---
title: "expo-router skill: navigation, tabs and modals in Expo apps"
canonical_url: https://cookiesforai.app/skills/expo/expo-router
last_updated: 2026-10-02T01:58:30+02:00
type: skill
summary: "expo-router is the Expo team's agent skill for navigation in Expo apps: file-based routes, native stacks and tabs, links with previews and context menus, modals, form sheets, headers and search bars."
install: "npx skills add expo/skills --skill expo-router"
related:
  - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/expo/eas-app-stores"
---

# Expo Router

expo-router is the Expo team's agent skill for navigation in Expo apps: file-based routes, native stacks and tabs, links with previews and context menus, modals, form sheets, headers and search bars.

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Expo (official, own GitHub account) |
| Source | https://github.com/expo/skills/tree/HEAD/plugins/expo/skills/expo-router |
| License | MIT |
| Repository stars | 2,649 on 2026-10-02 |
| Skill name | expo-router |
| Version | 1.0.1 (from its SKILL.md, https://github.com/expo/skills/blob/HEAD/plugins/expo/skills/expo-router/SKILL.md, read 2026-10-02) |
| Category | Mobile |
| Skill last changed | 2026-09-08 |
| Page updated | 2026-10-02 |
| Facts checked | 2026-10-02 |

## Install

Install the skill with the skills CLI:

```
npx skills add expo/skills --skill expo-router
```

Or, in Claude Code, install Expo's plugin from the official marketplace:

```
claude plugin install expo@claude-plugins-official
```

Or, in Codex, install Expo's plugin from the OpenAI-curated marketplace:

```
codex plugin add expo@openai-curated
```

The Expo plugins for Claude Code and Codex include every Expo skill and wire up the Expo MCP server, and update through their marketplaces.

## Ask your coding agent

A skill can include scripts that run on your computer, so read its source first: https://github.com/expo/skills/tree/HEAD/plugins/expo/skills/expo-router

```text
Install the agent skill expo-router from github.com/expo/skills.
```

## What it does

Expo Router is one of the official Expo skills and sits in the free, open-source Framework group of the repository. It teaches an agent how navigation is built with Expo Router: routes live in the app folder as files, groups and dynamic segments organize them, and every app needs a route that matches the root path. Components, types and utilities are kept out of the app folder.

The skill favors native iOS behavior. Stacks are defined in _layout files using the native Stack, page titles are set with Stack.Title, and links get previews and long-press context menus where possible. It covers modals, form sheets, native tabs, toolbar buttons and header search bars, with reference files for tabs, headers, form sheets, search and Apple zoom transitions on iOS 18 and later.

Small conventions are fixed too: kebab-case file names, path aliases instead of deep relative imports, old route files removed when navigation moves, and, from SDK 56, imports from expo-router/react-navigation instead of the React Navigation packages directly. Styling and motion are left to the companion expo-native-ui and expo-animation skills.

## When to use it

- You are setting up tabs, stacks and modals in a new Expo app.
- You want navigation that feels native on iOS, with link previews and context menus.
- Your agent mixes React Navigation imports into an Expo Router project.
- You need a form sheet or a header search bar and want the current Expo Router API.

## When to pick something else

- Screen styling, colors and visual effects: Expo points to its expo-native-ui skill.
- Bare React Native apps without Expo Router.

## Which agents it works in

Expo documents it for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Cline, Any agent that reads SKILL.md files, through the skills CLI. The open skills CLI also installs it into 78 agents (listed with the CLI on 2026-10-01).

## License

MIT.

## Related

### Related skills for mobile

- [EAS app stores](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/expo/eas-app-stores): eas-app-stores is the Expo team's agent skill for shipping mobile apps with EAS: build profiles, signing, version numbers, TestFlight and submissions to the App Store and Google Play.