React Navigation is properly initialized

Without a single NavigationContainer at the root, React Navigation has no scene graph to mount — screens render as disconnected components, deep links resolve to nothing, and the back button bubbles to the OS and closes the app. Users who tap a push notification or share-sheet link land on a blank route or a cold Home, destroying the user-experience contract the rest of the app depends on. Duplicated containers create competing state trees that silently drop navigation events.

Mount exactly one NavigationContainer at the app root and pass it a linking config. Put this in App.tsx so every screen is a descendant:

import { NavigationContainer } from '@react-navigation/native'

export default function App() {
  return (
    <NavigationContainer linking={linking}>
      <RootNavigator />
    </NavigationContainer>
  )
}

Delete any secondary NavigationContainer instances — nested ones must be replaced by plain Navigator components.

• ID: nav-init

• Severity: critical

• What to look for: Examine your root navigation setup. Look for NavigationContainer from @react-navigation/native wrapping your app. Check for linking configuration passed to NavigationContainer. In Expo projects, this is typically in App.tsx or a root navigation file.

• Pass criteria: Count all NavigationContainer instances in the codebase. Exactly 1 NavigationContainer must be configured at the root of your app, with a ref or linking config. A linking config must be passed to NavigationContainer (either inline or as a separate object). The app structure follows React Navigation conventions. Report even on pass: "Found X NavigationContainer instances, linking config with Y prefixes."

• Fail criteria: NavigationContainer is missing, duplicated (no more than 1 is allowed), or does not wrap the full app tree. Linking config is missing entirely. Do NOT pass when navigation is implemented with conditional renders or state-based screen switching instead of React Navigation or Expo Router.

• Skip (N/A) when: Never — every React Native app needs navigation initialization.

• Cross-reference: The Mobile Offline & Storage audit (mobile-offline-storage) checks state persistence that intersects with NavigationContainer's onStateChange handling.

• Detail on fail: Describe what's wrong. Example: "NavigationContainer wraps only a subset of the app tree, not the root" or "No linking config passed to NavigationContainer"

• Remediation: Your app's navigation must be initialized with NavigationContainer at the root. In App.tsx:

  import { NavigationContainer } from '@react-navigation/native'
  import { createNativeStackNavigator } from '@react-navigation/native-stack'
  
  const Stack = createNativeStackNavigator()
  
  export default function App() {
    return (
      <NavigationContainer linking={linking}>
        <Stack.Navigator>
          <Stack.Screen name="Home" component={HomeScreen} />
          <Stack.Screen name="Details" component={DetailsScreen} />
        </Stack.Navigator>
      </NavigationContainer>
    )
  }
  

  Define your linking config object (see deep linking checks below) and pass it to NavigationContainer.