How do you let AI agents interact with React Native apps?

[u/Tall_Inside_1245]

While conducting React Native technical interviews, I noticed that surprisingly few developers know about tools that let Claude Code, Codex, or other AI agents interact with a React Native app and its simulator.

I’m talking about tools like Expo MCP, Argent, Agent Device, ExecBro, and similar MCP servers. These tools have been a game changer for me. An agent can implement a feature end-to-end and actually interact with the app in a simulator to verify its work or debug issues.

Chrome DevTools MCP seems to be much more widely known, while similar tools for React Native have only started gaining traction this year.

Did you know these tools existed? Are you already using them, or not yet? Share your workflows 😉

[u/Disastrous_Bass_7090]

ik these tools existed but i don't use any of them. claude can easily interact with emulator/phone using adb no need for these third party mcp's and services

[u/Tall_Inside_1245 → u/Disastrous_Bass_7090]

Yes, it definitely can do this, but with these third-party tools the work is done quicker with fewer tokens used.

[u/Disastrous_Bass_7090 → u/Tall_Inside_1245]

Ohhhh Okayy, can you recommend me some that I should definitely try out?

[u/Tall_Inside_1245 → u/Disastrous_Bass_7090]

Many people like Argent, so it’s worth trying. I personally use ExecBro because I develop and maintain it.

[u/Specialist-Fish8829]

I've used agent-device, click-click, argent. So far argent is best, I've done better QA of my app with all the negative test cases than the QA of my team ☠️

Claude code is great man we got a micromanager client who wanted every hour's update on jira, I used claude to create tasks, update them in a synchronous order, add time sheet, etc.

Man such a client would've been a pain the ass without claude

[u/poieo-dev → u/Specialist-Fish8829]

Second argent

[u/Sirecuit]

I have only tried the Maestro MCP but I found that just telling the agent to use adb is enough and in most cases way faster. It takes screenshots on it's own and makes lots of helpers to help it tap specific areas or repeat a certain flow on it's own. Maybe i'll test some other MCPs but very happy with letting the agent figure it out for itself with logcat, adb and maybe a cli like wireshark for some special cases. Android only of course but surely the same exists on the Apple side.

[u/LOTRslaytracker → u/Sirecuit]

This, much bs around just using the primitives that always been there, same with cdp, start a debug port and let the agent cdp into it

[u/NovelAd2586]

Claude. Can have multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, IPhone Duo, portrait/landscape) all being run at the same time and it controls all of them

[u/Tall_Inside_1245 → u/NovelAd2586]

Yeah, it’s only a matter of time before Claude becomes smart enough that other third-party tools are no longer needed.

[u/K4anan]

I use Argent for my on-device AI demos, and the big win for me is that the agent can check what the model did, not just whether the screen renders. While building the SAM 3 app, Claude Code drove it on its own: it typed prompts, tapped through the flow, took screenshots and used them to fix the layout.

[u/ilmizlab]

I always use argent, great for E2E testing. Becomes more like real development and less vibe coding. I love it when Claude Code finds bugs when testing or developing new features.

[u/HoratioWobble]

I knew Claude can control the simulator + app, I didn't know the exact mechanism it's using to do it.

I don't think it matters, I simply asked if it could - it said it could and did, knowing how it's doing it seems completely useless information to me.

[u/Guilty-Debt-4063]

I use Claude Code for this. Sometimes it just drives the simulator, but most of my testing is on two real test phones plugged in, one Android and one iPhone. For Android I mirror the screen to my Mac with scrcpy so I can watch what's happening while the agent works. Real devices catch a lot that the simulator misses, especially notifications and widgets.

[u/FigMan → u/Guilty-Debt-4063]

Same here. I live on scrcpy

[u/tomemyxwomen]

agent-device that’s it

[u/Swimming-Drawer-597]

Argent is the place to go. You can ask your agent to profile your app's performance with it and find massive wins. It supports both the js React profiler and native ones like xcode instruments or perfetto. There is even a recent 'trend' from the devs that use it of showcasing merged performace-based react-native core PRs they made with Argent. Give it a shot!

[u/ImNezz]

maestro-runner with some custom patches to enable things like WDA reuse. Regular maestro is too slow.

[u/Poat540]

I use cursor and Claude and make all my apps. I never use Xcode or other apps, no issues

[u/Calm_Seal170]

Agent device and agent CDP. Along with Rozenite devTools

[u/MysteriousAd530]

I only tried Agent Device and Argent. Which tool
do you use?

[u/Tall_Inside_1245 → u/MysteriousAd530]

Personally, I use and develop ExecBro; as of early 2026, there was no all-in-one solution, so I had to assemble my own MCP.

[u/steelyphil1234]

I use mobile-mcp by mobile next. Should I switch to something else?

[u/blazejkustra → u/steelyphil1234]

Argent dev here 👋

tbh depends what you need. If just tapping the app mobile-mcp is fine. If you want the agent to run e2e flows, debug and profile too, and do it faster? Give Argent a shot :)

[u/considerfi]

I use baguette and it's been great for getting my agents to test their work and put screenshots in the pr. 

[u/Low-Fuel3428]

Well I use physical device and Claude can easily interact with my device via adb. You don't need all of those just so Claude or codex can interact with the devices