#CLI Init — Quick Setup

Set up React Native MCP in your project with a single command.

npx -y @ohah/react-native-mcp-server init

This replaces all manual steps (babel config, client config, gitignore) with one interactive wizard.

#How it works

#Steps in detail

#Step 1 — Project Detection

The init command reads your project directory and automatically detects:

If react-native is not found in package.json, the command exits with an error.

#Step 1.5 — External Tool Check

Automatically checks whether adb (Android) and idb (iOS, macOS only) are installed.

If a tool is missing, a warning with install instructions is shown, but setup continues. For detailed instructions see Install & connect — Native tools.

#Step 2 — MCP Client Selection

You are prompted to choose your MCP client. This determines where the config file is created.

The generated config contains:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "react-native-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ohah/react-native-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

If the file already exists, the react-native-mcp entry is merged in — existing settings are preserved.

#Step 3 — Apply Changes

The following are applied (after the tool check):

1. package.json — Adds @ohah/react-native-mcp-server to the app package’s devDependencies (skipped if already present), then runs the package manager install (skipped with --no-install).
2. babel.config.js — Appends @ohah/react-native-mcp-server/babel-preset to the presets array.
3. MCP client config — Created or merged as described above.
4. .gitignore — Appends /results/ (used by E2E test outputs).

Each step is idempotent: running init again skips already-applied changes.

#Step 4 — Next Steps

Based on your project type, the command shows what to do next:

• Expo: npx expo start
• Bare RN: REACT_NATIVE_MCP_ENABLED=true npx react-native start

#Options

# CI / automation
npx -y @ohah/react-native-mcp-server init --client cursor -y

# Specific client, still interactive for confirmations
npx -y @ohah/react-native-mcp-server init --client antigravity

#package.json and install

init adds @ohah/react-native-mcp-server to the app package’s devDependencies in package.json (skipped if already present), then runs the package manager install so dependencies are installed. Use --no-install to skip the install step.

• Single repo: Adds to the app root’s package.json, then runs install in the app root.
• Monorepo: Adds to the chosen app package’s package.json, then runs install from the monorepo root (updates the whole workspace).

Because init adds the dependency and runs install for you, in a monorepo you can just run init from the root — no need to add the package to package.json by hand.

# From repo root
npx -y @ohah/react-native-mcp-server init -y
# Or specify the app path
npx -y @ohah/react-native-mcp-server init -y --app apps/mobile

#Idempotent

Running init multiple times is safe: