React Native Offline First Starter Pack: The Essential Toolkit

#reactnative #mobile #mentorship #learning

Introduction
Building a robust, production-ready mobile app these days requires more than just React Native. It requires a curated ecosystem of libraries that cover state management, API synchronization, secure storage, user interface (UI), and especially offline capabilities.

We don't want our system to crash when we don't have internet, do we? Hahaha

This guide introduces the React Native Fullstack Starter Pack.

A curated list of dependencies that provides all the components needed to launch a real app, complete with secure authentication, global state, API integration, and a beautiful user interface.

Why "Fullstack" Mobile?
This term applies because this setup offers everything you need to manage the entire mobile app lifecycle: from the user interface (frontend) to communication with any backend (Node.js, NestJS, Firebase, etc.).

📦 The Core Toolkit: Dependencies at a Glance

react-native-async-storage/async-storage → storing simple data (e.g., token).
@react-navigation/native + @react-navigation/native-stack → navigation between screens.
@tanstack/react-query → caching + API synchronization (much better than just axios).
axios → HTTP client.
jwt-decode → reading data from the JWT token.
react-hook-form + yup → forms with validation.
zustand → simple and lightweight global state.
styled-components → styling with CSS-in-JS.
react-native-paper → ready-made UI library (inputs, buttons, cards). - react-native-reanimated + react-native-gesture-handler → native animations and gestures.
react-native-safe-area-context + react-native-screens → safe browsing support.
react-native-vector-icons → icons.
realm → local database, useful for offline apps.

🏗️ Why is this a Fullstack starter pack?

This set covers the entire lifecycle of a real mobile app:

UI/Frontend → react-navigation, react-native-paper, styled-components
State Management → zustand
API Communication (backend) → axios + react-query
Secure Authentication → async-storage + keychain + jwt-decode
Offline First → realm (local database)
Forms and Validation → react-hook-form + yup

📂 Initial File Structure

src/
 ├── api/
 │   └── client.ts        # axios 
 ├── screens/
 │   ├── LoginScreen.tsx  # login screen
 │   └── HomeScreen.tsx   # inital screen
 ├── store/
 │   └── authStore.ts     # zustand for login/logout
 └── services/
     └── auth.ts          # auth functions

⚡ Code Skeleton (`App.tsx`)

Here's an example of a starter app with
✅ Fake Login ✅ Navigation ✅ Global State ✅ Authentication

// App.tsx
import React from "react";
import { NavigationContainer } from "@react-navigation/native";
import { createNativeStackNavigator } from "@react-navigation/native-stack";
import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
import { SafeAreaProvider } from "react-native-safe-area-context";
import LoginScreen from "./src/screens/LoginScreen";
import HomeScreen from "./src/screens/HomeScreen";
import useAuthStore from "./src/store/authStore";

const Stack = createNativeStackNavigator();
const queryClient = new QueryClient();

export default function App() {
  const { user } = useAuthStore();

  return (
    <SafeAreaProvider>
      <QueryClientProvider client={queryClient}>
        <NavigationContainer>
          <Stack.Navigator>
            {user ? (
              <Stack.Screen name="Home" component={HomeScreen} />
            ) : (
              <Stack.Screen name="Login" component={LoginScreen} />
            )}
          </Stack.Navigator>
        </NavigationContainer>
      </QueryClientProvider>
    </SafeAreaProvider>
  );
}

In other words:

👉 You already have everything you need to create an app with login, backend integration, caching, global state, a ready-made UI, and a local database.

This is why it is considered a start pack for any fullstack React Native application.

You have all the pieces from beautiful UI to secure offline data—ready to connect to any backend (Node, Nest, Firebase, etc.).

Happy coding!