I am building a React Native/Expo Android app on Windows and the debug build works, but when I try to build the release variant, Gradle fails with an error indicating that the file/path exceeds the 260-character Windows path limit.

The project is located in a relatively long directory path, and the error occurs during the Gradle release build.

Environment:

• Windows 11

• React Native / Expo

• Android Studio

• Gradle

• Building release variant

Problem:
The release build fails because one or more generated Gradle paths exceed Windows' maximum path length.

I have tried cleaning the project and rebuilding, but the problem persists.

Question:
What is the recommended way to fix this issue? Should I move the project to a shorter directory, enable Windows long-path support, or configure Gradle/Android differently to avoid generating paths longer than 260 characters?

Any guidance on the proper solution would be appreciated.

Set-ItemProperty `
  -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem" `
  -Name "LongPathsEnabled" `
  -Type DWord `
  -Value 1