What Claude Code Skills Do You Need for Mobile App Development?

Mar 24, 2026

Cowrie

Dev @ Bswen

Problem

I tried building a mobile app with Claude Code, and I kept running into the same problems. Claude would invent Expo configurations that didn’t exist. It suggested Supabase security patterns that left my data exposed. And when I tried to submit to the App Store, I discovered my metadata didn’t fit Apple’s character limits.

Here’s what my development cycle looked like:

Week 1: Claude generates Expo project
→ Config has wrong settings, I fix manually

Week 2: Claude builds screens
→ Styles inconsistent, I refactor everything

Week 3: Claude sets up Supabase
→ No row-level security, I add policies manually

Week 4: Ready for App Store
→ Metadata too long, screenshots wrong size
→ Back and forth with App Store Connect
→ Rejected twice for "missing privacy policy"

Every phase required me to double-check Claude’s work. The AI lacked domain knowledge about Expo conventions, Supabase security patterns, and App Store requirements. I was spending more time fixing hallucinations than building features.

Then I found a Reddit post titled “Top Claude Code Skills I used to Build Mobile App.” The author reported these skills made building “easier & faster without facing much code hallucination.” That was exactly my problem.

What I discovered

The Reddit post outlined six skills that extend Claude’s capabilities for mobile development:

1. vibecode-cli - Project initialization
2. expo-app-design - UI design decisions
3. supabase-mcp - Backend infrastructure
4. aso-skills - App Store metadata
5. app-store-preflight-skills - Pre-launch validation
6. App-Store-Connect-CLI - Submission workflow

I realized I had been using Claude as a generic coding assistant for a specialized domain. No wonder it kept hallucinating.

How I applied each skill

Phase 1: Project setup with vibecode-cli

Before using skills, my project initialization looked like this:

# What I did before
claude "Create an Expo project with TypeScript"

# Claude generated:
app.json with wrong SDK version
No .env file structure
Random folder organization
Missing React Navigation setup

After installing vibecode-cli:

# Install the skill
claude skill install vibecode-cli

# Initialize project
claude "Initialize an Expo project with TypeScript, React Navigation, and Supabase integration"

The skill generated:

app.json (Generated by vibecode-cli)

{
  "expo": {
    "name": "my-app",
    "slug": "my-app",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "orientation": "portrait",
    "scheme": "myapp",
    "sdkVersion": "52.0.0"
  }
}

Directory structure

src/
├── screens/
│   ├── HomeScreen.tsx
│   └── SettingsScreen.tsx
├── components/
│   └── Button.tsx
├── lib/
│   └── supabase.ts
├── navigation/
│   └── AppNavigator.tsx
└── types/
    └── index.ts

The difference: vibecode-cli knows Expo conventions. It doesn’t guess the SDK version or make up folder structures.

Phase 2: Design system with expo-app-design

My previous approach to styling was chaotic:

// What Claude generated before skills
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    padding: 15, // Inconsistent
    marginTop: 20, // Random values
    backgroundColor: '#fff' // No design system
  },
  text: {
    fontSize: 16, // No typography scale
    color: 'black' // Hardcoded colors
  }
});

After installing expo-app-design:

claude skill install expo-app-design
claude "Design a consistent spacing and typography system for my app"

The skill provided design decisions aligned with iOS Human Interface Guidelines:

// Generated design system
export const spacing = {
  xs: 4,
  sm: 8,
  md: 16,
  lg: 24,
  xl: 32
} as const;

export const typography = {
  heading: {
    fontSize: 28,
    fontWeight: '700' as const,
    lineHeight: 34
  },
  body: {
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '400' as const,
    lineHeight: 24
  },
  caption: {
    fontSize: 12,
    fontWeight: '400' as const,
    lineHeight: 16
  }
} as const;

No more guessing. Every component uses the same spacing scale and typography system.

Phase 3: Backend with supabase-mcp

This is where I had the most trouble before. Claude would suggest Supabase code without understanding security:

-- What Claude generated before (INSECURE)
create table profiles (
  id uuid primary key,
  username text,
  email text
);
-- No RLS policies!
-- Anyone can read/write all profiles

After installing supabase-mcp:

claude skill install supabase-mcp
claude "Set up a profiles table with proper security"

The skill generated secure by default:

-- Generated by supabase-mcp
create table profiles (
  id uuid references auth.users primary key,
  username text unique,
  avatar_url text,
  created_at timestamp with time zone default now()
);

-- Row Level Security (required by skill)
alter table profiles enable row level security;

-- Users can only see their own profile
create policy "Users can view own profile"
  on profiles for select
  using (auth.uid() = id);

-- Users can only update their own profile
create policy "Users can update own profile"
  on profiles for update
  using (auth.uid() = id);

The skill also handled authentication flows:

// Generated auth configuration
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
import * as SecureStore from 'expo-secure-store'

const supabase = createClient(
  process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL!,
  process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY!,
  {
    auth: {
      storage: {
        getItem: (key) => SecureStore.getItemAsync(key),
        setItem: (key, value) => SecureStore.setItemAsync(key, value),
        removeItem: (key) => SecureStore.deleteItemAsync(key),
      },
      autoRefreshToken: true,
      persistSession: true,
      detectSessionInUrl: false,
    },
  }
)

Phase 4: Metadata with aso-skills

My first App Store submission failed because of metadata issues:

# My manual metadata (REJECTED)
Title: "FocusTimer - Productivity App for Deep Work Sessions"
→ 58 characters (limit is 30)

Subtitle: "Track your focused work sessions and get detailed analytics"
→ 66 characters (limit is 30)

Keywords: "focus, timer, productivity, pomodoro, deep work, analytics, tracking, sessions, time management, goals"
→ 97 characters (limit is 100, but comma formatting wrong)

After installing aso-skills:

claude skill install aso-skills
claude "Generate App Store metadata for a focus timer app"

The skill generated compliant metadata:

{
  "title": "FocusTimer - Focus & Track",
  "subtitle": "Deep work sessions analytics",
  "keywords": "focus,timer,productivity,pomodoro,track",
  "short_description": "Track focused work sessions with detailed analytics."
}

Every field fits Apple’s limits. No guessing.

Phase 5: Validation with app-store-preflight-skills

Before this skill, I submitted builds and waited days for rejection:

# Rejections I received:
- Missing privacy policy URL
- Screenshots not matching actual app
- Missing required permissions explanation
- App crashed on iPad (I only tested on iPhone)

After installing app-store-preflight-skills:

claude skill install app-store-preflight-skills
claude "Run preflight validation before submission"

The skill ran a checklist:

## Pre-flight Validation Report

### Device Compatibility
- [x] iPhone tested
- [ ] iPad tested ← BLOCKING: App crashes on iPad
- [x] iOS 17.0 minimum set

### Permissions
- [x] Camera usage description present
- [x] Photo library usage description present
- [ ] Location usage description ← BLOCKING: Location permission requested but no description

### Privacy
- [ ] Privacy policy URL ← BLOCKING: Required for App Store

### Screenshots
- [ ] iPhone 6.7" screenshots ← BLOCKING: Required
- [ ] iPhone 6.5" screenshots ← BLOCKING: Required

### Blocking Issues Found: 4
Fix these before building for App Store.

I caught issues before building, not after rejection.

Phase 6: Submission with App-Store-Connect-CLI

My previous submission process was manual:

1. Open Xcode
2. Archive build
3. Wait 20 minutes
4. Upload to App Store Connect
5. Navigate web interface
6. Fill in metadata manually
7. Upload screenshots one by one
8. Submit for review
9. Wait for email about missing something
10. Repeat steps 6-9

After installing App-Store-Connect-CLI:

claude skill install App-Store-Connect-CLI

# Version management
claude "Increment version to 1.2.0 for new feature release"

# TestFlight distribution
claude "Upload build 1.2.0 (42) to TestFlight for internal testing"

# Metadata submission
claude "Submit app metadata for US App Store review"

The skill handled version numbers, build uploads, and metadata submission through CLI instead of web UI.

