baguette — programmatic iOS simulator control

baguette is a macOS CLI that drives iOS simulators directly via Apple's private SimulatorHID (the same path Xcode uses internally). It works on iOS 26.4 + Xcode 26 + Apple Silicon and is faster + more reliable than idb / AXe / simctl io for input.

This skill is for agents that need to interact with a running simulator (taps, swipes, screenshots, gesture sequences). Humans wanting a "play the simulator in a browser" UI should be pointed at baguette serve and http://localhost:8421/simulators/<udid> — but agents drive the CLI.

The agent's happy path

Most automation jobs follow the same shape:

# 1. Find a booted device.
baguette list                              # human-readable
baguette list --json                       # machine-readable: {running, available}

# 2. Boot one if nothing is running.
baguette boot --udid <UDID>

# 3. Get the screen size — you need this for every gesture.
baguette chrome layout --udid <UDID>       # → {composite:{width,height}, screen:{width,height}, ...}

# 4. Drive it.
baguette tap --udid <UDID> --x 219 --y 478 --width 438 --height 954

# 5. Verify what happened (capture one JPEG of the framebuffer).
baguette screenshot --udid <UDID> --output /tmp/frame.jpg

Steps 3–4 are the part that bites — see "The coordinate footgun" below.

The coordinate footgun (read this)

All x / y / startX / endX / x1 / x2 / cx / cy are in device points — same units as the width / height you pass alongside.

A "tap at the centre of an iPhone 17 Pro Max" is x:219, y:478 (half of 438×954). It is not x:0.5, y:0.5 (normalized). It is not x:1206, y:2622 (raw pixels). The HID adapter normalises internally.

To get the right width / height for a UDID:

baguette chrome layout --udid <UDID> | jq '.screen | {width, height}'
# → {"width": 438, "height": 954}

Always use the values from chrome layout — different devices have different point sizes, and hardcoding "438×954" only works for iPhone 17 Pro Max.

One-shot vs streaming gestures

Two ways to send input. Pick by frequency:

• One-shot (baguette tap / swipe / pinch / pan / press) — separate process per gesture. Right for a handful of distinct interactions in a shell script. Each invocation pays the SimulatorHID setup cost (~50–100ms).

• Streaming (baguette input --udid <UDID>) — long-running process reading newline-delimited JSON from stdin, writing {"ok":true} / {"ok":false,"error":…} to stdout per line. Right for sequences of many gestures (drags, multi-finger choreography, demo playback) where per-gesture latency matters. Same wire format the WebSocket uses.

# One-shot.
baguette tap --udid X --x 219 --y 478 --width 438 --height 954

# Streaming (open the pipe once, send many).
( echo '{"type":"tap","x":219,"y":478,"width":438,"height":954,"duration":0.05}'
  echo '{"type":"swipe","startX":219,"startY":760,"endX":219,"endY":190,"width":438,"height":954,"duration":0.3}'
) | baguette input --udid X

For the full wire-format spec (every gesture type with examples), read references/wire-protocol.md.

Visual verification — let the agent see what happened

After driving a UI flow, the agent usually needs to confirm state. The right tool is baguette screenshot — a one-shot JPEG of the simulator's framebuffer with no streaming session involved:

baguette screenshot --udid <UDID> --output /tmp/frame.jpg
baguette screenshot --udid <UDID> > /tmp/frame.jpg          # stdout works too
baguette screenshot --udid <UDID> --quality 0.6 --scale 2 > thumb.jpg

Defaults: --quality 0.85, --scale 1 (native). --scale 2 halves each dimension; useful when you only need a quick visual check.

Equivalent HTTP route during baguette serve: GET http://localhost:8421/simulators/<UDID>/screenshot.jpg[?quality=][?scale=].

Important: SimulatorKit only emits a frame when something on screen changes. A booted-but-idle simulator (lock screen with no second hand) may not produce one within the 2 s timeout — baguette screenshot exits non-zero and prints Failure.timeout. Wake the device with a gesture first if you're capturing a static state:

baguette tap --udid <UDID> --x 1 --y 1 --width "$W" --height "$H"  # nudge
sleep 0.2
baguette screenshot --udid <UDID> --output /tmp/frame.jpg

Then Read /tmp/frame.jpg to inspect (Claude Code's Read tool handles images).

For a snapshot while a baguette serve WebSocket is already open, send {"type":"snapshot"} on that channel — the server emits a keyframe immediately. Use this only when the WS is already live; for fresh captures baguette screenshot is one HTTP-free command.

