React Native — one codebase for iOS & Android

Why I use it

Sharing a codebase across two platforms is the obvious argument, but the one that matters more to me is that the whole team stays in one language and one mental model. The honest trade-off is that you inherit the native layer anyway: build config, permissions, and the occasional native module that has to be read rather than merely installed. Knowing where that line sits is most of the skill.

What I've built with it

• Cross-platform apps shipped to both the App Store and Play Store, from data model through to release
• Contributor to React Navigation — the swipeEnabled drawer option, and triage across 300+ issue threads
• 11 merged PRs to Callstack's React Native Paper, mostly component APIs I needed in my own apps
• Author of Root Native UI: 28 typed components shipping Material Design 3 on Expo and bare React Native
• Author of Inertia, a Reanimated 4 wrapper that turns animations into props
• The Stack Overflow questions I answer most are React Native ones — navigation, Expo builds and native module setup

Alongside

Rest of the stack

• ExpoBuild, OTA update & ship RN
• React.jsComponent-driven web UIs
• Node.jsAPIs, services & tooling
• TypeScriptStrict types across every layer
• Next.jsApp Router, SSR & static rendering
• GraphQLTyped APIs, one query per screen
• FirebaseAuth, Firestore & push
• SupabasePostgres, auth & storage
• ElectronDesktop for macOS, Windows & Linux
• DockerReproducible builds & environments