@react-native-skills

Review React Native and Expo rendering, lists, animations, navigation and native UI against project versions and measured behavior.

React Native Skills

Comprehensive best practices for React Native and Expo applications. Contains rules across multiple categories covering performance, animations, UI patterns, and platform-specific optimizations.

When to Use

Reference these guidelines when:

  • Building React Native or Expo apps
  • Optimizing list and scroll performance
  • Implementing animations with Reanimated
  • Working with images and media
  • Configuring native modules or fonts
  • Structuring monorepo projects with native dependencies

Rule Categories by Priority

PriorityCategoryImpactPrefix
1List PerformanceCRITICALlist-performance-
2AnimationHIGHanimation-
3NavigationHIGHnavigation-
4UI PatternsHIGHui-
5State ManagementMEDIUMreact-state-
6RenderingMEDIUMrendering-
7MonorepoMEDIUMmonorepo-
8ConfigurationLOWfonts-, imports-

Quick Reference

1. List Performance (CRITICAL)

  • list-performance-virtualize - Use FlashList for large lists
  • list-performance-item-memo - Memoize list item components
  • list-performance-callbacks - Stabilize callback references
  • list-performance-inline-objects - Avoid inline style objects
  • list-performance-function-references - Extract functions outside render
  • list-performance-images - Optimize images in lists
  • list-performance-item-expensive - Move expensive work outside items
  • list-performance-item-types - Use item types for heterogeneous lists

2. Animation (HIGH)

  • animation-gpu-properties - Prefer transform and opacity when layout need not change
  • animation-derived-value - Use useDerivedValue for computed animations
  • animation-gesture-detector-press - Consider Gesture.Tap for animated press feedback while preserving accessibility

3. Navigation (HIGH)

  • navigation-native-navigators - Use native stack and native tabs over JS navigators

4. UI Patterns (HIGH)

  • ui-expo-image - Use expo-image for all images
  • ui-image-gallery - Use Galeria for image lightboxes
  • ui-pressable - Use Pressable over TouchableOpacity
  • ui-safe-area-scroll - Handle safe areas in ScrollViews
  • ui-scrollview-content-inset - Use contentInset for headers
  • ui-menus - Use native context menus
  • ui-native-modals - Use native modals when possible
  • ui-measure-views - Use onLayout, not measure()
  • ui-styling - Use StyleSheet.create or Nativewind

5. State Management (MEDIUM)

  • react-state-minimize - Minimize state subscriptions
  • react-state-dispatcher - Use dispatcher pattern for callbacks
  • react-state-fallback - Show fallback on first render
  • react-compiler-destructure-functions - Destructure for React Compiler
  • react-compiler-reanimated-shared-values - Handle shared values with compiler

6. Rendering (MEDIUM)

  • rendering-text-in-text-component - Wrap text in Text components
  • rendering-no-falsy-and - Avoid falsy && for conditional rendering

7. Monorepo (MEDIUM)

  • monorepo-native-deps-in-app - Keep native dependencies in app package
  • monorepo-single-dependency-versions - Use single versions across packages

8. Configuration (LOW)

  • fonts-config-plugin - Use config plugins for custom fonts
  • imports-design-system-folder - Organize design system imports
  • js-hoist-intl - Hoist Intl object creation

How to Use

Read individual rule files for detailed explanations and code examples:

rules/list-performance-virtualize.md
rules/animation-gpu-properties.md

Each rule file contains:

  • Brief explanation of why it matters
  • Incorrect code example with explanation
  • Correct code example with explanation
  • Additional context and references

Full Compiled Document

The catalog bundles the individual rules/ files; the upstream compiled AGENTS.md is not included.

Limitations

  • Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
  • Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
  • Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.

Examples are contextual snippets: supply project imports, types and components. Check installed RN/Expo/Reanimated/list versions before copying APIs; performance labels are qualitative priorities, not measured guarantees. Preserve existing stack choices, accessibility, focus, keyboard and platform behavior. Install compatible native dependencies only within the requested task; prebuild/rebuild can modify native projects.