--- title: How to set up agentic workflows on Expo authors: Tori White published: November 13, 2026 categories: Development, AI tags: agentic workflows, Expo Simulators, EAS Workflows, agents, GitHub --- Workflows let you automate parts of building and testing your app. Agentic workflows let you put an agent into that process. And with [Expo Simulators](https://expo.dev/services/simulators), you can now hand that agent different cloud devices to test on. If you want to add agentic workflows to your app building process, you've come to the right place. Here are the four things you need to do as the engineer to unblock your agent, so it can create agentic workflows on your Expo account. Prefer to watch? The video walks through the same four steps: [How to set up agentic workflows in 4 steps](https://youtu.be/XAEQcd2a4oo) ## Before you start You need an Expo project in a GitHub repository, and Expo Simulators on the account that owns the project. Expo Simulators is available on the Starter, Production, and Enterprise plans. The full setup is in the docs: [Set up a project for agentic workflows](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/setup/). ## 1. Connect your GitHub repository First, make sure your GitHub repository is connected to your Expo project. Head to your project settings and make sure GitHub is configured. ![Expo project settings, GitHub page, with a GitHub repository connected to the project](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/761518072412a80fd2da096d3b34920d673cc232-2580x1942.png) ## 2. Create a robot user Next, your workflow needs to be able to start a simulator. You do that with what's called a “robot user”. Head to your account settings, go to **Access tokens**, and add a robot. I called mine Agentic Workflows and gave it the **Developer** permission. ![Create Robot dialog on expo.dev with the name Agentic Workflows and the Developer role selected](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/36437ec6f56db57de909be6c99f99b9cf178db5f-946x1108.png) From there, create a token and copy it. ![Dialog on expo.dev confirming a new robot access token was created, with the token value hidden](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/48df3c9db62f1637cbf082158aef529d3a39ee87-1154x890.png) Then head back to your project and add an environment variable with that value. Name it `EXPO_TOKEN_SIMULATOR`. Set the visibility to **Secret** and the environment to **preview**. ![Add environment variable form on expo.dev with the name EXPO_TOKEN_SIMULATOR, Secret visibility, and the preview environment](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/0d3c4961aaf79b60d57d9fbb9def6c0bb15a669c-2580x1336.png) ## 3. Connect your agent Third, connect your agent of choice to your workflow. I prefer Claude, so I run: ```console $ $ claude setup-token ``` Go through the authorization process, and you have a token. ![Terminal showing that claude setup-token created a long-lived token, with the token value hidden](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/0e6497c0734747ac1abc8a18b410e1002e1d5f06-1440x800.png) Then head back to your environment variables and add it as a variable named `CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN`. Again, set it to **Secret** and **preview**. Using a different agent? The [setup docs](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/setup/) list the key and the variable name for Codex, Cursor, and Grok. ## 4. Give your workflows access to GitHub Next, make sure your workflows have access to GitHub, so they can leave you PRs and comments. This is different from the GitHub connection in step 1, so make sure you do both. Head to your developer settings on GitHub and go to your personal access tokens. You're looking for **Fine-grained tokens**. Generate a token there, and make sure to select the correct repository. ![GitHub fine-grained token form with Repository access set to Only select repositories and one repository selected](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/5d51e7db0366b0d7d686af9886d8c1e312bfc12b-1994x1024.png) Now add some permissions. Give the token **Contents**, **Issues**, and **Pull requests**, each with **Read and write**. ![GitHub repository permissions list with Contents, Issues, and Pull requests set to Read and write](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/80a6a694d66535cc1258578e25d30011a2111938-1458x1040.png) From there, head back to your environment variables and add `GITHUB_TOKEN`. Again, set it as **Secret** and put it in **preview**. ![Add environment variable form on expo.dev with the name GITHUB_TOKEN, Secret visibility, and the preview environment](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/9r24npb8/production/19e9dc1cb6f6009b6b28dfb608bf5301db8bfba8-2584x1301.png) The docs also add `GITHUB_REPOSITORY` to **preview** as plain text, with your repository's owner and name, such as `acme/app`. And that's it. Now your agent can set up a lot of different agentic workflows. ## One last tip: install Expo skills Before you go, make sure you have Expo skills installed. This way your agent has all the information it needs to create these workflows and to run simulators. ```console $ $ npx skills add expo/skills ``` ## Pick your first workflow Here are some of my favorite agentic workflows. Each guide has a prompt you can hand to your agent. - [Agentic CI](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/agentic-ci/): an agent tests each pull request on a cloud simulator. - [Issue to PR](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/issue-to-pr/): an agent writes the change for a GitHub issue and opens a pull request. - [Bug triage](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/bug-triage/): an agent reproduces a bug from a GitHub issue or TestFlight feedback. - [QA Swarm](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/qa-swarm/): several agents test your app at the same time, each on its own cloud simulator. ## Learn more - [Set up a project for agentic workflows](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/setup/) (docs) - [Introduction to agentic workflows](https://docs.expo.dev/agentic-workflows/introduction/) (docs) - [Expo Simulators](https://expo.dev/services/simulators) - The setup video: [How to set up agentic workflows in 4 steps](https://youtu.be/XAEQcd2a4oo)