IOS Simulator

iOS Simulator Automation

This skill provides a Node-only CLI wrapper around:

• xcrun simctl for simulator/device/app management
• idb for accessibility-tree inspection + synthesised UI input (tap/text/button)

It is designed for AI agents: minimal, structured output by default, with opt-in detail.

Important constraints

• Must run on macOS with Xcode Command Line Tools (or Xcode) available.
• If the ClawdBot gateway is not macOS, run these commands on a connected macOS node (see “Remote macOS node” below).
• idb is optional, but required for UI tree / semantic tapping. (Install steps below.)

Quick start

# 1) Sanity check
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs health

# 2) List simulators (compact)
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs list

# 3) Select a default simulator (writes .ios-sim-state.json in the current dir)
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs select --name "iPhone" --runtime "iOS" --boot

# 4) Install + launch an .app
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs app install --app path/to/MyApp.app
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs app launch --bundle-id com.example.MyApp

# 5) Inspect current UI (requires idb)
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs ui summary
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs ui tap --query "Log in"
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs ui type --text "hello world"

# 6) Screenshot
node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs screenshot --out artifacts/screen.png

Remote macOS node

If you are not on macOS, run the same commands on the macOS node using ClawdBot’s node execution (e.g. exec with host: node / node tools). Ensure the skill folder exists on that node, or copy it there.

Output conventions (token-efficient)

• Default output: single-line JSON (small summary object).
• Add --pretty to pretty-print JSON.
• Add --text for a short human-readable summary (when provided by the command).
• If a command already uses --text for input data (for example clipboard set or ui type), use --human for summary output instead.
• Commands that can be huge (ui tree, list --full) are opt-in.

State / default UDID

select writes a state file (default: ./.ios-sim-state.json) that stores the chosen UDID. All commands accept --udid <UUID> and otherwise fall back to the state file.

Override location with:

• IOS_SIM_STATE_FILE=/path/to/state.json

Dependency notes

Xcode / simctl availability

If xcrun cannot find simctl, ensure Xcode CLI tools are selected (via Xcode settings or xcode-select) and run the first-launch setup:

• xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch

idb (for accessibility automation)

Install idb_companion and the idb CLI:

brew tap facebook/fb
brew install idb-companion
python3 -m pip install --upgrade fb-idb

Safety tiers

Command index

All commands live under:

node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs <command> [subcommand] [flags]

Core simulator lifecycle

• list [--full]
• select --name <substr> [--runtime <substr>] [--boot]
• boot [--udid <uuid>] [--wait]
• shutdown [--udid <uuid>|--all]
• erase --yes [--udid <uuid>|--all]
• delete --yes [--udid <uuid>]
• create --name <name> --device-type <substr> --runtime <substr>

App management

• app install --app <path/to/App.app> [--udid ...]
• app uninstall --bundle-id <id> [--udid ...]
• app launch --bundle-id <id> [--udid ...] [-- <args...>]
• app terminate --bundle-id <id> [--udid ...]
• app container --bundle-id <id> [--type data|app] [--udid ...]

Screenshots & video

• screenshot --out <file.png> [--udid ...]
• record-video --out <file.mp4> [--udid ...] (runs until Ctrl+C)

Clipboard / URL

• clipboard get [--udid ...]
• clipboard set --text <text> [--udid ...]
• openurl --url <url> [--udid ...]

Simulator permissions & push notifications

• privacy grant --bundle-id <id> --service <svc[,svc...]> [--udid ...]
• privacy revoke --bundle-id <id> --service <svc[,svc...]> [--udid ...]
• privacy reset --bundle-id <id> --service <svc[,svc...]> [--udid ...]
• push --bundle-id <id> --payload <json-string> [--udid ...]

Logs

• logs show [--last 5m] [--predicate <expr>] [--udid ...]

Accessibility-driven UI automation (requires idb)

• ui summary [--limit 12]
• ui tree (full UI JSON array)
• ui find --query <text> [--limit 20]
• ui tap --query <text> (find + tap best match)
• ui tap --x <num> --y <num> (raw coordinate tap)
• ui type --text <text>
• ui button --name HOME|LOCK|SIRI|SIDE_BUTTON|APPLE_PAY

Troubleshooting

See: references/TROUBLESHOOTING.md

Related Skills

• ios-testing — testing on simulator
• ios-swiftui-expert — UI testing
• xcode-cloud — cloud testing

GitNexus Index

This skill is indexed by GitNexus for knowledge graph traversal. Index path: /Users/localuser/.claude/skills/ios-simulator/.gitnexus Last indexed: 2026-05-23