Expo Examples

Expo Examples

expo/examples is Expo's official library of ~70 integration examples — directories named with-<library> (e.g. with-stripe, with-maps), each built around one library or service. These are not full apps: they're managed projects (no ios//android/ dirs — native setup is via config plugins), and the typical one is a single screen of ~100–200 lines. Mine them for the canonical integration pattern — the dependency set, app.json config plugins, and minimal wiring Expo maintains against the current SDK — and adapt that into the user's app. Don't expect to lift an application architecture from them.

Reach for an example before hand-rolling an integration. (Kinds — full-stack, showcases, starters — are noted in ./references/catalog.md.)

Two modes

1. Inspiration / adapt (most common) — the user already has a project. Find the matching example, read its key files, and apply the pattern to their code.
2. Scaffold — greenfield. Start a fresh project directly from the example.

Workflow

1. Find the right example

Map the user's need to an example name (e.g. payments → with-stripe, auth → with-clerk). ./references/catalog.md is a categorized snapshot for fast triage — but it drifts, so confirm against the live list:

# Live example names:
gh api repos/expo/examples/contents --jq '.[] | select(.type=="dir" and (.name|startswith(".")|not)) | .name'
# Aliases (renamed) + deprecated (dead/moved) examples — check before recommending:
gh api repos/expo/examples/contents/meta.json --jq '.content' | base64 -d

meta.json is the source of truth for what's renamed or dead (deprecated examples are removed from the repo tree but still listed here, each with a message). If an example is in its deprecated map, don't recommend it — follow the message to the modern path. If it's in aliases, use the destination.

2a. Inspiration mode — study without touching the user's project

The common case: the user already has an app and wants to see how Expo does something. Read the example as reference and apply the patterns by hand — never scaffold an example on top of their project.

First, list the whole example in one call. Integration code is often nested (e.g. Stripe's server routes live in app/api/), so a one-level listing misses the important files:

gh api 'repos/expo/examples/git/trees/master?recursive=1' \
  --jq '.tree[].path | select(startswith("with-stripe/"))'

Then read the high-signal files first: README.md (setup) → package.json (deps) → app.json (config plugins / permissions) → the integration code the manifest revealed → .env (required secrets). Per file:

gh api repos/expo/examples/contents/with-stripe/utils/stripe-server.ts --jq '.content' | base64 -d
# No gh? Raw URL (branch is master):
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/expo/examples/master/with-stripe/utils/stripe-server.ts

Reading more than a couple of files? Many integrations are spread across server routes, a client provider, and config (Stripe is). Skip the per-file calls — pull the whole example into a throwaway/gitignored dir (not the user's project) and read it freely with Grep/Read, then apply by hand:

npx degit expo/examples/with-stripe /tmp/expo-ref/with-stripe   # clean copy, no git history
# fallback without degit (sparse-checkout, no full ~64 MB clone):
git clone --depth 1 --filter=blob:none --sparse https://github.com/expo/examples.git /tmp/expo-ref/examples \
  && (cd /tmp/expo-ref/examples && git sparse-checkout set with-stripe)

Read from there with Grep/Read; delete the scratch dir when done.

2b. Scaffold mode — new project from an example

npx create-expo --example with-stripe   # short form:  npx create-expo -e with-stripe
bun create expo --example with-stripe    # with bun

3. Adapt into the user's app — non-destructively (critical)

When the user already has an app, add only what the example introduces; never overwrite their setup.

• Version-align — don't copy pinned versions. Examples track the latest SDK, so their package.json pins won't match an older project. Add only the missing deps with npx expo install <pkg> (it resolves SDK-correct versions) instead of copying exact versions.
• Merge config, don't replace it. Add only the app.json/app.config.* plugins and permissions the example introduces that the user lacks — keep their existing config block intact.
• Port the integration code.
• Recreate env vars from the example's .env shape — it holds placeholders, never working secrets.

Done when the integration code is ported and every dependency, config plugin, permission, and env var it needs is accounted for in the user's app — not when it merely looks wired up.

Gotchas

• Default branch is master, not main (matters for raw URLs and sparse checkout).
• Single-click deploy. Every example has a launch URL: https://launch.expo.dev/?github=https://github.com/expo/examples/tree/master/<example>.

Related skills

• Tailwind / NativeWind styling → expo-tailwind-setup
• Native UI components → building-native-ui
• Authoring a native module → expo-module
• Upgrade the SDK before adopting a latest-SDK example → upgrading-expo

References

• ./references/catalog.md — categorized snapshot of the example library for fast triage.