Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin(shopify.engineering)
1090 points by fnthawar2 21 hours ago | 785 comments
tl;dr: Shopify is migrating its mobile apps (Shop, Shopify, POS, Inbox) from React Native back to native Swift and Kotlin, reversing its 2020 decision because LLMs have made maintaining two native codebases far less costly. They're doing greenfield rebuilds using an internal agentic system called Helix that works in reviewed checkpoints, plus a CLI-driven architecture that decouples business logic from UI for fast agent iteration. Shopify will wind down support for its React Native libraries (Skia, FlashList, Restyle) through 2026, seeking new stewards where possible.
HN Discussion:
  • Shopify's 3000 engineers suggests bloated engineering org, undermining their credibility on technical decisions
  • Confirms personal experience that LLMs enable fast native rebuilds from React Native codebases
  • Native is the right call and LLMs make React Native's cross-platform advantage obsolete
  • ~The LLM justification is overstated; native migrations were feasible before AI assistance
  • Shopify is wrongly assuming AI eliminates the cost of complexity, which will backfire