How does Atlas prevent accidental edits in my Expo project during planning?

Atlas's plan agent disallows all edit tools and restricts write permissions to only `.atlas/plans/*.md`, ensuring your `app/` directory, `app.json`, and `app.config.ts` remain untouched until the plan is approved.

Can Atlas help me understand my `expo-router` routes before I make changes?

Yes, Atlas's `codebase_search` and `lsp` tools can index and query your `expo-router` file routes, `app.json`, and `app.config.ts` to provide a comprehensive understanding during the planning phase without modifying anything.

What Expo-specific tools does Atlas integrate with for planning?

While planning, Atlas uses its core research tools (`codebase_search`, `grep`, `read`, `lsp`) to understand your Expo project's structure, including `config plugins` and `eas.json` build profiles, before any implementation begins.

How do I get my multi-file Expo change plan reviewed?

You document your plan in a markdown file within `.atlas/plans/`. This file is the output of the plan agent and can be shared for review before you use `plan_exit` to switch to the build agent and start implementing.

What happens if I decide not to implement the plan after drafting it in Atlas?

If you answer 'No' to the `plan_exit` prompt, Atlas raises a `Question.RejectedError` and keeps you in the plan agent, allowing you to refine or discard the plan without ever modifying your Expo codebase.

Does Atlas use local embeddings for my Expo code?

Yes, Atlas can build its code index with local Ollama embeddings, ensuring your Expo project's code stays off third-party servers and maintains privacy throughout the planning and implementation phases.

Plan a Multi-File Change in Expo with Atlas in 2026

Atlas empowers Expo developers in 2026 to design multi-file changes and secure review before any code modification, by leveraging its dedicated plan agent, which integrates with `jest-expo` for testing and `prettier` for formatting, ensuring a safe and reproducible workflow within your terminal.

How Atlas Plans Multi-File Changes in Expo Apps

In 2026, Atlas's dedicated plan agent provides a secure environment for designing multi-file changes in Expo projects, ensuring zero accidental edits to your codebase. This agent operates with a strict permission set, allowing research and plan documentation while disallowing any modification to your actual `app/` directory or configuration files.

Atlas initiates a planning session by activating its specialized plan agent. This agent is designed with a critical security feature: its permissions deny all edit tools for every path except a designated markdown file under `.atlas/plans/*.md`. This means that while you are in plan mode, you can freely explore your Expo project's structure, including `app.json`, `app.config.ts`, `app/` components, `expo-router` routes, and `eas.json` build profiles, without any risk of inadvertently altering your source code. The plan agent's read-only nature for the main codebase ensures that the design phase is purely about research and documentation, adhering to the principle of 'design before edit' for complex, multi-file modifications.

Researching Expo Codebases with Atlas's Plan Agent

Atlas's plan agent provides a robust suite of research tools for Expo developers in 2026, allowing deep inspection of project files like `app.json` and `expo-router` routes. These tools, including `codebase_search`, `grep`, `read`, and `lsp`, are fully enabled in plan mode to facilitate comprehensive understanding without modification.

To effectively design a multi-file change in an Expo project, thorough research is paramount. Atlas's plan agent provides powerful tools for this purpose. You can use `codebase_search` to perform hybrid semantic and keyword retrieval across your entire project, understanding how different `app/` components interact or where specific `config plugins` are defined in `app.config.ts`. The `lsp` tool offers language server protocol capabilities, providing detailed insights into type definitions and function signatures within your JavaScript or TypeScript files. For more direct text pattern matching, `grep` allows you to quickly locate specific strings or regular expressions across your codebase. Finally, the `read` tool enables you to inspect the contents of any file, such as `eas.json` build profiles or specific `expo-router` route files, all while maintaining the read-only guarantee for your core Expo project files. Atlas can also build its code index with local Ollama embeddings, keeping your sensitive Expo code off third-party servers.

Documenting Multi-File Change Plans for Expo

The Atlas plan agent's primary output is a detailed markdown document, allowing Expo developers in 2026 to articulate multi-file changes before implementation. This document, stored under `.atlas/plans/*.md`, is the single location where the plan agent has write permissions, serving as the definitive artifact for review.