Why these skills work

After using all six skills for a complete app development cycle, I understood why they reduced hallucination:

1. Domain context injection

Skills provide Claude with specific knowledge about Expo conventions, Supabase security patterns, and App Store requirements. Instead of guessing, Claude follows established patterns.

# Without skill context:
Claude: "I think Expo uses this SDK version..." ← Guesswork

# With skill context:
Skill provides: Expo SDK 52.0.0 is current, app.json schema, folder conventions
Claude: "Based on Expo SDK 52 conventions..." ← Knowledge

2. Workflow continuity

Each skill handles a specific phase of development:

graph LR
    A[vibecode-cli] --> B[expo-app-design]
    B --> C[supabase-mcp]
    C --> D[aso-skills]
    D --> E[app-store-preflight-skills]
    E --> F[App-Store-Connect-CLI]

Instead of Claude trying to know everything about mobile development, each skill specializes in its domain.

3. Platform compliance encoding

Skills encode requirements that Claude wouldn’t know:

// aso-skills knows:
const APP_STORE_LIMITS = {
  title: 30,
  subtitle: 30,
  keywords: 100,
  shortDescription: 170
};

// app-store-preflight-skills knows:
const REQUIRED_SCREENSHOTS = [
  'iPhone 6.7"',
  'iPhone 6.5"'
];

Common mistakes I made

Mistake 1: Installing all skills at once

I tried installing everything before starting:

# Don't do this
claude skill install vibecode-cli expo-app-design supabase-mcp aso-skills app-store-preflight-skills App-Store-Connect-CLI
# Now I have 6 skills I don't understand

Better approach - install as needed:

# Week 1: Setup
claude skill install vibecode-cli

# Week 2: Design
claude skill install expo-app-design

# Week 3: Backend
claude skill install supabase-mcp

# Week 4: Launch prep
claude skill install aso-skills app-store-preflight-skills App-Store-Connect-CLI

Mistake 2: Skipping preflight validation

I thought I could skip the validation step and submit directly:

# What I tried
claude skill install App-Store-Connect-CLI
claude "Submit to App Store"
# Rejected: missing privacy policy, wrong screenshot sizes

The preflight skill catches these issues before you waste a submission:

# Correct flow
claude skill install app-store-preflight-skills
claude "Run preflight validation"
# Fix issues
claude skill install App-Store-Connect-CLI
claude "Submit to App Store"

Mistake 3: Ignoring the skill output

Skills provide explanations, not just code. I initially ignored these:

# Skill output I skipped:
"Note: RLS policies should be tested. Use Supabase dashboard to verify."

# What happened:
Production data leaked because RLS wasn't tested

Now I read everything skills generate:

-- Skill generated comment I now pay attention to:
-- IMPORTANT: This RLS policy only covers basic cases.
-- Consider adding:
-- - Admin role access
-- - Soft delete policies
-- - Audit logging triggers

Summary

In this post, I showed how six Claude Code skills—vibecode-cli, expo-app-design, supabase-mcp, aso-skills, app-store-preflight-skills, and App-Store-Connect-CLI—reduced code hallucination and streamlined my mobile app development workflow.

The key insight: Claude as a general coding assistant lacks mobile development domain knowledge. Skills inject this knowledge at specific phases, creating a complete pipeline from project initialization to App Store submission.

Install skills progressively as you advance through each development phase, not all at once. Each skill handles one domain well, and together they cover the entire mobile development lifecycle.

Final Words + More Resources

My intention with this article was to help others share my knowledge and experience. If you want to contact me, you can contact by email: Email me

Here are also the most important links from this article along with some further resources that will help you in this scope:

• 👨‍💻 Reddit: Top Claude Code Skills I used to Build Mobile App
• 👨‍💻 Claude Code Skills Documentation
• 👨‍💻 Expo Documentation
• 👨‍💻 Supabase MCP Server

Oh, and if you found these resources useful, don’t forget to support me by starring the repo on GitHub!

Comments

Tags:

• ai-coding
• mobile
• ai
• llm
• performance

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