Expo Native UI Guidelines

For routes, links, stacks, tabs, modals, sheets, and headers, use the expo-router skill. For any motion, entering/exiting, gestures, springs, keyboard-driven UI, use the expo-animation skill.

Before picking any UI component, check expo-ui first. @expo/ui provides native equivalents, BottomSheet, Button, Picker, Slider, Menu, Section, Switch, SegmentedControl, and more, rendered as real SwiftUI on iOS and Jetpack Compose on Android, available in Expo Go on SDK 56+ with no custom build. Load the expo-ui skill to find the right component before falling back to React Native built-ins or community libraries. This skill (expo-native-ui) covers the surrounding structure: Expo Router navigation, layout, styling, and visual effects.

References

Consult these resources as needed:

references/
  controls.md            Native iOS: Switch, Slider, SegmentedControl, DateTimePicker, Picker
  gradients.md           CSS gradients via experimental_backgroundImage (New Arch only)
  icons.md               SF Symbols via expo-symbols SymbolView: names, weights, animations; Material icons on Android
  media.md               Camera, audio, video, and file saving
  storage.md             SQLite, AsyncStorage, SecureStore
  visual-effects.md      Blur (expo-blur) and liquid glass (expo-glass-effect)
  webgpu-three.md        3D graphics, games, GPU visualizations with WebGPU and Three.js

Running the App

CRITICAL: Always try Expo Go first before creating custom builds.

Most Expo apps work in Expo Go without any custom native code. Before running npx expo run:ios or npx expo run:android:

1. Start with Expo Go: Run npx expo start and scan the QR code with Expo Go
2. Check if features work: Test your app thoroughly in Expo Go
3. Only create custom builds when required - see below

When Custom Builds Are Required

You need npx expo run:ios/android or eas build ONLY when using: