Can Atlas rename a symbol that's also mentioned in a React Native native module?

While Atlas primarily operates on JavaScript/TypeScript, its `grep` tool can identify mentions of the old symbol name in native configuration files like `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle`. You can then review these occurrences and apply targeted edits if necessary.

What if the `lsp` tool misses a reference in a comment or string literal in React Native?

Atlas's workflow explicitly includes a `grep` step after the `lsp` scan. This `grep` command is designed to catch all occurrences outside the type system, including comments, string literals, and documentation, ensuring nothing is missed in your React Native codebase.

How does Atlas prevent accidental changes to `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` during a rename?

Atlas operates with permission-gated tool calls and presents a unified diff for every file edit for your approval. This ensures that critical native configuration files like `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` are never modified without your explicit consent, maintaining the integrity of your React Native project.

Does Atlas integrate with `prettier` after a symbol rename in React Native?

Yes, Atlas can run `prettier` on the modified files as part of its workflow. It also confirms that native folders were not touched by accident, ensuring your React Native codebase remains consistently formatted and clean after the refactor.

What React Native versions does Atlas support for refactoring in 2026?

Atlas is designed to work with modern React Native projects, including those leveraging the New Architecture. Its reliance on standard language server protocols and `git` ensures compatibility across various React Native versions in 2026, as long as your project has a functional LSP setup.

Can Atlas rename a React Native component class or function?

Absolutely. Atlas is specifically designed for renaming functions, classes, or constants. For a React Native component, it will accurately identify and rename the component's definition and all its usages across your `.tsx` and `.js` files, including imports and JSX references.

Rename a symbol across the repo in React Native with Atlas in 2026

To rename a symbol across your React Native repository, Atlas combines language server protocol (LSP) precision with robust text search and controlled edits, ensuring every instance is updated, from JavaScript logic to documentation. This process integrates direct with your existing `jest (@testing-library/react-native)` tests, `yarn` package management, and `prettier` formatting, providing a verified and safe refactoring experience.

How Atlas renames symbols in React Native codebases

Atlas renames symbols in React Native by executing a precise, multi-stage workflow that begins with the `lsp` tool to identify all 100% type-system-aware references. This initial step ensures that functions, classes, and constants are correctly identified across your JavaScript and TypeScript files, including platform-specific `.ios.tsx` and `.android.tsx` components.

The core of Atlas's renaming capability in React Native lies in its intelligent combination of tools. First, Atlas invokes the `lsp` tool's `findReferences` operation on the target symbol. This leverages your project's language server to provide an authoritative list of all true code references, crucial for complex React Native projects with their mix of JavaScript, TypeScript, and potentially native module interfaces. This ensures that a `MyComponent` in `src/components/MyComponent.tsx` is correctly linked to its usages in `App.tsx` or `screens/HomeScreen.ios.tsx`. Following the `lsp` scan, Atlas uses the `grep` tool to search for the old symbol name. This step is vital for catching occurrences that the language server might miss, such as references within comments, string literals, documentation blocks, or configuration files like `package.json` scripts. For example, if you're renaming a constant `API_KEY_DEV` that's also mentioned in a `README.md` or a `jest` test description, `grep` will find it. Finally, the `edit` tool performs the mechanical replacements. Atlas uses `replaceAll` for unambiguous matches, but critically, `edit` refuses single replacements if it finds multiple matches in a file without explicit context, preventing unintended corruptions in your React Native codebase.

Ensuring accuracy and safety in React Native refactoring

Atlas prioritizes safety and accuracy during React Native refactoring by implementing several verification layers, including a read-only plan agent and permission-gated tool calls. Every proposed change, from a simple variable rename to a complex class refactor, is presented as a unified diff for your approval, ensuring you maintain 100% control over your codebase.

Safety is paramount when refactoring a React Native application, especially with its New Architecture and platform-specific files. Atlas addresses this through a structured, permission-gated workflow. Before any changes are made, Atlas drafts a plan in a read-only plan agent, which you review. All tool calls, such as `lsp` or `edit`, are permission-gated against `allow`, `ask`, and `deny` rules, giving you granular control over what Atlas can execute. When Atlas proposes an edit, it computes a unified diff for every file change, surfacing it for your explicit approval. This means you'll see exactly how `src/utils/api.ts` or `components/Button.android.tsx` will change before it's written to disk. The `edit` tool itself enforces uniqueness; it will throw `Found multiple matches for oldString` if an ambiguous single replacement is attempted, preventing silent data corruption. This rigorous review process ensures that critical files like `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` are never accidentally modified during a symbol rename.

Verifying React Native renames with tests and `grep`

After Atlas performs a symbol rename in your React Native project, the final and most critical step involves comprehensive verification using your existing toolchain. This includes running your `jest (@testing-library/react-native)` test suite and a final `grep` pass to confirm zero remaining instances of the old symbol name, ensuring a clean and functional refactor in 2026.

Once Atlas has applied the mechanical renames, the system transitions to a verification phase using the `bash` tool to execute your project's standard commands. For React Native, this means running your test suite with `yarn jest` or `npx jest` (configured with `@testing-library/react-native`). Atlas can add new test cases and run `jest` behind a permission prompt, ensuring that the refactor hasn't introduced regressions. A successful test run provides strong confidence in the functional correctness of the rename. Following the tests, Atlas performs a final `grep` for the old symbol name across the entire repository. This serves as a definitive proof that no stray occurrences, perhaps in a forgotten comment or a deeply nested configuration file, remain. This two-pronged verification approach,functional testing with `jest` and exhaustive text search with `grep`,guarantees a complete and robust symbol rename in your React Native application.

React Native specific considerations for symbol renaming

Renaming symbols in React Native requires special attention to its unique architecture, including platform-specific files and potential native module interactions. Atlas is designed to work through these complexities, ensuring that a rename correctly propagates across `.ios.tsx`, `.android.tsx`, and even references within `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` if applicable, providing comprehensive coverage in 2026.

React Native's ecosystem, particularly with the New Architecture, introduces specific challenges for refactoring. Atlas is built to understand and manage these nuances. When renaming a component or utility, Atlas's `lsp` tool will correctly identify references within platform-specific files like `MyComponent.ios.tsx` and `MyComponent.android.tsx`, ensuring consistency across both iOS and Android platforms. For symbols that might interact with native modules, Atlas's indexing by AST declarations using Tree-sitter helps it understand the code structure beyond simple text matching. While Atlas primarily operates on JavaScript/TypeScript, its `grep` capabilities can identify mentions in native configuration files such as `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` if the symbol name appears there, allowing for manual review or targeted `edit` operations. Atlas also reads `git` branches, status, and diffs, and can stage and create commits on your behalf, making the entire refactoring process, including `prettier` formatting, a streamlined experience without accidentally touching native folders.

Step by step

01Initialize Atlas in your React Native project, ensuring it can read your `package.json`, `ios/Podfile`, and `android/build.gradle`.
02Run `atlas lsp findReferences <oldSymbolName>` to get the authoritative list of code references from your React Native language server.
03Execute `atlas grep <oldSymbolName>` to find all non-code occurrences, such as comments, strings, and documentation in your React Native files.
04Use `atlas edit replaceAll <oldSymbolName> <newSymbolName>` to apply mechanical renames across the identified files, reviewing the unified diff for each change.
05After edits, run your React Native tests with `atlas bash yarn jest` (or `npx jest`) to verify functional correctness using `@testing-library/react-native`.
06Perform a final verification with `atlas grep <oldSymbolName>` to confirm zero remaining instances of the old symbol name in your React Native repository.
07Let Atlas run `prettier` to format the changed files and confirm native folders were not touched by accident, then approve the final commit.

