Making AI agents study profitable apps before writing mobile UI

What it does

Appllama Skills are a pair of instruction sets for AI agents. One skill, appllama-usage, teaches an agent how to query the Appllama design library—a collection of real screens and flows from top-grossing apps—to research patterns before writing code. The other, appllama-app-design-skill, sets a strict build standard for Expo and React Native: Apple HIG fidelity, semantic colors, native controls, and navigation rules like preventing back-navigation after a purchase. The README insists the loop only closes when the agent can scrub the flow frame-by-frame in a simulator.

The interesting bit

Most AI-generated mobile UI looks like a web page wearing native costume. These skills attempt to fix that by making the agent study actual revenue-earning apps first, then enforcing anti-slop discipline—springs that carry finger velocity, no animation on the JS thread, and generated image assets instead of placeholders. It is essentially a design director and a QA engineer compressed into Markdown files your agent reads.

Key highlights

• Research skill connects to an Appllama MCP server to pull real screens, flows, and revenue context from top-grossing apps
• Design skill mandates native-feeling Expo / React Native output with strict Apple HIG compliance
• Navigation rules are explicit: push versus replace, sheets versus overlays, and “one-way doors” where back must not exist
• Motion bar forbids JS-thread animation and requires springs that preserve the user’s finger velocity
• Full-motion simulator loop: agents must record whole flows and scrub them frame by frame, not just take screenshots

Caveats

• The Appllama MCP connector and its design library require a Pro subscription; credits reset monthly and every tool call spends one credit
• appllama-usage is built specifically around the Appllama MCP, so the research engine is unavailable without a paid account and active connector

Verdict

Worth a look if you are building React Native apps with Claude, Cursor, or Codex and tired of generic, slapped-together UI. Skip it if you are not using an agent that supports skill files or if your stack is not Expo / React Native.