Autotomy vs Ignite

Ignite is the long-running React Native boilerplate from Infinite Red, developed since 2016 and used on their client apps. Autotomy is an AI-first Expo starter kit (coming soon) built around architecture rules that machines enforce. They solve different problems; here's how they differ.

Last checked: . We make Autotomy, so read this as our comparison; every Ignite fact links to a public source below. Spot something out of date? Email admin@autotomy.dev.

Feature Ignite Autotomy Expo Starter Kit
Status / price Available, free, open source (MIT for code; trademarks excluded) Coming soon; price not announced
Maintainer Infinite Red (agency), since 2016; about 19.9k GitHub stars; latest release v11.5.0 (March 2026) Autotomy
Expo / React Native Expo SDK 55, React Native 0.83 (boilerplate package.json) Expo SDK 56, React Native 0.85
Navigation React Navigation v7 Expo Router with a typed route list
Data / storage apisauce REST client, MMKV persistence Axios client with retry and circuit breaker; TanStack Query with AsyncStorage persistence
UI Component library with theming and custom fonts One UI contract with swappable styling engines (StyleSheet, NativeWind)
i18n Expo Localization, including RTL Not included
Generators / CLI Ignite CLI with component, screen, and model generators None; slice archetypes are documented for humans and AI agents
Dev tools Reactotron Not included
Tests Jest; Maestro for end-to-end Vitest with a 100% coverage gate on logic layers; fast-check property tests; no end-to-end tests
Architecture checks dependency-cruiser with general rules (for example no circular dependencies, no orphans, no deprecated modules) dependency-cruiser layer whitelist (for example, services can't import UI) plus general rules, part of pnpm check
AI agent guidance No AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or Cursor rules in the repo as of this check AGENTS.md plus about 1,900 lines of architecture docs

Choose Ignite if

you want a free, proven, batteries-included boilerplate with generators, i18n, Reactotron, and end-to-end testing, backed by a large community and an agency.

Choose Autotomy if

you build mostly with AI tools and want the architecture enforced by the check, so AI-written code can't quietly cross boundaries, and you're fine adding integrations yourself.

See what's inside the Expo starter kit →

Sources

Ignite's README table lists React Native v0.81, but the boilerplate package.json pins react-native 0.83.2 and expo 55.0.5. This page quotes package.json.

Autotomy facts come from Autotomy Foundation Expo v1.0.0 (released July 17, 2026), the base of the kit.

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