Replicating Top-Tier iOS App Design with a Combination of Three Agent Skills
The author introduces an approach to replicating top-tier iOS app design using three Agent Skills: Appllama Skills provides design research and Expo/RN native-feel build standards, Expo Skills offers official best practices such as project structure, Router, animations, and EAS publishing, while Emil Kowalski Skills turns motion and interface taste into executable rules. The three respectively answer whom to learn from, how to do the engineering, and how to keep motion details from feeling cheap; the medium is skills.sh and Agent Skills, rather than the traditional reverse-engineering IPA toolchain. Appllama's MCP is billed under Pro, and the design skill can be installed separately; Expo Skills can be used in Claude Code and Codex via the official plugin, while other Agents use the skills CLI.
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The original article strings together three Agent Skills—divided by role into design research, engineering standards, and motion taste—into a single path for replicating top-tier iOS apps.
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View original postreverse engineer any ios app. app design → https://t.co/rhCq0WZIve best practices → https://t.co/BaQpMSbiAt animations → https://t.co/YZVV8SagDO https://t.co/OzB1WoaIu7
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reverse engineer any ios app. app design → https://t.co/rhCq0WZIve best practices → https://t.co/BaQpMSbiAt animations → https://t.co/YZVV8SagDO https://t.co/OzB1WoaIu7
Body · AI translation
Reverse engineer any top-tier iOS App design?
Reverse Engineer Anything has an iOS version? Oh, turns out it's three Agent Skills: first study design by comparing against leading apps, then build the project according to Expo's official best practices, and finally animate using motion/UI taste rules, to achieve a replica of top-tier iOS Apps.
1. Appllama Skills Design research + native-feel build standards Appllama is a design library of high-revenue mobile apps (real interfaces, flows, revenue/download context). The skill duo: appllama-usage teaches the agent how to act as a design director using the Appllama MCP; appllama-app-design-skill sets the build bar for Expo/RN: HIG, semantic colors, native controls, anti-slop, navigation (push/replace/sheet), whether motion should exist, spring tracking speed, animations not on the JS thread, and frame-by-frame sign-off on the entire flow in the simulator. The MCP (https://t.co/dSePCKjzuU) is billed under Pro; the design skill can be installed separately. https://t.co/c0OnKxrGxv
2. Expo Skills The official "how to do Expo right" Produced by the Expo team: the framework side covers project structure, Router, animation, native UI, design systems, data fetching, Web→Native, upgrades, etc.; the services side covers EAS submission, hosting, workflows, Update, cloud simulators, etc. (with paid boundaries clearly marked). Docs/CLI remain authoritative; the skills help agents avoid wrong turns. Claude Code / Codex can use the official plugin; other Agents use the skills CLI. There's also Expo MCP for installing dependencies, triggering builds, simulator screenshots, and other hands-on work. https://t.co/s9RgdS6Xiw
3. Emil Kowalski Skills Motion and interface taste The open-source author has a Vercel and Linear background; the core argument is that Agents lack taste (using the wrong ease-in for entrances, solid borders instead of semi-transparent shadows, etc.), and the skills turn common mistakes into executable rules. Includes: the master skill emil-design-eng, animate / animate-expo, strict review and improvement plans, finding opportunities for motion, performance, animation vocabulary, Apple design principles, Swift, choosing a UI library, multiple prototype versions, mobile "feels native" fixes, stress-testing UI with extreme data, the Sonner toast guide, etc. Its star count is far higher than the other two, leaning toward a general motion methodology spanning Web/mobile. https://t.co/LP5XimFPwx
How the three Skills work together Appllama answers "who to learn from and what it looks like"; Expo answers "how to do engineering and distribution the official way"; Emil answers "how to keep motion and details from feeling cheap." The shared carrier is skills.sh / Agent Skills, not a traditional "reverse-engineer the IPA" toolchain.