Rapid React Native

Laborde describes how mobile development once meant separate iOS and Android work, long compile waits, and costly platform expertise. He says React Native offered web developers a way to build for mobile across platforms, but earlier approaches such as RubyMotion did not support Android well enough for his team.

Laborde says JavaScript’s many competing opinions can make it hard for newcomers to choose tools and practices. Infinite Red created Ignite as a React Native starter with conventions, plugins, documentation, and support for Android, iOS, and Windows.

Laborde uses Ignite to recreate Textables, an ASCII art app with more than 26,000 downloads that sells for a dollar. He generates a screen and grid, connects the app to existing data, and adds a text input and clipboard action. The live demo includes a few debugging detours, illustrating the hands-on workflow.

Laborde explains that teams can change Ignite templates for a project, fork them, or create plugins, so they do not have to keep the starter’s defaults. He also shows Reactotron displaying app actions, state, and API responses without remote JavaScript debugging, and describes snapshots for moving between states.

Laborde says Ignite’s plugin system can work with other boilerplates, including one built around NativeBase. He cites a community of more than 1,200 people, over 6,000 GitHub stars, and the Chain React conference app as examples of adoption. He asks users to share what they build so the team can learn how Ignite is used.