Expo Web in 2025: How AI-Powered Tools Are Supercharging Development
From code refactoring to instant SEO, AI is transforming Expo Web workflows, here’s how I slashed dev time on a real project.
A few years ago, GitHub Copilot felt like a revelation, churning out types and functions while I sipped coffee. But in 2025, AI’s role in development has leveled up, especially with Expo Web. In a world where AI is rewriting how we code, Expo Web’s simplicity makes it the perfect playground. Recently, I converted a chunky Expo side project into a web app in just six weeks, half the time I’d budgeted. The secret? Swapping VSCode for Cursor and leaning hard into its Claude-powered AI. Here’s how AI supercharged my Expo Web experience, with real examples and a few lessons learned.
Cursor vs. VSCode, Why I Switched
Cursor, a VSCode fork, made the leap painless. It auto-imported my plugins, mirrored the interface, and threw in a smarter AI for $20/month (vs. Copilot’s $10 Pro tier). Was the extra $10 worth it? Night-and-day difference. Copilot was a helpful assistant, but Cursor’s Claude integration felt like a co-founder. Let’s dive into what it did for my Expo Web project.
Refactoring Made Ridiculous
I use Tamagui for UI, and my <TamaguiTextArea> was a mess, stuffed with inline styles begging to be a styled component. I asked Claude to refactor it.
Before:
<TamaguiTextArea
value={value}
h={height}
placeholder={placeholder}
onChangeText={onChangeText}
onBlur={onBlur}
maxLength={maxLength}
fontFamily="$body"
backgroundColor="$frameBackground"
borderWidth={0}
px={10}
py={0}
verticalAlign="top"
focusStyle={{ outlineColor: "transparent", outlineWidth: 0 }}
/>After:
const StyledTextArea = styled(TamaguiTextArea, {
name: "StyledTextArea",
fontFamily: "$body",
backgroundColor: "$frameBackground",
borderWidth: 0,
px: 10,
py: 0,
verticalAlign: "top",
focusStyle: { outlineColor: "transparent", outlineWidth: 0 },
});Sure, I could’ve done this myself, but saving five minutes here and there adds up. Plus, Claude nailed Tamagui’s styled-component syntax, a win for Expo Web, where not every React Native library plays this nice.
Fixing Expo Web’s Experimental Edges
I flipped on Expo Web’s experimental tree-shaking feature. Everything worked, except my Clerk login screen, which slid half-off the page. I pointed this out to Claude, expecting a quick CSS fix. Instead, it jumped to my app folder and dropped a +html.tsx file:
import { type PropsWithChildren } from "react";
export default function Root({ children }: PropsWithChildren) {
return (
<html lang="en" style={{ height: "100%", margin: 0, padding: 0 }}>
<head>
<meta charSet="utf-8" />
<meta httpEquiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover" />
<style dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{
__html: `
html, body, #root { height: 100% !important; margin: 0; padding: 0; overflow: hidden; }
* { box-sizing: border-box; }
`,
}} />
</head>
<body>
<div id="root" style={{ height: "100%", display: "flex", flexDirection: "column" }}>
{children}
</div>
</body>
</html>
);
}This fixed it instantly in production. I didn’t even know Expo Router supported custom HTML files like this! Without Claude, I’d burn an hour debugging a feature so new it barely has forum threads. AI didn’t just solve it, it taught me something.
Pro Tip: Don’t sleep on Expo Router’s +html.tsx, it’s a hidden gem for taming web quirks fast.
Platform-Specific Smarts
My home screen had a <Frame> component with slight layout tweaks for web and mobile. Laziness struck, so I split them into two files. Days later, I regretted it and asked Claude to unify them.
Unified Component:
import { ClipboardList, Timer } from "@tamagui/lucide-icons";
import { router } from "expo-router";
import React from "react";
import { Circle, Heading, XStack } from "tamagui";
import { Frame } from "../shared/Frame";
import { Paragraph } from "../shared/Paragraph";
type TaskFrameProps = { type: "todo" | "progress"; taskCount?: number };
const TaskFrame = ({ type, taskCount }: TaskFrameProps) => (
<Frame
f={1}
gap={0}
br={20}
py={15}
px={20}
width={"50%"}
$platform-native={{ gap: "$5", paddingHorizontal: 15 }}
pressable
onPress={() => router.push(`/board?column=${type}`)}
>
<XStack f={1} gap="$2">
<Paragraph f={1} secondary>
{type === "todo" ? "To-Do" : "In Progress"} Tasks
</Paragraph>
<Circle backgroundColor={type === "todo" ? "$toDoColor" : "$progressColor"} size={40}>
{type === "todo" ? <ClipboardList size={25} color="white" /> : <Timer size={25} color="white" />}
</Circle>
</XStack>
<XStack gap="$2" alignItems="flex-end">
<Heading size="$10" lineHeight={45}>{taskCount ?? 0}</Heading>
<Paragraph mb={4} size="$6" lineHeight={20} $platform-native={{ marginBottom: 7 }} fontWeight="700">
Tasks
</Paragraph>
</XStack>
</Frame>
);
export default TaskFrame;Using $platform-native for mobile tweaks was genius. Cleaner code, less duplication, Claude turned my sloppiness into elegance.
SEO in Seconds
Mid-project, I realized my web app’s SEO was nonexistent. I asked Claude to optimize it. It revisited the +html.tsx file and added:
import { type PropsWithChildren } from "react";
export default function Root({ children }: PropsWithChildren) {
const title = "Bankan - Project Management Made Simple";
const description = "Streamline your project management with Bankan. Organize tasks, collaborate, and track progress efficiently.";
return (
<html lang="en" style={{ height: "100%", margin: 0, padding: 0 }}>
<head>
<title>{title}</title>
<meta charSet="utf-8" />
<meta httpEquiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover" />
<meta name="description" content={description} />
<meta name="theme-color" content="#296d9b" />
<meta property="og:title" content={title} />
<meta property="og:description" content={description} />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />
<meta property="og:image" content="/og-image.png" />
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
<meta name="twitter:title" content={title} />
<meta name="twitter:description" content={description} />
<meta name="twitter:image" content="/og-image.png" />
<link rel="canonical" href="https://bankan.tech" />
<link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.json" />
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
<style dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{
__html: `
html, body, #root { height: 100% !important; margin: 0; padding: 0; overflow: hidden; }
* { box-sizing: border-box; }
`,
}} />
</head>
<body>
<div id="root" style={{ height: "100%", display: "flex", flexDirection: "column" }}>
{children}
</div>
</body>
</html>
);
}Researching Expo Router SEO would’ve taken at least an hour. Claude did it in 20 seconds. My app’s now search-engine ready, no sweat.
Conclusion: Expo Web + AI = Dev Nirvana
Pair Cursor’s AI with Expo’s ecosystem, and you’ve got a cheat code for cross-platform apps. My project’s proof: a complex web conversion, done fast, with cleaner code and zero rabbit holes. In 2025, AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a partner. Try it yourself, your next Expo Web app might finish itself.
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