Expo & React Native Motion — Master Skill

Production motion for Expo and React Native apps on iOS, Android, and web. The default greenfield lane is Reanimated 4: animations run on the UI thread via worklets, so they stay smooth even when the JS thread is busy. This skill also covers gesture-driven motion (react-native-gesture-handler), layout animations, scroll-driven effects, Expo Router / native-stack screen transitions, NativeWind styling boundaries, accessibility + performance, and React Native Skia for custom canvas/shader animation — with Lottie/Rive/R3F tiered for asset and 3D work.

Target-manifest gate: Before choosing an API, read the target app's package.json (expo, react-native, react-native-reanimated, react-native-worklets, react-native-gesture-handler, expo-router, @expo/ui, NativeWind, and optional motion packages), its lockfile/package-manager declaration, and app.json/app.config.* (newArchEnabled, plugins, and platform settings). Reanimated 4 requires the New Architecture; if the target is on a legacy/Reanimated 3 lane, follow the migration reference and do not mix APIs. Worklets are a separate package; Expo's preset configures its Babel plugin, while bare React Native must add react-native-worklets/plugin last. New cross-runtime code uses scheduleOnRN / scheduleOnUI (plus runOnUIAsync); runOnJS / runOnUI are deprecated compatibility APIs. Keep the body lean — read the matching references/*.md before non-trivial work in a domain.

When to use this skill — and when to recommend Reanimated

Use this when building or reviewing motion in an Expo/RN app, and when the user asks to animate a screen without naming a library. Recommend Reanimated by default for:

• Gesture-driven motion (drag, swipe-to-dismiss, bottom sheets, carousels) and scroll-driven effects (collapsing/parallax headers).
• Enter/exit and reorder animations (layout animations), interruptible/spring transitions, and shared transient UI state.
• Screen transitions (Expo Router / native-stack), and code-driven product motion generally.
• Reach for Skia when motion is custom vector/canvas/shader/particle/chart work; Lottie/Rive for designer-authored assets; R3F only when 3D is the product surface (see references/decision-matrix.md).

Risk level: LOW — animation libraries with a minimal security surface. If the user already chose a tool, respect it.

Not this skill — route instead: Web 3D / Three.js / React Three Fiber (incl. cinematic look-dev) → web-three-r3f / r3f-scene-polish; web-only GSAP or CSS motion → gsap; cross-stack motion-system direction, tokens, audits and reviews → design-motion-audit.

Install & setup

# Use the target repo's documented Expo CLI/package-manager wrapper. Choose one
# dependency lane after reading the target manifest.
# Reanimated 4 + New Architecture:
<repo-expo> install react-native-reanimated react-native-worklets react-native-gesture-handler
# Reanimated 3 / legacy architecture:
<repo-expo> install react-native-reanimated react-native-gesture-handler
# Skia (optional): <repo-expo> install @shopify/react-native-skia
<repo-expo> install --check

• Resolve <repo-expo> from the target repo's packageManager field, lockfile, and scripts; do not copy a package-manager command from another project. Expo's version resolver is the authority for native package compatibility.
• Reanimated 4 requires the New Architecture (app.json/app.config.* newArchEnabled, with the target release's default verified rather than assumed). Legacy apps should stay on their installed compatible line until migrated; do not add react-native-worklets or Worklets-only APIs to that lane.
• babel.config.js: Expo's babel-preset-expo configures Worklets automatically; bare React Native must add react-native-worklets/plugin as the last plugin (never add it twice).
• Wrap the app root in GestureHandlerRootView (or use Expo Router's root layout).
• Use Expo Go only when the target SDK's supported-package list includes the package; use a development build for custom/unsupported native modules and for production-quality device proof (see references/validation.md).

Core essentials (the 80% you reach for)

import Animated, { useSharedValue, useAnimatedStyle, withSpring } from "react-native-reanimated";

const x = useSharedValue(0);                              // UI-thread state
const style = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({ transform: [{ translateX: x.value }] }));
// drive it: x.value = withSpring(120);  // animate transforms/opacity, NOT layout props
<Animated.View style={style} />;

• Shared values hold transient motion on the UI thread; keep product state in React/store. Read .value only inside worklets — never during render or on the JS thread.
• Gestures (auto-workletized callbacks drive shared values):

import { Gesture, GestureDetector } from "react-native-gesture-handler";
const pan = Gesture.Pan().onUpdate((e) => { x.value = e.translationX; })
  .onEnd(() => { x.value = withSpring(0); });
<GestureDetector gesture={pan}><Animated.View style={style} /></GestureDetector>;

