Write Once, Deploy Everywhere (Almost)

Apr 24, 2025

As a developer, my core expertise lies in frontend and mobile app development using React Native. Given that both frontend and React Native leverage JavaScript, I've explored cross-platform solutions like react-native-web. However, this approach often means sacrificing certain advantages inherent to each platform, such as straightforward CSS styling or enhanced SEO capabilities. In my frontend work, I also utilize a range of technologies tailored to specific client needs, including Astro.js, React, Next.js, or even vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

This often leads me to the fundamental question: how can we write code once and deploy it across web, Android, and iOS while maintaining excellent design, SEO, and performance? My current answer points towards the power of Artificial Intelligence.

For the small to medium-sized projects I typically handle, one platform often takes precedence. Therefore, depending on the project's core requirements (app or web), I prioritize its development. For instance, with a media company where SEO is crucial, I'll meticulously craft the website to address the client's specific needs. Crucially, I'll structure the business logic in a separate, reusable module. Then, leveraging AI tools like VS Code Copilot, I can translate the frontend UI code into React Native, making only necessary platform-specific adjustments. The same principle applies to app-heavy projects requiring a web presence.

Of course, my extensive experience in both React Native and frontend development, coupled with continuous learning, allows me to effectively review and refine the AI-generated code. The significant advantage here is the ability to deliver tailored web applications and mobile apps more rapidly and cost-effectively. Most importantly, this approach enables platform-specific optimizations while offloading repetitive, boilerplate code to AI.

While the future role of AI in completely autonomous website creation remains uncertain, its current capabilities empower developers to provide specialized solutions with strong performance by automating the generation of duplicate code.