkHttpClient.Builder) = builder   // no-op
    fun getInterceptor(): NetworkToolsInterceptor? = null
}

In the host app's android/app/build.gradle:

dependencies {
    debugImplementation project(':react-native-network-tools')
    releaseImplementation project(':react-native-network-tools-no-op')
}

Implementation plan

1. Create android-no-op/ module mirroring the public API with empty method bodies
2. Configure as a separate library module in android-no-op/build.gradle
3. Update autolink config to expose both modules
4. Update docs with the debugImplementation / releaseImplementation pattern
5. Update Expo plugin to also patch android/app/build.gradle

Acceptance criteria

• android-no-op/ module created with stub implementations of all public API classes
• No-op module has zero runtime dependencies beyond react-android
• Host app example updated to use debugImplementation / releaseImplementation
• Release APK verified with apkanalyzer: no NetworkToolsInterceptor or NetworkRequestStorage classes present
• README updated with the split-dependency pattern

References

• LeakCanary no-op pattern
• Verify with: apkanalyzer dex packages --defined-only app-release.apk