Root Native: why I started it, and what UI and Inertia actually fix
The thinking behind the Root Native organisation, the specific problems Root Native UI and Inertia solve, and how they differ from what already exists.
Currently designing & building apps
Web + mobile developer, 9 yrs
Rajendran Nadar
React & React Native developer in Mumbai — building fast, accessible web & mobile apps with Next.js and Node.js.
I design & build fast apps for web & mobile.
React.js on the web, React Native for iOS & Android, Node.js underneath. Nine years shipping accessible products for startups and remote teams — and giving back through open source.
$ whoami
rajendran — web & mobile developer
const stack = {
web: ['React.js', 'Next.js'],
mobile: ['React Native', 'Expo'],
backend: ['Node.js', 'GraphQL', 'Hasura'],
data: ['Firebase', 'Neo4j', 'Supabase'],
design: ['Figma', 'UI/UX'],
devops: ['Docker', 'CI/CD'],
status: 'building & shipping',
}
$
About
Nice to meet you
I'm a web & mobile application developer with nine years of experience building products for startups and remote teams.
Most of that time has gone into React and React Native, and most of the work that matters is the part nobody sees: the data model, the offline case, the list that still has to scroll smoothly on a four-year-old Android phone. I like owning a problem end-to-end — from the schema to the last pixel — which is how I ended up doing the design too.
Between 2020 and 2023 I shipped and rebuilt a run of React Native apps: a dating app with in-feed audio, video and games; a golf app with groups, RSVP events and calendar availability; a freight and route app with bidding, eKYC and a wallet; a food ordering app that booked tables over Bluetooth beacons; and a peer-to-peer training simulator for first responders, running over WebSockets.
Web
Fast, accessible React.js & Next.js apps.
Mobile
React Native + Expo — iOS & Android from one codebase.
Backend
Node.js, GraphQL & REST — the services behind the screens.
Design
UI/UX in Figma — wireframe to shipped interface.
Desktop
Electron apps for macOS, Windows & Linux.
Open source
React Navigation member, Callstack Paper contributor, Root Native author.
LocationMumbai, India
Experience9+ years
FocusReact · React Native
Open sourceReact Navigation
Stack Overflow5.4k rep
Stack
One system, many surfaces — React, React Native & Node.js
All tools →The tools I reach for, and how they connect — React on top, Node and a small graph of data tools underneath.
Architecture
How I usually wire an app — a React / Next.js front end talking to the server through GraphQL and API routes, then Hasura Cloud serving instant GraphQL over Postgres, with Firebase and Auth.js handling data and auth.
Next.js · Reactclient + SSR
Firebase · Auth.jsauth & authorization
GraphQL / API routestalk to the server
Hasura CloudPostgres
Open source
Building in the open — React Native open source
All projects →I like giving back to the tools I use every day — features, fixes and docs merged into some of the most widely used libraries in the React Native ecosystem, a few projects of my own, and a lot of time spent helping other developers get unstuck.
Organisations
Projects & contributions
react-navigationContributor
Routing and navigation for React Native and web apps.
300+ issue reports sorted
react-native-paperContributor
Material Design components for React Native (Android & iOS).
120+ issue reports sorted · 11 PRs merged
react-multi-carouselContributor
A lightweight, production-ready carousel with multi-item and SSR support — no dependencies, 2kb.
Tooling & lint overhaul
uiAuthor
A component library for React Native & Expo that works with any design system — Material Design 3 out of the box.
28 components · MIT
inertiaAuthor
Declarative animation primitives for React Native — animations are props, not boilerplate.
Published on npm · 5 primitives
Work out a resistor's value from its colour bands, without the effort.
Live tool, free to use
Helping developers on Stack Overflow
5.4kreputation140+answers●4●37●56badges
Answering React and React Native questions is where a lot of my problem-solving ends up — usually the awkward ones about navigation, Expo builds and native module setup that don't have a neat doc page.
View my Stack Overflow profileWriting
Notes on what I build and what I learn
All posts →Specific problems worth writing down — what happened, why it happened, and what the answer turned out to be.
How I ended up a React Native developer
I saw where cross-platform mobile was going and moved towards it. Between 2020 and 2023 I shipped and refactored more apps than I can count — a dating app with no swiping, a golf app, a freight app, a P2P training simulator for first responders. Here is what that run taught me.
Helping clean up the React Native docs
In 2019 Meta opened an umbrella issue to rewrite the React Native documentation. I picked up four of the API pages. The most-used component in the framework had shipped its accessibility props without documenting them.
Experience
Where I've been — nine years of web & mobile development
Most recent first
Feb 2017 — Present
Web & Mobile App Engineer
Freelance · Self-employed · Mumbai (Remote)
Architected, developed and deployed full-stack web and cross-platform mobile applications for diverse clients — highly responsive, accessible UI/UX with React.js and React Native, backed by GraphQL, Node.js and REST APIs on PHP or Python. End-to-end ownership, from client requirements through production deployment and maintenance.
Jun 2023 — Jul 2026
Senior Software Engineer
RUDRA · Full-time · Mumbai (On-site)
Worked on-site on UI/UX for applications, and made them more secure & safe to use.
May 2019 — Jan 2020
Freelance Web Developer
Agnostech Innovations · Mumbai
Worked with the Agnostech Innovations team as a freelancer & developed a few intense web application projects powered by React.js & GraphQL.
Jun 2019 — Jul 2019
Freelance Web Developer
Immovable Property And Safety Agency Pvt. Ltd. · Thane
Developed & designed a webpage that is fast & optimised for all screen sizes, and search-engine optimised to rank better.