Mobile E2E Testing via MCP

Verified workflow for running functional (not render-only) tests on Expo/React Native apps using mcporter CLI + claude-in-mobile MCP server. Derived from a real debugging session on biolift/JSTLFT — 24/24 functional tests passed against real production Firebase on Android emulator.

When to use

• User wants functional validation of a mobile app (set logging, form submission, navigation + state persistence, etc.)
• Expo Go SDK 54+ or a custom dev build
• App uses Firebase (Auth + Firestore) or a similar cloud backend
• Target: Android emulator (strongly preferred) or iOS simulator (requires WDA setup — see Gotchas)

Prerequisites

• mcporter CLI installed globally: npm install -g mcporter
• claude-in-mobile MCP server registered in ~/.mcporter/mcporter.json:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "mobile": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "claude-in-mobile@latest"],