Ios Simulator

What This Skill Does

The iOS Simulator skill for OpenClaw is a powerful automation wrapper designed specifically for macOS environments. It abstracts complex Xcode CLI commands (simctl) and powerful accessibility tools (idb) into a unified interface for AI agents. This skill allows agents to programmatically control the lifecycle of iOS simulators—including creation, booting, and resetting—while providing advanced capabilities like installing and launching apps, pushing notifications, performing screenshots, and interacting with UI elements via accessibility trees. It is built for developers, QA engineers, and automated testing workflows, enabling high-precision iOS automation without manual intervention.

Installation

1. Ensure you are on a macOS machine with Xcode and Xcode Command Line Tools installed.
2. Execute xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch to complete initial setup.
3. Install the skill using the ClawHub command: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/tristanmanchester/ios-simulator.
4. For full UI-based automation features, ensure idb-companion is installed. The skill provides metadata hooks to simplify this via Homebrew.
5. Verify functionality by running node {baseDir}/scripts/ios-sim.mjs health to ensure all system dependencies are detected.

Use Cases

• Automated QA Testing: Run suites of UI tests across multiple device configurations to identify regression bugs in mobile applications.
• Continuous Integration/Deployment: Automatically install and verify build artifacts on a fresh simulator state to ensure deployment readiness.
• Accessibility Auditing: Use the ui summary and ui tree features to programmatically check for missing accessibility labels and ensure compliance with mobile design standards.
• Demo Automation: Generate consistent, clean screenshots for marketing materials or onboarding flows by driving the application to specific screens automatically.

Example Prompts

1. "Open the iOS Simulator, select the latest iPhone 15 Pro model, and install the build located in ./dist/app-v1.2.app."
2. "Launch the app com.example.app, navigate to the settings screen, and take a high-resolution screenshot saved in the current directory."
3. "Inspect the current UI, find the button labeled 'Login', and perform a tap action to simulate a user login attempt."

Tips & Limitations

• OS Restriction: This skill is strictly limited to macOS hosts. If your agent is running in a cloud environment, you must delegate these tasks to a dedicated macOS node.
• State Management: The skill utilizes an .ios-sim-state.json file. Be aware of this file when working in shared environments to avoid cross-talk between different simulator sessions.
• Performance: For large-scale UI operations, prefer using specific idb commands for querying rather than dumping the entire UI tree, which can be computationally expensive and generate large JSON responses.