For a presentation image on a 3D device model, use render-3d:

baguette render-3d --udid <UDID> \
  --variant finish=deep-blue --rotation=-8,18,0 \
  --size 1200x1200 --output /tmp/device.png

An existing image can be rendered with --screen <image> --device <model-id>. The HTTP equivalents are GET /simulators/<UDID>/3d-model.json for public model/variant metadata and POST /simulators/<UDID>/render-3d.png for the PNG. This is a one-shot presentation surface; gestures still target the live 2D stream.

What's wired vs what isn't

Wired (use freely):

• tap, swipe, touch1-{down,move,up}, touch2-{down,move,up}, pinch, pan, scroll. touch1-* events accept an optional edge: "bottom" | "top" | "left" | "right" field that flags every event in the chain as a screen-edge system gesture; bottom engages iOS's home-indicator recognizer (live home / app-switcher preview as the touches stream); top engages the status-bar recognizer (live lock-screen cover sheet from a top-left drag, Notification Center from a top-right drag). Omit edge for ordinary interior touches.
• button: home, lock, power, volume-up, volume-down, action, app-switcher, swipe-to-app-switcher, swipe-to-home, pull-down-to-lock-screen, pull-down-to-notification-center. Optional --duration / "duration" for long-press semantics (action button "Hold for Ring", power → Siri / SOS, …). The five virtual buttons land iOS gesture recognition without any client-side stream management. app-switcher fires two home presses ~150 ms apart (SpringBoard's own multitasking recipe); swipe-to-app-switcher is the slow drag-and-hold variant on the gesture path; swipe-to-home is the fast edge-flick → Home; pull-down-to-lock-screen and pull-down-to-notification-center drag down from top-left and top-right respectively.
• key (single keystroke) and type (US-ASCII string). CLI: baguette key --code KeyA --modifiers shift,command --duration 0.2 and baguette type --text "hello". code is a W3C KeyboardEvent.code; modifiers are shift | control | option | command.
• paste — arbitrary unicode into the focused field via the sim's pasteboard + Cmd+V (the path around type's US-ASCII limit; not a HID-only path — shells out to xcrun simctl pbcopy). Wire: {"type":"paste","text":"…","press":false?} on the stream WS (replies paste_result) and input stdin. CLI: baguette paste --udid <X> --text "…" [--no-press]; plus baguette clipboard get (print the sim's pasteboard raw) and baguette clipboard sync (host Mac pasteboard → sim, full-fidelity — images included). Needs a booted device. See docs/features/paste.md.
• copy — the sim→host interactive mirror of paste: press Cmd+C sim-side (focused field copies its selection), then ferry the pasteboard onto the host Mac's clipboard, full-fidelity — images included (xcrun simctl pbsync <udid> host). Wire: {"type":"copy","press":false?} on the stream WS (replies copy_result) and input stdin — press:false skips the keystroke for a pure ferry. Browser Cmd+C / Ctrl+C while the screen has focus sends it. CLI: baguette clipboard copy --udid <X> is a pure ferry (no keystroke). Browser copy targets the machine running baguette (local-dev happy path). Needs a booted device. See docs/features/paste.md.
• describe-ui — dump the on-screen accessibility tree as JSON (per-node role, label, value, identifier, frame in device points, recursive children). CLI: baguette describe-ui --udid <X> (full tree) or baguette describe-ui --udid <X> --x <px> --y <px> (hit-test). Frames are in the same units as tap / swipe wire fields, so reading frame.x + frame.width/2, frame.y + frame.height/2 back into a tap envelope just works.
• interface — the accessibility-display family: light / dark appearance, Increase Contrast, and content size (Dynamic Type, including the five accessibility sizes). CLI: baguette interface appearance|contrast|text-size --udid <X> [<value>] — no value reads, a value sets. HTTP: GET /simulators/<X>/interface.json and POST /simulators/<X>/interface (any subset, answers the resulting state). Backed by xcrun simctl ui (not a HID path). A read on a device that isn't booted answers unknown and exits 0 — a state to check for, not a failure; unsupported means the runtime lacks the setting. Neither can be set. Pairs with describe-ui: change the conditions, re-dump the tree, compare. See docs/features/interface.md.
• logs — stream the booted simulator's unified log line-by-line to stdout. CLI: baguette logs --udid <X> [--level info|debug|default] [--style default|compact|json|ndjson|syslog] [--predicate ...] [--bundle-id <id>]. SIGINT (Ctrl-C) tears down cleanly. WS variant on WS /simulators/<X>/logs?level=&style=&predicate=&bundleId= emits {"type":"log","line":"..."} text frames per entry. Levels: only default | info | debug (iOS-runtime narrow — host notice / error / fault are rejected at the wire).
• camera — pipe a camera source (a live Mac webcam, an uploaded still image, or a looping uploaded video) into the iOS app's AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer / AVCapturePhotoOutput / UIImagePickerController. No CLI; use the WS at WS /simulators/<UDID>/camera — camera_list / camera_start (with source: webcam | image | video) / camera_stop / camera_set_flags upstream, camera_devices / camera_state downstream (phase = idle | streaming, plus live fps and active source). Image/video files upload first via POST /simulators/<UDID>/camera-source?name=<file>. Frames flow through /tmp/SimCam.bgra (24-byte LE header + BGRA pixels) into VirtualCamera.dylib loaded inside the simulator via DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES. Apps launched before arming don't load the dylib — relaunch them. Browser UI lives under the Camera card on /simulators/<UDID>.
• install / add-media — add a file to the device. baguette install --udid <X> <path> installs an .ipa / .app; baguette add-media --udid <X> <path> adds an image / video (png jpg jpeg gif heic heif mov mp4 m4v) to Photos. Both shell out to xcrun simctl install / addmedia (not a HID path). serve exposes one entry point — POST /simulators/<X>/files?name=<filename> with the raw bytes as the body — and routes by extension (app → install, .zip carrying one top-level .app → extract via ditto -x -k + install, media → Photos); a file with no home on a simulator returns 415. The browser focus page accepts drag-and-drop onto the device, including a bare .app directory — it's packed into a stored zip in-page and posted as <Name>.app.zip. See docs/features/file-upload.md.
• location — set the device's simulated GPS position (not a HID path; shells out to xcrun simctl location). baguette location set --udid <X> <lat,lon> pins a point; baguette location start --udid <X> [--speed <m/s>] [--distance <m>] [--interval <s>] <lat,lon> <lat,lon>… runs a moving route; baguette location walk --udid <X> --bearing <deg> --speed <m/s> <lat,lon> heads off along a compass bearing (driving CLLocation.course); baguette location clear --udid <X> restores live location. Position/waypoints are lat,lon tokens (e.g. 37.3318,-122.0312); a token whose latitude starts with - must follow a -- separator. serve: POST /simulators/<X>/location with a {latitude,longitude} point, {waypoints:[…],speed?} route, or {latitude,longitude,bearing,speed} walk body, and DELETE to clear. Out-of-range, <2-waypoint, or speed-less-walk bodies return 400. Browser focus page has a Location card (map-pin toolbar button) with a Leaflet map and a Walk joystick — the stick steers absolute, while W/S drive along the current heading and A/D turn it (tank controls); Replay retraces the walked trail as a route. Two iOS-26 limits: CLHeading (compass) is unavailable in the simulator entirely (headingAvailable() == false), and course is derived on a flat lat/lon grid so diagonal bearings skew by 1/cos(latitude) (~6.5° at lat 37; cardinals are exact). See docs/features/location.md.