Frequently asked questions

How does Atlas handle renaming symbols in React Native's platform-specific files?: Atlas uses its `lsp` tool to accurately identify references within platform-specific files like `MyComponent.ios.tsx` and `MyComponent.android.tsx`, ensuring consistent renaming across both iOS and Android implementations in your React Native project.
Can Atlas rename a symbol that's also mentioned in a React Native native module?: While Atlas primarily operates on JavaScript/TypeScript, its `grep` tool can identify mentions of the old symbol name in native configuration files like `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle`. You can then review these occurrences and apply targeted edits if necessary.
What if the `lsp` tool misses a reference in a comment or string literal in React Native?: Atlas's workflow explicitly includes a `grep` step after the `lsp` scan. This `grep` command is designed to catch all occurrences outside the type system, including comments, string literals, and documentation, ensuring nothing is missed in your React Native codebase.
How does Atlas prevent accidental changes to `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` during a rename?: Atlas operates with permission-gated tool calls and presents a unified diff for every file edit for your approval. This ensures that critical native configuration files like `ios/Podfile` or `android/build.gradle` are never modified without your explicit consent, maintaining the integrity of your React Native project.
Does Atlas integrate with `prettier` after a symbol rename in React Native?: Yes, Atlas can run `prettier` on the modified files as part of its workflow. It also confirms that native folders were not touched by accident, ensuring your React Native codebase remains consistently formatted and clean after the refactor.
What React Native versions does Atlas support for refactoring in 2026?: Atlas is designed to work with modern React Native projects, including those leveraging the New Architecture. Its reliance on standard language server protocols and `git` ensures compatibility across various React Native versions in 2026, as long as your project has a functional LSP setup.
Can Atlas rename a React Native component class or function?: Absolutely. Atlas is specifically designed for renaming functions, classes, or constants. For a React Native component, it will accurately identify and rename the component's definition and all its usages across your `.tsx` and `.js` files, including imports and JSX references.

Try Atlas in your terminal

The terminal-native AI coding agent. Free core, single binary.

Install Atlas

Related guides

Rename a Symbol Across the Repo with Atlas in 2026

How to rename a symbol across a repo with Atlas in 2026: findReferences gets the true reference set, grep catches strings and docs, and edit refuses ambiguous matches.

Atlas for React Native: Terminal-Native AI Coding Across the Native Boundary in 2026

Atlas is a terminal-native AI coding agent for React Native in 2026. Work across the New Architecture, native modules, and platform-specific files with diff-first review.

Write Unit Tests for Untested React Native Code with Atlas in 2026

Add robust unit tests to your React Native projects in 2026 using Atlas. Leverage jest (@testing-library/react-native), yarn, and prettier to ensure code quality and maintain existing conventions.

Locate Where a Behavior is Implemented in React Native with Atlas in 2026

Pinpoint the exact file and symbol for any React Native behavior using Atlas's semantic search, grep, and LSP tools. Accelerate debugging and feature development in your 2026 React Native projects.

Upgrade a dependency and fix the breakage in React Native with Atlas in 2026

Upgrade React Native dependencies in 2026 with Atlas. Automatically fix compile and test failures using `yarn`, `jest`, and `prettier` for a smooth migration.

Migrate a Deprecated API Across Every Callsite in React Native with Atlas in 2026

Effortlessly migrate deprecated React Native APIs across your entire codebase with Atlas. Ensure every callsite is updated using precise tooling and automated testing for a smooth transition.

Self-review Your Working Diff Before Committing in React Native with Atlas in 2026

Catch your own mistakes in React Native diffs before committing with Atlas. Use `jest`, `prettier`, and `yarn` to ensure quality in your 2026 mobile projects.

Run Atlas Headless in CI for React Native in 2026

Automate React Native development in CI with Atlas. Run Atlas headless to integrate AI-driven code changes, manage `yarn` dependencies, and validate with `jest (@testing-library/react-native)` in your pipeline.

Browse this resource hub