Appduct for React Native

Call functions inside your running React Native app from a terminal, a test runner or an AI agent. Register tools in JavaScript with @appduct/react-native; only the tools you register are reachable.

Requirements

• React Native with the New Architecture. iOS requires 15.1 or newer.
• An Expo development build or a bare React Native app. Expo Go doesn't run Appduct's native module.
• The appduct CLI on your computer: npm install -g appduct (Node 20 or newer).

Getting started

Install the SDK and Zod 4:

npm install @appduct/react-native zod@^4

For an Expo app, set a URL scheme in app.json:

{
  "expo": {
    "scheme": "myapp"
  }
}

For bare React Native, complete the native link setup before connecting.

Import /auto once in your JS entry file to receive links and restore sessions:

import "@appduct/react-native/auto";

Register a tool in a component mounted near your app's root:

import { useAppductTool } from "@appduct/react-native";
import { z } from "zod";

export function AppductTools() {
  useAppductTool({
    name: "seed_cart",
    description: "Fill the cart with test items.",
    inputSchema: z.object({ items: z.number() }),
    outputSchema: z.object({ added: z.number() }),
    handler: async ({ items }) => ({ added: items }),
  });

  return null;
}

Mount <AppductTools /> in your existing app. Rebuild and run the Expo development client:

npx expo run:ios

For bare React Native, install pods on iOS and rebuild as usual. In another terminal, from your app's project root:

appduct sessions link --scheme myapp --open ios-sim
appduct tools ls
appduct tools call seed_cart --input '{"items":3}'

The tool returns {"added":3}. For Android, use npx expo run:android and record your installed build's id with appduct init --scheme myapp --android-app-id com.example.shop, then use --open android.

Things to know

• Mount the component that registers the tool. useAppductTool registers while mounted and calls the latest handler. Use registerTool outside React; see the API reference.
• Choose a schema form. Zod 4 works directly. Other validators may need a { schema, jsonSchema } pair; raw JSON Schema works without runtime validation. Inputs must accept an object. See Schemas.
• Give slow tools a timeout. Calls get 10 seconds unless registration declares timeoutMs. See Long-running tools.
• Reconnect after process death. /auto resumes sessions after Metro reloads and short network drops. Killing the app requires a new link. If you handle links yourself, call restoreSession(); see Manual link handling.
• Configure Metro for Web builds. Wrap your Metro config in withAppduct to use the same tools on Web; see Build variants.

Release builds

Appduct's native module is included in debug builds by default. When it is absent, registration is inert and connect() rejects with appduct_disabled. To include it in an internal release build or strip its JavaScript too, follow Build variants. Use the hook's { enabled } option to gate individual tools.

Pin an included build to your key before distributing it. Check a built app that should exclude Appduct:

appduct doctor build/Shop.ipa --assert-absent

Learn more

• React Native setup: Expo, bare apps and troubleshooting
• API reference: entry points, hooks, events and config
• Write tools: annotations, groups and cancellation
• Connect an agent over MCP
• Security: trust and key pinning
• React Native playground: a runnable example

Made with ❤️ at Callstack

appduct is an open source project and will always remain free to use. If you think it's cool, please star it 🌟. Callstack is a group of React and React Native geeks, contact us at [email protected] if you need any help with these or just want to say hi!

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