Maestro Take Screenshots

Maestro Take Screenshots & Record Video

Capture screenshots or record videos of specific pages/components by navigating to them via Maestro on a live device.

Prerequisites

• A device/simulator must be running with the app installed (release build)
• Get the device ID via user-maestro-list_devices
• If no device is running, start one with user-maestro-start_device

Workflow

Phase 1: Gather Requirements

Collect from the user (use AskQuestion when available):

1. Target: Which page, screen, or component to capture
2. Capture type: Screenshot or video (default: screenshot)
3. Output name: Filename for the capture (default: derive from target name)
4. Account type (if relevant): Single account, multiple accounts, IRA, etc.

Phase 2: Investigate Navigation Path

Before navigating, study existing test flows to learn how to reach the target page.

2a. Search for existing flows that visit the target

Use Glob and Grep to find flows related to the target page:

# Search flow files for references to the target
Glob: maestro/flows/**/*.yml
Grep: "<target page name>" in maestro/flows/

For example, if the user wants a screenshot of the Statements page, search for flows containing "Statements" or "statement".

2b. Read matching flows

Read 1-2 flows that navigate to the target page. Extract the exact navigation steps:

• Which utility flows they call (login, startApp)
• Which env vars they set (USERNAME, etc.)
• Which tabs they tap (e.g., portfolio-screen-tab, profile-screen-tab)
• Which elements they tap to reach the target

2c. Read utility flows if needed

If the matching flows reference utilities (e.g., ../../utils/login.yml), read those to understand:

• What env vars are expected
• What state the app is in after they run

2d. Build the navigation plan

Synthesize a step-by-step plan to get from app launch to the target page. Common navigation patterns:

These are starting points — always verify against the actual flows in the codebase.

Phase 3: Navigate to the Target

Execute the navigation steps on the live device using user-maestro-run_flow.

3a. Login and navigate

Build a flow YAML based on what you learned in Phase 2. Example:

appId: com.guideline.mobile
---
- runFlow:
    file: maestro/utils/login.yml
    env:
      USERNAME: single-defcon@guideline.test
- tapOn:
    id: profile-screen-tab
- assertVisible: "Statements"
- tapOn: "Statements"

Run it via user-maestro-run_flow.

3b. Verify you're on the right screen

After navigation, confirm the target is visible:

• user-maestro-take_screenshot — visual check
• user-maestro-inspect_view_hierarchy — element check

If not on the right screen, adjust navigation and retry.

Phase 4: Capture

Option A: Screenshot

Use user-maestro-run_flow to take the screenshot:

appId: com.guideline.mobile
---
- takeScreenshot: <output-name>

The screenshot saves as <output-name>.png in the .maestro directory (or the --test-output-dir if specified).

Cropping to a specific component:

- takeScreenshot:
    path: <output-name>
    cropOn:
      id: <element-id>
    label: "Screenshot of <component>"

Use user-maestro-inspect_view_hierarchy to find the element ID to crop on.

Option B: Video Recording

IMPORTANT: Do NOT use the CLI maestro record command. It is extremely slow (renders frames to a cloud service or locally with heavy overhead) and frequently hangs or times out. Instead, use the MCP to start a recording, run the flow, then stop the recording. This is done by embedding startRecording / stopRecording in the flow YAML and running it via user-maestro-run_flow.

Use user-maestro-run_flow with startRecording/stopRecording in the flow:

appId: com.guideline.mobile
---
- startRecording: <output-name>
- # ... any interactions to capture (scrolling, tapping, etc.)
- stopRecording

For recording a page with scroll content:

appId: com.guideline.mobile
---
- startRecording: <output-name>
- scroll
- scroll
- stopRecording

The video saves as <output-name>.mp4.

With optional flag (won't fail the flow if recording isn't supported):

- startRecording:
    path: <output-name>
    optional: true

For recording an entire existing flow, wrap it with startRecording/stopRecording via runFlow:

appId: com.guideline.mobile
---
- startRecording: <output-name>
- runFlow:
    file: <path-to-existing-flow.yml>
- stopRecording

Phase 5: Deliver Results

1. Tell the user where the file was saved
2. If screenshot, use user-maestro-take_screenshot to show the current screen as a preview
3. For videos, note the .mp4 file location

Quick Reference: Maestro Capture Commands

takeScreenshot

# Simple
- takeScreenshot: ScreenName

# With crop
- takeScreenshot:
    path: ScreenName
    cropOn:
      id: element-id
    label: "Description"

Saves as .png. Path is relative to Maestro workspace directory.

startRecording / stopRecording

- startRecording: recording-name
- # ... actions ...
- stopRecording

Saves as .mp4. Must call stopRecording to finalize the file.

Examples

"Take a screenshot of the statements page"

1. Search flows for "statement" → find maestro/flows/profile/statements.yml
2. Read it to learn: login → tap profile tab → tap Statements
3. Run navigation via MCP
4. takeScreenshot: statements-page

"Record a video of changing portfolio"

1. Search flows for "changePortfolio" → find maestro/flows/portfolio/changePortfolioSingleDefcon.yml
2. Read it to learn the full change portfolio flow
3. Navigate to portfolio page
4. startRecording: change-portfolio → run the change steps → stopRecording

"Screenshot the dashboard with multiple accounts"

1. Search flows for "MultipleAccountsDashboard" → find the flow
2. Read it to learn which env vars to use (multi-account username)
3. Login with multi-account user
4. takeScreenshot: dashboard-multiple-accounts

Troubleshooting