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sim-use

CLI that lets AI agents read and tap iOS Simulator and Android screens

Repository on GitHub ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Stars
1.5k
License
Apache-2.0
Last commit
Oct 2026
Last release
Oct 2026
Language
Swift
Stars, last 20 weeks+1,537
23 Jun 2026: 0 stars30 Jun 2026: 353 stars7 Jul 2026: 625 stars14 Jul 2026: 880 stars21 Jul 2026: 1,031 stars28 Jul 2026: 1,105 stars4 Aug 2026: 1,141 stars11 Aug 2026: 1,166 stars18 Aug 2026: 1,186 stars25 Aug 2026: 1,210 stars1 Sept 2026: 1,301 stars8 Sept 2026: 1,316 stars15 Sept 2026: 1,335 stars22 Sept 2026: 1,361 stars29 Sept 2026: 1,378 stars6 Oct 2026: 1,391 stars13 Oct 2026: 1,410 stars20 Oct 2026: 1,448 stars27 Oct 2026: 1,505 stars3 Nov 2026: 1,529 stars10 Nov 2026: 1,537 stars

0 on 23 Jun 20261,537 on 10 Nov 2026

From GitHub's daily star counts.

Checked on GitHub.

Overview

sim-use is a Swift CLI that prints a compact text outline of the current iOS Simulator or Android screen (`ui`) and acts on it with alias, id or label selectors (`tap @9`). It uses Apple Accessibility APIs, the Simulator HID pipeline and an Android AccessibilityService bridge APK behind one command set with `--json` output. A per-device daemon keeps round trips near 300 ms, and `sim-use init` installs a bundled agent skill.

Who it is for: Mobile developers letting coding agents verify iOS and Android app UIs

Strengths

  • Outline output is claimed ~16x more compact than a raw JSON accessibility tree
  • Same verbs and `--json` shape on iOS Simulator and Android emulator/device
  • Selectors: @N alias, #id, --label, or raw coordinates; orientation-aware on iOS
  • Installs via Homebrew; `sim-use init` adds a skill for Claude and other clients

Weaknesses

  • Full feature set is macOS 14+ only; Linux build covers Android verbs only
  • Physical iPhones are experimental and limited to ui, tap and screenshot
  • Building from source needs locally built idb XCFrameworks and XcodeGen
  • Android needs a bridge APK installed per device via `sim-use android init`

What it needs

  • no GPU
  • Needs macOS 14+, Xcode, Homebrew, adb (Android), Android bridge APK, Swift 6 toolchain (Linux, Android only)

Quick answers

Is sim-use open source?

Yes. Its code is on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 license.

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