Expo Boilerplate Skill

Target: Expo SDK 53+ / React Native 0.79+

Interactive bootstrapper that collects architecture decisions via questions, then scaffolds a production-ready Expo project.

References

references/
  questions.md                All questions grouped into 3 tiers with defaults
  setup-guide.md              Package commands, config files, and boilerplate code
  architecture-templates.md   Folder structures and complete file contents

Workflow

Phase 0: Initialize Project

Before anything else, create the Expo project if it doesn't exist:

npx create-expo-app@latest {{APP_NAME}} --template blank-typescript

Phase 1: Collect Decisions

Read references/questions.md. Ask questions one tier at a time:

Tier 1 — Required (always ask):

1. Project Basics — name, bundle ID, platforms, workflow
2. Folder & Architecture — feature-based vs domain-based
3. State & Data — global state, server state, persist storage
4. Navigation — tabs, drawer, auth flow, deep linking
5. API & Network — REST/GraphQL, client, token management

Tier 2 — Recommended (ask "Would you like to make recommended architecture decisions?"): 6. Design System — colors, typography, spacing, UI kit 7. Authentication — methods, backend provider, token storage 8. Libraries — forms, animation, image, i18n, date 9. CI/CD & Deploy — EAS, build profiles, OTA channels 10. Testing — unit, E2E, coverage target

Tier 3 — Advanced (ask "Would you like to make advanced decisions, or use defaults?"): 11. Code Standards — naming, lint, commit format, branch strategy 12. Security — root detection, SSL pinning, log filtering 13. Analytics & Logging — provider, crash reporting 14. Offline First — cache strategy, sync mechanism

Shortcut: If user says "fast setup" or "use defaults", apply Recommended Defaults from questions.md and only ask project name + bundle ID.

Phase 2: Summarize & Confirm

Show all decisions as a summary table and get user approval:

| Category | Choice |
|----------|--------|
| App Name | MyApp |
| State    | Zustand |
| ...      | ...    |

Phase 3: Scaffold Project

After approval, read references/setup-guide.md and references/architecture-templates.md, then:

1. Install packages — run npx expo install and npm install for selected libraries
2. Create folder structure — directories and files per template
3. Write config files — tsconfig.json, .eslintrc.js, .prettierrc, app.json, eas.json, .gitignore
4. Set up design system — theme tokens in src/theme/
5. Create state stores — boilerplate store files per selected state manager
6. Set up navigation — Expo Router layouts in app/
7. Set up API client — base URL, interceptors, error handler
8. Set up auth flow — login/register screens, token storage, protected routes
9. Create demo screen — app/(tabs)/index.tsx showing design system
10. Set up error handling — ErrorBoundary, splash screen, font loading

Phase 4: Completion Report

Show the user:

• ✅ Created files/directories list
• 🚀 Start command (npx expo start)
• 📋 Next steps (how to add your first feature)
• ⚠️ Manual steps if needed (Apple Developer account, Firebase config, etc.)

Important Rules

• Follow building-native-ui skill conventions (kebab-case files, expo-image, expo-router)
• Use ui-ux-pro-max skill when creating design system
• TypeScript always — never offer JS option
• Expo Router always — never React Navigation
• Default to src/ with feature-based structure
• Default to StyleSheet.create for styling (Unistyles as advanced option)
• Default to Tabs from expo-router/tabs (NativeTabs only for iOS 26+ projects)
• Write real file contents, never leave files empty
• Feature-specific state → src/features/xxx/store/, app-wide state → src/store/