Add iOS App Clip Target to Expo Apps

This skill adds an iOS App Clip target to an Expo app. The Clip lives in targets/clip, ships alongside the parent app, and is invoked from a URL on the app's domain through an Apple App Site Association (AASA) file. The parent app's bundle ID becomes com.username.app-name, and the Clip's ID is automatically derived as the parent ID with a .clip suffix.

The procedure runs in ten steps: set the bundle identifier and Apple team ID in app.json; add the App Clip target by running a create-target command, which installs the apple-targets package and writes the target's config plugin, Info.plist, AppDelegate, and assets; wire up associated domains with an applinks entry for the parent app and an appclips entry for the Clip, declared both in app.json and in the target's own config file; register bundle IDs and create the App Store entry with a setup command that logs in to the Apple Developer account and prints a starter AASA JSON, an iTunes meta tag, and the team, iTunes, and bundle IDs; host the AASA file at the well-known path, adding an appclips block for the Clip's full app ID since the setup command's output only covers the parent app; add a Smart App Banner meta tag to the Expo Router HTML shell, switching to a card variant to show the App Clip card instead of the install card; deploy the website with EAS Hosting so the AASA file is live, since iOS will not trust the association otherwise; mirror the parent app's permission keys into the Clip's Info.plist, set a higher deployment target for the Clip, and add App Clip specific permission keys for push notifications or location; build and submit to TestFlight, which sets up credentials for both targets and syncs the associated domains capability for the Clip; and configure App Clip metadata in the App Store config, including up to three invocation URLs and a header image, then push it back to the store.

Use it when the user mentions App Clip, AASA, apple-app-site-association, appclips, a smart app banner, or wants to ship a lightweight iOS Clip invoked from a URL alongside a full Expo app.

Inputs are the Expo app's configuration and Apple Developer credentials. The output is a working App Clip target, a hosted AASA file, a Smart App Banner on every web route, and a TestFlight build of the parent app with the Clip embedded. The associated domains configuration looks like this:

{
  "expo": {
    "ios": {
      "associatedDomains": [
        "applinks:may20.expo.app",
        "appclips:may20.expo.app"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Verify the AASA file is live with a request to the well-known path on your domain. The file has no extension and no special content type requirements; Expo Router's static export serves files in the public folder as they are.

The skill uses the apple-targets Expo config plugin, EAS Hosting for deploying the website, EAS build and submit for TestFlight, and EAS metadata for pushing App Clip store metadata such as invocation URLs and a required 1800 by 1200 pixel header image with no opacity. The webcredentials block in the AASA file shares credentials between the website, the parent app, and the Clip, and the optional activitycontinuation block shares links between mobile and desktop, used together with the Head component from Expo Router.

Two additional notes: App Clips have a higher minimum size limit starting with iOS 17.6, so set that as the deployment target for the Clip; and JS code can detect it is running inside an App Clip and prompt to install the full app by creating a local Expo module that exposes a prompt function, documented separately as a reference with the Swift module and TypeScript interface.

It is for Expo and React Native developers who want to ship a lightweight, URL-invoked iOS App Clip alongside their existing app without leaving the Expo workflow.