Once you have thoroughly researched your Expo project using Atlas's tools, the next step is to document your proposed multi-file change. The plan agent is specifically configured to allow writing only to files within the `.atlas/plans/` directory, typically a markdown file like `.atlas/plans/new-feature-design.md`. This dedicated space is where you will outline the scope of your changes, detailing modifications to `app/` components, new `expo-router` routes, adjustments to `config plugins` in `app.config.ts`, or new dependencies to be installed with `npx expo install`. This markdown document becomes the central artifact for your design, providing a clear, human-readable plan that can be easily shared with team members for review and feedback, ensuring alignment before any actual code is written.

Ensuring Safe Review and Handoff for Expo Changes

Atlas ensures a safe transition from planning to implementation for Expo projects in 2026 through the `plan_exit` tool, which requires explicit approval. This critical step prevents premature code modifications, allowing the plan to be fully reviewed and accepted before any changes are applied to your `app/` directory or configuration.

After documenting your multi-file change plan for your Expo project, the `plan_exit` tool facilitates a controlled handoff to the implementation phase. When you invoke `plan_exit`, Atlas presents a clear prompt: 'Plan at <path> is complete. Would you like to switch to the build agent and start implementing?' This question serves as a crucial gate, requiring your explicit 'Yes' to proceed. If you answer 'No', Atlas raises a `Question.RejectedError` and keeps you within the plan agent, allowing you to refine your plan further or seek additional review. This mechanism guarantees that no code modifications begin until the plan is fully approved, safeguarding your Expo codebase. Once approved, Atlas can then proceed to implement the changes, potentially installing packages with `npx expo install`, running tests with `jest-expo`, and formatting code with `prettier`, all with unified diffs presented for final approval before writing.

Step by step

01Launch Atlas in Plan Mode for your Expo project: Run Atlas in your project root containing `app.json` or `app.config.ts` and an `app/` directory. Atlas automatically enters plan mode, restricting edits to `.atlas/plans/*.md`.
02Research your Expo codebase: Use Atlas's `codebase_search` to explore `expo-router` file routes or `config plugins` in `app.config.ts`. Employ `grep` to find specific patterns across your `app/` directory, and `read` to inspect files like `eas.json`.
03Draft your multi-file change plan: Write the detailed design for your Expo modifications into the allowed markdown file, for example, `.atlas/plans/new-feature-design.md`. This document outlines changes to components, new screens, or adjustments to `npx expo install` dependencies.
04Initiate plan review and handoff: When your plan is complete, call the `plan_exit` tool. Atlas will ask, 'Plan at <path> is complete. Would you like to switch to the build agent and start implementing?'
05Approve the transition to implementation: Answer 'Yes' to the `plan_exit` prompt. Atlas will then switch to the build agent, ready to implement the changes outlined in your plan, ensuring no accidental edits occurred during the planning phase.

Frequently asked questions

How does Atlas prevent accidental edits in my Expo project during planning?: Atlas's plan agent disallows all edit tools and restricts write permissions to only `.atlas/plans/*.md`, ensuring your `app/` directory, `app.json`, and `app.config.ts` remain untouched until the plan is approved.
Can Atlas help me understand my `expo-router` routes before I make changes?: Yes, Atlas's `codebase_search` and `lsp` tools can index and query your `expo-router` file routes, `app.json`, and `app.config.ts` to provide a comprehensive understanding during the planning phase without modifying anything.
What Expo-specific tools does Atlas integrate with for planning?: While planning, Atlas uses its core research tools (`codebase_search`, `grep`, `read`, `lsp`) to understand your Expo project's structure, including `config plugins` and `eas.json` build profiles, before any implementation begins.
How do I get my multi-file Expo change plan reviewed?: You document your plan in a markdown file within `.atlas/plans/`. This file is the output of the plan agent and can be shared for review before you use `plan_exit` to switch to the build agent and start implementing.
What happens if I decide not to implement the plan after drafting it in Atlas?: If you answer 'No' to the `plan_exit` prompt, Atlas raises a `Question.RejectedError` and keeps you in the plan agent, allowing you to refine or discard the plan without ever modifying your Expo codebase.
Does Atlas use local embeddings for my Expo code?: Yes, Atlas can build its code index with local Ollama embeddings, ensuring your Expo project's code stays off third-party servers and maintains privacy throughout the planning and implementation phases.

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