Framework (OSS). Build and distribute Expo development clients locally or via TestFlight for internal testing. For production TestFlight releases and store submission, use the eas-app-stores skill.
Installs just this skill. Get the whole plugin for auto-invocation.
⚡ How it fires
How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.
Fires itselfClaude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.
You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
Slash command/expo-dev-client
👁️ Context preview
The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.
Framework (OSS). Build and distribute Expo development clients locally or via TestFlight for internal testing. For production TestFlight releases and store submission, use the eas-app-stores skill.
📊 Stats
Stars2,306
Forks117
LanguageShell
LicenseMIT
📦 Ships with expo-skills
</> SKILL.md
expo-dev-client.SKILL.md
---name: expo-dev-client
description: Framework (OSS). Build and distribute Expo development clients locally or via TestFlight for internal testing. For production TestFlight releases and store submission, use the eas-app-stores skill.
version: 1.1.0
license: MIT
---Use EAS Build to create development clients for testing native code changes on physical devices. Use this for creating custom Expo Go clients for testing branches of your app.
> **Free locally; cloud builds are paid.** `expo-dev-client` itself is open source and building locally is free. Building or distributing via EAS Build/TestFlight uses your EAS plan's build minutes and needs a paid Apple Developer account for device/TestFlight distribution. See https://expo.dev/pricing.
## Important: When Development Clients Are Needed
**Development clients are the recommended setup for any real or production app.** Expo Go is a playground for learning and quick experiments with the native libraries it bundles; most apps outgrow it and move to a development client. See [Expo Go vs. development builds](https://docs.expo.dev/develop/development-builds/introduction/) for the full reasoning.
You need a dev client ONLY when using:
- Local Expo modules (custom native code)
- Apple targets (widgets, app clips, extensions)
- Third-party native modules not in Expo Go
- Config plugins, or testing remote push notifications and App/Universal Links
## EAS Configuration
