Mobile overview

Status: Scaffolded 2026-09-24

vegan-grove-mobile is an Expo SDK 57 app with expo-router and TypeScript, built for iOS and Android from one codebase through EAS. It is the primary member surface: places on a map, events, the feed, messages, and the companion. It holds almost nothing on the device and never sends the device's location to the server.

Stack

Concern	Choice
Runtime	Expo SDK 57, React Native 0.86, React 19
Routing	expo-router, file-based, route groups (auth) and (tabs)
Map	@maplibre/maplibre-react-native with the OpenFreeMap liberty style
Server data	TanStack Query
Auth state	zustand, one store
Secrets on device	expo-secure-store for the session token
Images	expo-image-picker then expo-image-manipulator re-encode to strip EXIF
Location	expo-location, when-in-use, used only to center the map client-side
Push	expo-notifications
Lint, format	Biome, shared config

No analytics SDK, no crash reporter with PII, no NativeWind, no form library. Styling is StyleSheet with tokens from src/theme/tokens.ts, the mobile mirror of the --vg-* values in the tech stack.

Layout

app/
  _layout.tsx            providers, AuthGate, theme
  (auth)/                welcome, login, register, magic-link
  (tabs)/                index (home), places, events, feed, messages
  profile/               index, edit, settings, privacy, account (hidden from the tab bar)
  companion.tsx          modal
src/
  constants/api.ts       EXPO_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL and the ENDPOINTS registry
  lib/api/client.ts      fetch wrapper: Bearer, timeout, normalized errors
  lib/stores/authStore.ts
  lib/images/stripExif.ts
  theme/tokens.ts
scripts/
  check-prod-ready.sh    the release guard
  gen-brand-assets.mjs   regenerates the placeholder brand PNGs
eas-build-pre-install.sh EAS lifecycle hook that reruns the guard on store profiles
app.config.ts            bundle id org.vegangrove.app, scheme vegangrove, plugins, env-sourced values
eas.json                 development, preview, production, testflight, playstore

Details: navigation, state and data, API client, build and release.

Why a development client

MapLibre is native code, so Expo Go cannot run this app. Day-to-day development uses a development build from the development EAS profile installed on a simulator or device, then npm start (which runs expo start --dev-client). The build is made once per native dependency change, not per code change; JavaScript still hot-reloads.

ios/ and android/ are gitignored and never generated in the repo. Native configuration lives in app.config.ts and config plugins (the MapLibre plugin, expo-notifications, expo-secure-store, expo-location), and EAS generates the native projects on its build machine. See mobile deployment.

What the scaffold contains

Every screen file above exists and renders a placeholder with the right title. The places tab renders the map centered on Southern California and queries GET /api/places?bbox= through TanStack Query as the viewport settles. Auth screens call the API client and store the session; AuthGate redirects. Profile, feed, events, messages, and the companion are stubs that will be filled per milestone. validate (Biome, tsc --noEmit, check:prod) passes on a fresh clone.