iOS Simulator MCP

At a glance

Joshua Yoes's server lets a coding agent check its own iOS work. It reads the accessibility tree of the screen in a booted simulator, finds elements by label, taps, swipes and types, and takes a screenshot or records a video. It can also install, launch and stop apps and open URLs, which is handy for jumping straight to a deep link.

It works through Apple's simctl and Meta's IDB tool, so it only runs on a Mac with Xcode. Update to version 1.3.3 or later, which fixed command injection bugs in older releases.

Made by

Joshua Yoes and contributors

Licence

MIT

Latest version

2.1.0 (13 Aug 2026)

npm package

ios-simulator-mcp

GitHub stars

2.2K

Downloads

4.8K a week

Last commit

23 Oct 2026

Tools

17

Runs on

Your computer

Our check: We ran this exact config on 27 Oct 2026: it started and answered with 17 tools.

What's in the pod: its tools

We found 17 tools when we started it on 27 Oct 2026. 6 only read. The rest can change things, so keep your app's "ask before each tool call" setting on for them.

Grouped and described by us. The README on GitHub lists the inputs each tool takes.

Set it up

1. Install IDB: brew tap facebook/fb, brew install idb-companion, then pip install fb-idb for the idb command.
2. Boot a simulator from Xcode or with xcrun simctl boot.
3. Add the config below to your client.

Pick your app for the exact snippet and where it goes.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ios-simulator": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ios-simulator-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add-json ios-simulator '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","ios-simulator-mcp"]}'

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ios-simulator": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ios-simulator-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "ios-simulator": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ios-simulator-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ios-simulator": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ios-simulator-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Set IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_FILTERED_TOOLS in env to hide tools you do not want, IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR to choose where screenshots go, and IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_IDB_PATH if idb is not on your PATH.

New to this? See the setup guides for Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop and ChatGPT.

Settings

Names are exactly as the project spells them. Required ones are marked.

What it can touch

Safer setup: It only acts on simulators, never on a real device. Hide install_app or record_video with IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_FILTERED_TOOLS if you do not want the model using them.

Before you start

• macOS with Xcode and an iOS simulator
• Meta's IDB tool (idb-companion and the idb client)
• Node.js 20 or newer

If it does not work

Tools fail with idb: command not found

Install idb-companion with Homebrew and the idb client with pip, or point IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_IDB_PATH at it.

It says no simulator is booted

Boot one from Xcode or with xcrun simctl boot, or call open_simulator.

Screenshots land somewhere unexpected

Relative paths go to ~/Downloads. Set IOS_SIMULATOR_MCP_DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR to your project folder.

It will not start on Windows or Linux

iOS simulators only run on macOS, so neither does this server.

Peas in a pod: similar servers

How iOS Simulator MCP lines up against other developer tools servers on the shelf.

Questions

Something wrong on this page? Tell us.