What it does

Provides programmatic control and inspection of iOS simulators through the Model Context Protocol. Offers tools to interact with simulated devices—tapping specific coordinates, swiping, typing text—and to inspect their UI state via accessibility tree queries, coordinate-based element lookup, and screenshot capture.

Who it's for

iOS and React Native developers automating simulator-based testing or debugging workflows within Claude Code or other MCP clients. QA engineers building test automation that removes manual interaction with the simulator GUI.

Common use cases

Automate end-to-end test flows by tapping, swiping, and typing into simulator UI elements
Capture screenshots during test runs for verification, comparison, or debugging
Locate specific UI elements by accessibility label or type, then interact with them programmatically
Inspect the accessibility tree to understand app structure and identify automatable elements
Verify app behavior under rapid programmatic interaction without writing native test code

Setup pitfalls

Requires a booted iOS Simulator and Xcode installed on macOS; there is no cross-platform alternative
Simulator UDID must be specified either per tool call or via the IDB_UDID environment variable; omitting both fails silently on systems with multiple simulators
Screenshot output paths default to ~/Downloads unless overridden via the IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable
Prior versions contained command injection vulnerabilities; ensure you install v1.3.3 or later

Tool name

Description

Destructive?

get_booted_sim_id

✓ no

open_simulator

✓ no

ui_describe_all

✓ no

ui_tap

✓ no

ui_type

✓ no

ui_swipe		✓ no
ui_describe_point		✓ no
ui_find_element		✓ no
ui_view		✓ no
screenshot		✓ no
record_video		✓ no
stop_recording		✓ no
install_app		✓ no
launch_app		✓ no

ios-simulator-mcp

What it does

Who it's for

Common use cases

Setup pitfalls