appllama-skills: Research and Build Native-Quality Mobile Screens

Overview

Appllama Skills pair the Appllama design library and MCP with agent skills for building mobile apps in Expo and React Native. The library provides real screens, flows, and UI patterns from top-grossing apps, with revenue and download context; the skills guide agents to study those references and turn them into native-feeling screens.

The project is aimed at developers using Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or other compatible agents. Its central workflow is research followed by implementation and simulator review, rather than generating a screen from a prompt alone. The research skill uses the Appllama MCP, while the design skill can also be used without it.

Key Features

• appllama-usage explains how to use the Appllama MCP for app research, screen improvement, and flow or UI-element investigations.
• appllama-app-design-skill guides Expo and React Native screen implementation with Apple HIG fidelity, semantic colors, and native controls.
• Covers navigation decisions such as push versus replace, sheets, overlays, and flows where back navigation should not be available.
• Provides guidance on motion, including when to avoid animation, spring behavior, and keeping animation work off the JavaScript thread.
• Encourages generating image assets and reviewing complete flows in a simulator, including recording and frame-by-frame inspection.
• Skills can be installed together or individually through the skills CLI.

Use Cases

• A mobile developer starting a habit tracker or another app can research category leaders before designing its screens.
• A team improving an existing screen can provide an image, code, or Appllama screen reference and use the skills to guide redesign work.
• A product designer or developer planning onboarding can investigate how leading apps structure steps and paywall placement.
• A React Native team can review navigation and animation decisions while implementing a checkout or other multi-screen flow.

Getting Started

From your project root, install both skills with:

npx skills@latest add appllama/appllama-skills

Use --skill appllama-app-design-skill to install only the design skill. See the README for agent-specific options and Appllama MCP setup.

Considerations

The repository is new and has recent commits, but the measured history shows no releases in the past year and work concentrated in one contributor. No issues were closed or pull requests merged in the measured recent period, so there is little public evidence about ongoing maintenance or review throughput. The repository reports no CI or tests. The research skill depends on the Appllama MCP, which requires an Appllama account and Pro access according to the README; the design skill is usable without that connection. The code is MIT-licensed, but the README says the Appllama name, llama, and logo are trademarks and are not granted for use by that license.