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  • Introduction
    nativecn is shadcn for Expo apps: Components you copy into your app and own, built so AI agents can build and verify whole mobile apps.
  • Installation
    Create a new Expo app with nativecn, or add nativecn to an existing one.
  • components.json
    The project file that records your Preset, Structure, aliases and agents.
  • CLI
    Every nativecn-cli command and flag: init, create, add, agents and mcp.
  • Changelog
    What changed in each nativecn release.
  • Theming
    Tokens, Colour Roles, Scale, Scheme, createStyles and fonts.
  • Presets & Styles
    Style, Base Colour, Accent Colour, Radius and fonts: chosen once, baked into your code.
  • Folder structure
    Flat and feature Structures, Destinations and the placement rule.
  • AI agents
    Rules, Skills, the nativecn MCP server, the Plugin and the Visual QA Loop.
  • Alert
    Alert, AlertTitle and AlertDescription: an inline message with Variants (default, destructive, success, warning, info), each with a default icon.
  • Avatar
    Round user image (expo-image) with fallback initials, in sizes sm, md and lg.
  • Badge
    Small status label with Variants default, secondary, outline, destructive, success and warning.
  • Button
    Button with Variants (primary, secondary, outline, ghost, destructive, link), Sizes, an icon slot, loading and status; icon-only requires aria-label.
  • Card
    Card surface with CardHeader, CardTitle, CardDescription, CardContent and CardFooter; onPress makes the whole card pressable.
  • Checkbox
    Checkbox with an optional label, controlled or uncontrolled, an indeterminate (mixed) state and a haptic tick.
  • Chip
    Chip (plain, toggle or removable, with an optional icon) and ChipGroup (single or multiple choice on the SelectionGroup Primitive), with a haptic tick.
  • Container
    Wraps a Screen: safe-area edges, scrolling, keyboard avoidance, Token padding and a max content width.
  • Drawer
    Drawer panel content for Expo Router's drawer (expo-router/drawer): DrawerContent, DrawerHeader, DrawerSection, DrawerItem (label, icon, href, badge; active from the current route) and DrawerFooter.
  • Empty State
    What a Screen or list shows when there is nothing to show yet: an icon, a title, a description and an action.
  • FormField
    Lays out a control with its Label, description and error, and links them for screen readers ("Email, text field, Enter a valid email").
  • Icon
    Every glyph: a Lucide icon at a Token size in a Colour Role, decorative unless labelled.
  • Input
    Single-line text field with Sizes, a leading icon, error/success status, a focus ring and an automatic Show/Hide password toggle.
  • InputOTP
    One-time code field: one hidden input drives N cells; numeric keyboard, SMS/Keychain autofill, paste, onComplete, error/success status and secure.
  • Label
    A field's visible label in the label type Variant, with a required marker read as "required".
  • List
    Settings-style rows: ListSection, ListSectionHeader, ListSectionFooter and ListItem (title, description, icon, trailing, chevron, destructive, onPress); FlashList-safe.
  • Progress
    A horizontal progress bar: a value 0–100 that animates, or indeterminate; role progressbar with its value.
  • RadioGroup
    RadioGroup and RadioGroupItem: a single choice from a list on the SelectionGroup Primitive, vertical or horizontal, with a haptic tick.
  • SchemeSwitcher
    Theme switcher / dark mode toggle: System, Light and Dark as SegmentedTabs, or one icon button cycling through them. Calls setScheme, which persists the choice.
  • SearchField
    Search box with a search icon, an automatic clear (×) button, a loading spinner and onSubmit from the keyboard's Search key.
  • SegmentedTabs
    In-screen tabs (not navigation): segmented or underline Variants, an animated indicator, and only the selected tab's content rendered.
  • Separator
    A hairline divider, horizontal or vertical, decorative by default.
  • Skeleton
    A placeholder shape shown while content loads; pulses unless Reduce Motion is on, hidden from screen readers.
  • Slider
    Pick a number in a range by dragging or tapping (Gesture Handler + Reanimated), snapped to steps with a haptic tick; adjustable for screen readers.
  • Spinner
    An indeterminate loading indicator in a Colour Role, announced as busy; still under Reduce Motion.
  • Switch
    A themed on/off Switch, identical on iOS and Android, with an optional label, a thumb that slides (instant under Reduce Motion) and a haptic tick.
  • TabNavigation
    The bottom tab bar: the custom tabBar of an Expo Router JS Tabs Layout, with classic and floating Variants, per-tab icons and badges from Tabs.Screen options.
  • Text
    All text: the type ramp as Variants, text Colour Roles, alignment and the font-scaling switch.
  • Textarea
    Multi-line text field that grows from minRows to maxRows, with a character counter when maxLength is set.
  • Toast
    Sonner-style Toasts: a <Toaster /> in the root Layout and toast(), toast.success/error/info/warning/dismiss. At most 3 stacked, 4s auto-dismiss, swipe away, announced, above native modals.
  • Profile header + grouped sections
    Drawer panel with a profile header (avatar, name, email, plan Badge), labelled sections (Main, Workspace, Support) and Log out pinned in the footer.
  • SaaS workspace
    Drawer panel for a SaaS workspace: logo and name with a close button, an Accent Colour onboarding item with a 5 Steps Badge, main items, a bottom group (Notifications with a count, Settings, Docs, Help) and a footer with a team switcher and the user's avatar.
  • Cover header
    Drawer panel with a dark cover (large avatar, name, View profile, a bell with a count, an overflow button and a round + action), icon items active in Accent Colour text, a divider and text-only secondary items.
  • Classic centred
    A centred sign-in Screen: logo, email and password, Forgot password, an "or" divider, then Apple and Google, and a Sign up link.
  • Social-first hero
    A social-first sign-in Screen: a dark brand hero (logo, headline, subtitle, centred) above a panel where Apple and Google lead and "Continue with email" reveals the email form.
  • Email-first, two steps
    An email-first sign-in Screen in two steps: the email, then the password, with "Email me a code instead" switching to a 6-digit code (InputOTP). Lucide chevron-left Back buttons.
  • Classic single form
    A classic sign-up Screen on one scroll: Apple and Google on top, "or", then name, email and password, a terms Checkbox with Terms and Privacy Policy links, Create account, and a Sign in link.
  • Step-by-step wizard
    A sign-up wizard, one question per step under a Progress bar: email, name, password, then a 6-digit code (InputOTP). Lucide chevron-left Back buttons; the Continue button rides above the keyboard.
  • Social-first + verify
    A brand-led, passwordless sign-up Screen: the logo and headline centred above Apple and Google; "Sign up with email" reveals the email field, and Send code moves on to a 6-digit code (InputOTP).
  • announce
    Reliable screen-reader announcements on iOS and Android (Button and Input status, Toast, error, success and warning Alerts).
  • FocusChain
    Automatic Next/Done between fields in on-screen order; Done submits the form.
  • FormField context
    Links a field to its label, description and error for screen readers; passes status, disabled and required down.
  • Keyboard
    KeyboardProvider setup, a scroll view that keeps the focused field above the keyboard, and a footer that keeps a form's main button above it.
  • Portal
    Renders content above every Screen (above native modals on iOS), layered and safe-area aware.
  • Pressable
    Pressed look from a Style Slot, tap area extended to 48, no handlers while disabled or loading, optional haptics, role and aria-* states.
  • SelectionGroup
    Single or multiple choice within a group, with radio, tab or checkbox roles and selected states.
  • useControllableState
    One implementation of controlled and uncontrolled values for form controls.
  • useMotion
    Enter/exit animations and timing/spring configs from the motion Tokens; instant when Reduce Motion is on.
  • Theme
    Tokens, Scale, Colour Roles, ThemeProvider, createStyles and the navigation theme.

