iOS Simulator Skill

21 production-ready scripts for iOS app testing, building, and automation. Provides semantic UI navigation, build automation, accessibility testing, and simulator lifecycle management. Optimized for AI agents with minimal token output.

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).
• 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

Tier	Commands	Notes
SAFE	list, health, boot, shutdown, screenshot, ui *	No data loss
CAUTION	privacy *, push, clipboard *, openurl	Alters simulator/app state
DANGEROUS	erase, delete	Requires --yes

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