serve-sim
serve-sim exposes your Apple Simulator as a controllable web interface, making it accessible to AI coding agents and automation tools. Stream the simulator's display as MJPEG and send interactions back via WebSocket—perfect for local development, LAN sharing, or remote Mac setups with tunneling.
serve-sim enables agent-driven control of your iOS, iPad, and Watch simulators through a CLI interface and WebSocket protocol. You can programmatically tap, swipe, rotate the device, and inject synthetic inputs—making it ideal for AI coding agents and automation workflows that need to interact with simulator UI elements.
AI-generated summary based on this skill's SKILL.md
Decision gist · record as of 2026-07-17
serve-sim enables agent-driven control of your iOS, iPad, and Watch simulators through a CLI interface and WebSocket protocol. You can programmatically tap, swipe, rotate the device, and inject synthetic inputs—making it ideal for AI coding agents and automation workflows that need to interact with simulator UI elements.
Use it when
- serve-sim streams your simulator's framebuffer as MJPEG directly to a web interface over WebSocket.
- Yes.
Verify before relying
Read SKILL.md below before installing (12 files). Open directory: indexed for reading, not audited.
Install
EvanBacon/serve-sim/serve-sim · repository language: TypeScript
Open directory. Skills are indexed for reading, not audited. Review a skill's body before installing it.
Frequently asked questions
AI-generated answers based on this skill's SKILL.md and metadata
Can I control iOS simulator with agent automation tools?
serve-sim enables agent-driven control of your iOS, iPad, and Watch simulators through a CLI interface and WebSocket protocol. You can programmatically tap, swipe, rotate the device, and inject synthetic inputs—making it ideal for AI coding agents and automation workflows that need to interact with simulator UI elements.
How do I stream Apple simulator to browser for remote preview?
serve-sim streams your simulator's framebuffer as MJPEG directly to a web interface over WebSocket. This lets you preview and remotely control the simulator from any browser, whether on the same machine, across your LAN, or via tunneling to a remote Mac setup.
Can I tap and swipe iOS simulator programmatically with serve-sim?
Yes. serve-sim accepts gesture commands via JSON protocol over WebSocket, letting you automate taps, swipes, and other interactions without manual intervention. Combined with its CLI agent interface, you can orchestrate complex user flows and test scenarios at scale.
How does serve-sim handle camera feeds and app permissions?
serve-sim lets you inject synthetic camera feeds into simulator apps and manage app permissions programmatically. This is essential for testing location, camera, and microphone-dependent features without physical hardware or manual permission dialogs.
What debugging features does serve-sim offer for simulator performance?
serve-sim supports CoreAnimation debug overlays and synthetic memory warnings to help you identify performance bottlenecks. You can also query the simulator's accessibility tree to detect UI elements and validate app behavior under stress conditions.
Is serve-sim suitable for headless or remote simulator automation?
Yes. serve-sim runs as a daemon that exposes your simulator over HTTP/WebSocket, making it perfect for headless setups, CI/CD pipelines, and remote Mac environments. It's licensed under Apache-2.0 and designed for both local development and distributed testing workflows.
SKILL.md
Rendered from the published skill. Quoted content, verbatim.
serve-sim
Drive an Apple Simulator (iOS, iPad, Apple Watch) from an agent using the serve-sim CLI. serve-sim spawns a Swift helper that captures the simulator framebuffer via simctl io, exposes it as an MJPEG stream plus a binary WebSocket input channel, and serves a React preview UI on top. This skill teaches an agent the exact CLI surface, the gesture JSON shape, the gotchas, and the recommended workflows.
When to use
- The user wants an agent to tap, swipe, drag, pinch, or send hardware buttons to a running Apple Simulator.
- The user wants to stream a simulator to a browser (local, LAN, or tunneled) for review or remote control.
- The user wants to inject a synthetic camera feed (file, webcam, or animated placeholder) into a specific app on the simulator.
- The user wants to toggle CoreAnimation debug overlays (off-screen
(truncated - see the full file via the links below)
File tree — 12 files
skills/serve-sim/README.md
skills/serve-sim/SKILL.md
skills/serve-sim/evals/evals.json
skills/serve-sim/references/buttons-rotation.md
skills/serve-sim/references/ca-debug.md
skills/serve-sim/references/camera.md
skills/serve-sim/references/endpoints.md
skills/serve-sim/references/gestures.md
skills/serve-sim/references/permissions.md
skills/serve-sim/references/workflows.md
skills/serve-sim/scripts/check-prereqs.sh
skills/serve-sim/scripts/ensure-running.sh
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