Requirements
What your machine, your React Native app and your agent need before you install Parallax.
Your machine
| What | Needed |
|---|---|
| macOS | macOS 26 on Apple silicon (the screen and input layer) |
| Android SDK | Only for an Android emulator: adb and the emulator, from Android Studio or the command-line tools |
| Xcode | Xcode with the iOS simulator. Verified on Xcode 27.0; other versions show a doctor warning |
| AXe | Version 1.8 or later: brew install cameroncooke/axe/axe. The agent's screen tools and input go through it |
| Node | ^20.19.4, ^22.13.0, ^24.3.0 or >=25.0.0 (for the npx route; with the desktop app installed, setup registers the app's own copy of the server and no separate Node is needed) |
Your app
- React Native 0.85 or later, with Hermes and the new architecture, and a running Metro dev server.
- Bare React Native, or an Expo development build on SDK 56 or 57. Expo Go has not been checked.
- A development build. Release builds are untouched on purpose.
Checked versions: React Native 0.85, 0.86 and 0.87 (bare), and Expo development builds on SDK 56 and 57. On Expo the network panel needs the SDK, because Expo's debugger reports no request. doctor and status say "tested on React Native ..." and warn when your version is outside that list. A warning is not a refusal.
Below 0.85, tools answer rn_unsupported: older Metro allows one debugger per app, and a second one would evict your DevTools. See Troubleshooting.
Simulators and devices
- iOS simulator: screen, input and the app-side tools.
- Android emulator: the live screen and input in the window, the agent's device tools, and the app-side tools. Needs the Android SDK (
adband theemulatorprogram, from Android Studio or the command-line tools;ANDROID_HOMEis used when set, else~/Library/Android/sdk). Checked on the AVD Pixel 9 Pro XL with Android 15 and React Native 0.86.3. If your app cannot reach Metro, runadb reverse tcp:<Metro port> tcp:<Metro port>. - Physical devices: not supported (iOS or Android).
Your agent
Claude Code or Codex. Parallax registers an MCP server and a skill with the agent. Other agents are not covered by setup.
Reference
The same information, as a table with known limits, is on the compatibility reference.