Mobile Dev

Mobile Dev Skill

If running interactively (human present), output "Read Mobile Dev skill." to acknowledge. If running with --dangerously-skip-permissions (AFK/unattended), skip acknowledgement and proceed directly.

Use this skill when:

• Starting a new mobile dev session
• Debugging a Metro or emulator issue
• Deciding whether a native rebuild is needed
• Setting up a fresh fork of Launch Core
• Troubleshooting "Using Expo Go" or redbox errors

Phase 0 — Read Context First

Before touching the app, load the Expo Mobile instructions:

~/dotfiles/instructions/expo-mobile.instructions.md

This file contains the stack reference, native module list, correct startup sequence, and all troubleshooting commands. Do not skip it.

Phase 1 — Clean State Reset

Always start from a known-clean state to avoid residual Metro/emulator confusion.

# 1. Force-stop the app on emulator (swallows errors if not running)
adb shell am force-stop com.launchhq.mobile 2>/dev/null || true

# 2. Remove ADB reverse mappings
adb reverse --remove-all 2>/dev/null || true

# 3. Check current state
adb devices -l
lsof -nP -iTCP:8081 -sTCP:LISTEN 2>/dev/null || ss -ltn 2>/dev/null | grep ':8081' || true
git status --short --branch

Expected clean state:

• adb devices shows emulator-5554 device (or no devices if emulator not running)
• Nothing listening on 8081
• Branch is what you expect

Phase 2 — Dependency Health Check

# Check for corrupted node_modules (common after better-auth/expo installs)
ls node_modules/@better-auth/ 2>/dev/null | grep tmp || echo "no tmp files"

# If corrupted, clean install
rm -rf node_modules apps/*/node_modules packages/*/node_modules
pnpm install

# Verify mobile deps are aligned with Expo SDK
pnpm --filter mobile exec expo doctor

If VS Code shows a wall of Cannot find module ... or cascading implicit-any diagnostics after dependency repair, verify the CLI first:

pnpm typecheck

If the CLI passes, treat the editor errors as stale TypeScript server state: reload VS Code, use the workspace TypeScript SDK, and restart the TypeScript server before changing application code.

Phase 3 — Decide: Rebuild Native or Just Start Metro?

Answer these questions in order:

Rebuild command:

pnpm mobile:android   # Android
pnpm mobile:ios       # iOS

Metro-only command:

pnpm mobile:start     # Must show "Using development build"

Phase 4 — Start the Emulator (if not running)

# Boot the verified AVD
emulator -avd Medium_Phone_API_36.0

# Wait for boot, then verify
adb devices -l
# Must show: emulator-5554  device  (not offline)

# If offline: restart ADB
adb kill-server && adb start-server && adb devices -l

# Set up port reverse so emulator can reach host API/Metro
adb reverse tcp:3001 tcp:3001
adb reverse tcp:8081 tcp:8081

Phase 5 — Start Metro

pnpm mobile:start

Watch for:

• ✅ Using development build — correct
• ❌ Using Expo Go — wrong runtime, stop and restart with --dev-client

Open the dev client:

• Press a in the Metro terminal for Android
• Or launch via ADB intent if Expo CLI doesn't open it:

adb shell am start -W -a android.intent.action.VIEW \
  -d "launch://expo-development-client/?url=http%3A%2F%2F10.0.2.2%3A8081"

Phase 6 — Start Backend (API-dependent work only)

Only needed for auth, payments, uploads, AI, or push feature work:

pnpm docker:up     # Postgres + Redis
pnpm db:migrate    # Run pending Drizzle migrations
pnpm api:dev       # Koa API on :3001

# Health check
curl http://localhost:3001/health

Diagnostic Checklist

When the app won't load or shows a redbox, run this checklist:

# 1. Is Metro running?
lsof -nP -iTCP:8081 -sTCP:LISTEN 2>/dev/null || ss -ltn 2>/dev/null | grep ':8081'

# 2. Is the emulator connected?
adb devices -l

# 3. Can the emulator reach the host?
adb shell curl http://10.0.2.2:8081/status 2>/dev/null || echo "unreachable"

# 4. Is the dev client build current?
adb shell pm list packages | grep launchhq

# 5. Is the correct runtime in use?
# Check Metro terminal output for "Using development build"

# 6. Are env vars set?
cat apps/mobile/.env | grep EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL

Quick Reference: Port Map

Android emulator maps host localhost to 10.0.2.2. Always use 10.0.2.2 (not localhost) in EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL for emulator testing.

Session Handoff Note

When ending a mobile dev session, capture state in a note so the next session starts clean:

• Current branch and any uncommitted changes
• Whether native rebuild was done
• Whether emulator has a current dev client build
• Last known working state of Metro + API