test(ci): run tests on locally created packages

[mikehardy]

Description

When we released 23.8.0 we had several problems related to packaging that would have been visible if we ran our tests against locally created packages (as if they were from npmjs.com the way library users consume them) vs our development-style of symlinking the code into the live source tree

This PR will enable us to run tests in CI using locally created packages so we should see those problems pre-publish instead of when users notice them and file issues

Related issues

• Related [🐛] v23.8.0 .1 and .2 have a publishing regression - Expo plugin config is not valid - remain on 23.7.0 or wait for 23.8.3+ #8829

Release Summary

This is a testing PR, no release should happen

Checklist

• I read the Contributor Guide and followed the process outlined there for submitting PRs.
  • Yes
• My change supports the following platforms;
  • Android
  • iOS
  • Other (macOS, web)
• My change includes tests;
  • e2e tests added or updated in packages/\*\*/e2e
  • jest tests added or updated in packages/\*\*/__tests__
• I have updated TypeScript types that are affected by my change.
• This is a breaking change;
  • Yes
  • No

Test Plan

• ✅ test patch-package generation result after abstract the script that creates locally created packages from the patch-package flow by comparing downloaded patches.zip vs expectations
• ❓ either convert all test workflows to run against local packages, or add a matrix where some is symlinked and some is locally created packages, need to check how each work first but not there yet

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Project	Deployment	Review	Updated (UTC)
react-native-firebase	Ready	Preview, Comment	Jan 17, 2026 4:11pm