Presets & Styles

Style, Base Colour, Accent Colour, Radius and fonts: chosen once, baked into your code.

View as Markdown

A Preset is your project's one-time design choice: a Style, a Base Colour, an Accent Colour, a Radius, a Body Font and a Heading Font. You pick it at create or init, it is stored in components.json, and it is fixed for the life of the project.

Fixed per project, baked into your code

  • Colours, radius and fonts are written into your Theme files (colors.ts and tokens.ts).
  • The Style is written into each Component's source when you add it. add fetches the copy of each Component made for your Style, so you get plain, literal code with no Style lookups at runtime.
  • There is no apply command and no runtime Style switching. Variant props such as variant and size still work as usual.

After setup you change the look by editing your own files: the Theme, and the Component files you copied. Never edit preset in components.json, and don't re-add Components with -o to get another Style.

Options

SettingOptionsDefault
Stylevega (clean, balanced), nova (compact)vega
Base Colourneutral, stone, zinc, mauve, olive, mist, taupeneutral
Accent Colourneutral, stone, zinc, mauve, olive, mist, taupe, amber, blue, cyan, emerald, fuchsia, green, indigo, lime, orange, pink, purple, red, rose, sky, teal, violet, yellowneutral
Radiusdefault (the Style's own), none, small (7), medium (10), large (14)default
Body Fontinter, geist, dm-sans, figtree (sans); lora, source-serif-4 (serif); geist-mono, jetbrains-mono (mono)inter
Heading Fontinherit (the same as the Body Font), or any of the eight fontsinherit

Style

The Style decides every Component's shape and density. 0.1 ships two: Vega (clean and balanced, the default) and Nova (compact). More Styles will follow after 0.1. Style is unrelated to React Native's style prop.

Base Colour

The family of greys used by the neutral Colour Roles, such as background, muted and border.

Accent Colour

The colour of primary and ring. shadcn calls this setting "Theme". All 7 × 24 Base and Accent Colour combinations pass WCAG AA contrast for every Foreground pair, in light and dark.

Radius

Overrides the base radius that every radius step derives from. default keeps the Style's own.

Body Font and Heading Font

The Body Font sets body and control text. The Heading Font sets the display and h1–h4 Text Variants, and by default is the same as the Body Font. Only the fonts you choose are downloaded into your app. See Fonts.

Short codes

A Preset can be written as a short code, which the Preset builder on nativecn.dev gives you:

npx nativecn-cli@latest create my-app --preset a1Q17B

The same Preset as long flags:

npx nativecn-cli@latest create my-app --style nova --accent violet --heading-font lora

Any setting you leave out takes its default. The default Preset, Vega · neutral · neutral · default radius · Inter, is the code a0; --defaults or --yes picks it without prompting.

For agents

Agents translate a request such as "Nova, violet, Lora headings" into flags or a code. They use the nativecn MCP server's list_preset_options for the exact option values and build_preset_code for the code, and they never fall back to the defaults silently: if you gave no preferences, they confirm the default with you first.