Component

UI Component Patterns

New Architecture (Fabric) only. RN 0.76+.

CRITICAL — Rendering Safety

Never && with potentially falsy values

// ❌ Renders "0" as text node → crashes or visual bug
{count && <Badge count={count} />}
{items.length && <List items={items} />}

// ✅ Ternary with null, or explicit boolean
{count > 0 ? <Badge count={count} /> : null}
{!!items.length && <List items={items} />}
{Boolean(count) && <Badge count={count} />}

All strings must be inside <Text>

// ❌ Crashes — string outside Text in New Architecture
<View>Hello world</View>
<View>{user.name}</View>

// ✅
<View><Text>Hello world</Text></View>
<View><Text>{user.name}</Text></View>

Use Pressable — never TouchableOpacity/TouchableHighlight

// ❌ Legacy, deprecated
<TouchableOpacity onPress={onPress}>
<TouchableHighlight onPress={onPress}>

// ✅ Pressable — composable, New Architecture native
<Pressable
  onPress={onPress}
  style={({ pressed }) => [styles.button, pressed && styles.pressed]}
>

For animated press states with Reanimated — see animations skill (GestureDetector + Gesture.Tap()).

---

Component Template

import { forwardRef } from 'react'
import { Pressable, StyleSheet, type PressableProps } from 'react-native'

type MyButtonProps = Omit<PressableProps, 'style'> & {
  variant?: 'primary' | 'secondary' | 'ghost'
  size?: 'sm' | 'md' | 'lg'
  style?: PressableProps['style']
}

const MyButton = forwardRef<View, MyButtonProps>(
  ({ variant = 'primary', size = 'md', style, children, ...props }, ref) => {
    return (
      <Pressable
        ref={ref}
        style={({ pressed }) => [
          styles.base,
          styles[variant],
          styles[size],
          pressed && styles.pressed,
          typeof style === 'function' ? style({ pressed }) : style,
        ]}
        accessibilityRole="button"
        {...props}
      >
        {children}
      </Pressable>
    )
  },
)

MyButton.displayName = 'MyButton'

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  base: { alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center', borderRadius: 8, borderCurve: 'continuous' },
  primary: { backgroundColor: '#000' },
  secondary: { backgroundColor: '#f0f0f0' },
  ghost: { backgroundColor: 'transparent' },
  sm: { paddingVertical: 6, paddingHorizontal: 12, minHeight: 32 },
  md: { paddingVertical: 10, paddingHorizontal: 16, minHeight: 44 },
  lg: { paddingVertical: 14, paddingHorizontal: 20, minHeight: 52 },
  pressed: { opacity: 0.7 },
})

export { MyButton }
export type { MyButtonProps }

---

Prop Design

// ✅ Accept color as prop — never hardcode
type ChipProps = {
  color?: string          // default to a semantic value, never '#ff0000'
  backgroundColor?: string
}

// ✅ Accept size as prop — never hardcode dimensions
type AvatarProps = {
  size?: number           // default 48
}

// ✅ Extend native props — consumers can pass testID, onLayout, etc.
type CardProps = ViewProps & {
  variant?: 'elevated' | 'outlined' | 'filled'
}

// ✅ Spread rest props always
const Card = forwardRef<View, CardProps>(({ variant = 'elevated', style, ...props }, ref) => (
  <View ref={ref} style={[styles[variant], style]} {...props} />
))

---

Compound Components

Prefer compound components over boolean prop explosion.

// ❌ Boolean prop explosion
<Button icon={<Icon />} iconPosition="left" hasSpinner isLoading label="Save" />

// ✅ Compound — explicit, composable
<Button onPress={save}>
  <ButtonIcon><SaveIcon /></ButtonIcon>
  <ButtonText>Save</ButtonText>
  <ButtonSpinner visible={isLoading} />
</Button>

Implementation:

type ButtonContextValue = { disabled: boolean }
const ButtonContext = createContext<ButtonContextValue>({ disabled: false })

const Button = ({ disabled = false, children, ...props }: ButtonProps) => (
  <ButtonContext.Provider value={{ disabled }}>
    <Pressable disabled={disabled} {...props}>{children}</Pressable>
  </ButtonContext.Provider>
)

const ButtonText = ({ style, ...props }: TextProps) => {
  const { disabled } = use(ButtonContext)
  return <Text style={[styles.text, disabled && styles.textDisabled, style]} {...props} />
}

const ButtonIcon = ({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) => (
  <View style={styles.icon}>{children}</View>
)

Button.Text = ButtonText
Button.Icon = ButtonIcon

---

Styling

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  // ✅ borderCurve: 'continuous' — smooth iOS squircle corners
  card: { borderRadius: 12, borderCurve: 'continuous' },

  // ✅ gap for sibling spacing, padding for internal
  row: { flexDirection: 'row', gap: 8 },
  card2: { padding: 16 },

  // ✅ Platform shadows
  shadow: Platform.select({
    ios: { shadowColor: '#000', shadowOffset: { width: 0, height: 2 }, shadowOpacity: 0.08, shadowRadius: 8 },
    android: { elevation: 3 },
    default: {},
  }),
})

---

Images

// ❌ React Native Image — no blurhash, no priority, no caching control
import { Image } from 'react-native'

// ✅ expo-image — progressive loading, blurhash, CDN caching, priority
import { Image } from 'expo-image'

<Image
  source={{ uri: imageUri }}
  placeholder={{ blurhash }}
  contentFit="cover"
  priority="high"
  style={styles.image}
/>

Add to peer deps if library uses images:

"expo-image": ">=2.0.0"

---

Accessibility Checklist

• accessibilityRole on every interactive element (button, image, header, etc.)
• accessibilityLabel on icon-only buttons and images
• accessibilityState={{ disabled, selected, checked }} when state changes
• accessibilityHint for non-obvious interactions
• Minimum touch target 44×44pt (minHeight: 44, minWidth: 44)
• importantForAccessibility="no" on decorative elements

---

collapsable={false} for Native Component Children

Fabric may flatten layout-only views. If a component is a child of a native view that expects a specific child count, add:

// Prevents Fabric from removing this view as a layout optimization
<View collapsable={false} style={styles.wrapper}>
  {children}
</View>

Use sparingly — only when native code explicitly references this view.

---

Export Rules

// src/index.ts — export component + all types
export { Button, ButtonText, ButtonIcon } from './components/Button'
export type { ButtonProps } from './components/Button'

• displayName required on every forwardRef and memo component
• Spread ...props so consumers can pass testID, onLayout, style
• No hardcoded colors, dimensions, or font sizes — always accept as props