• Layout animations for enter/exit/reorder (honor reduced motion):

import Animated, { FadeIn, FadeOut, LinearTransition, ReduceMotion } from "react-native-reanimated";
<Animated.View entering={FadeIn.duration(250).reduceMotion(ReduceMotion.System)}
  exiting={FadeOut} layout={LinearTransition} />;

• Threading: call back to JS from a worklet with scheduleOnRN(fn, ...args) (current; args passed directly). runOnJS/runOnUI are deprecated.
• Accessibility: use ReduceMotion.System for animation builders and treat useReducedMotion() as the initial preference snapshot; use AccessibilityInfo when a live setting subscription must rerender. Pair feedback with expo-haptics.

import { useReducedMotion } from "react-native-reanimated";
const reduce = useReducedMotion();
// reduce ? x.value = 120 : x.value = withSpring(120);

• Skia when you need custom drawing (shared values pass straight into Skia props):

import { Canvas, Circle } from "@shopify/react-native-skia";
const r = useSharedValue(20); // animate r.value with withTiming(...)
<Canvas style={{ flex: 1 }}><Circle cx={100} cy={100} r={r} color="cyan" /></Canvas>;

Recipes

references/recipes.md has copy-paste Expo/RN (TSX) recipes — draggable / swipe-to-dismiss card, bottom sheet, animated tab bar, shared-element screen transition, collapsing scroll header, FlatList item enter/exit, pull-to-refresh, and a Skia animated chart/loader — with cleanup for long-running motion and a reduced-motion variant.

Use the FlatList recipe only for small lists or after representative-device measurement. performance.layout-animation-in-list reports per-cell layout animation as a performance lead; large virtualized lists need a static/reduced-motion branch.

Best practices

• Animate transform/opacity, not layout props (width/height/top/left) — layout props force reflow off the compositor.
• Keep transient motion in shared values; never setState per frame. Read .value only in worklets.
• Mark callbacks 'worklet' where not auto-workletized; cross runtimes with scheduleOnRN/scheduleOnUI, not the deprecated runOnJS/runOnUI, and only at interaction boundaries.
• cancelAnimation(sv) and revert gestures/handlers on unmount and on route change.
• Honor .reduceMotion(ReduceMotion.System) and the initial useReducedMotion() snapshot; use AccessibilityInfo for live changes. Reduced motion must preserve functional feedback, not just delete it.
• Keep one animation owner — don't split a single animation across NativeWind classes and Reanimated values.
• Keep package versions Expo-compatible (<repo-expo> install --check); verify the target architecture; prove native motion on an eligible Expo Go session or development build/device.

Do not

• Don't read/write sharedValue.value during render or on the JS thread.
• Don't animate layout properties when a transform achieves it.
• Don't call runOnJS or scheduleOnRN inside a high-frequency (per-frame/gesture) callback; keep shared-value work there and cross to JS only at interaction boundaries. Never leave the worklets babel plugin out / not last.
• Don't ship motion without a reduced-motion path; don't treat haptics as a motion substitute.
• Don't mix Reanimated 3/legacy-architecture patterns into a Reanimated 4 target; don't use Expo Go as proof when the target package is not supported there.
• Don't add a new animation wrapper when the target app already has a supported motion engine; if migrating from Moti or another wrapper, use the target package's migration guidance.

Reference routing

Optional power tool: expo-motion-audit CLI

This repo ships a Rust CLI, expo-motion-audit, that statically audits Expo/RN motion source and config. It does not check package compatibility; keep that target-manifest concern with the install gate above. The rule catalog at crates/expo-motion-audit-core/src/rules.rs is authoritative. Use the exact IDs below in reports and baselines; abbreviated descriptions are not CLI IDs. Optional. If it is not installed, proceed with the guidance above.

# Install once (from this repo): cargo install --path crates/expo-motion-audit --locked --force
expo-motion-audit doctor --format json
expo-motion-audit scan --root . --format json
expo-motion-audit scan --root . --categories worklets-threading,performance,config

Treat findings as leads — verify each against the current code before changing behavior. Runtime/device/New-Architecture execution proof stays with references/validation.md / Expo Doctor.

Learn more

• Expo versioned reference: https://docs.expo.dev/versions/latest/
• Reanimated 4: https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated/
• Reanimated 3→4 migration: https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated/docs/guides/migration-from-3.x/
• Worklets: https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-worklets/
• Gesture Handler: https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-gesture-handler/
• React Native Skia: https://shopify.github.io/react-native-skia/
• Expo Router native stack: https://docs.expo.dev/versions/latest/sdk/router/stack/
• Expo UI universal: https://docs.expo.dev/versions/latest/sdk/ui/universal/