NOT wired (skill should NOT propose these):

• Non-ASCII text through type — IME / Pinyin / accented / emoji isn't on the host-HID keystroke path. Use baguette paste --udid <X> --text "…" (or the paste wire verb) for those strings — it rides the pasteboard instead of keystrokes.
• F-keys, Page Up/Down, Home/End through key — outside the phase-1 supported code set. Most iOS apps don't use them anyway.
• button: "siri" — crashes backboardd via every known path. Refused by the CLI.

Composing flows — the smoke-test pattern

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
UDID="$1"

# Resolve screen size once; reuse for every gesture.
read W H < <(baguette chrome layout --udid "$UDID" \
  | jq -r '.screen | "\(.width) \(.height)"')

# Wake / unlock.
baguette press --udid "$UDID" --button lock      # toggle (sleep if awake)
sleep 0.5
baguette press --udid "$UDID" --button lock      # back on

# Home → tap Settings.
baguette press --udid "$UDID" --button home
sleep 0.4
baguette tap --udid "$UDID" --x $((W * 75 / 100)) --y $((H * 55 / 100)) \
              --width "$W" --height "$H"

# Capture proof.
baguette stream --udid "$UDID" --format mjpeg --fps 1 \
  | head -c 200000 > /tmp/settings.jpg

Note width/height reuse: every gesture pays the same coordinate convention, so resolving once and re-passing avoids the footgun.

Pairing with Claude Code

The natural loop when an agent edits a SwiftUI app:

1. Edit code → ⌘B in Xcode (or xcodebuild) → app reloads on the sim.
2. Agent uses baguette press --button home then baguette tap … to navigate to the screen it just changed.
3. Agent captures a frame (above), Reads the JPEG, and confirms the pixels match intent.

If the human wants to follow along visually, also point them at http://localhost:8421/simulators/<udid> (after starting baguette serve) — that's a focused single-tab view of the sim, no Xcode window juggling.

Reference files

• references/wire-protocol.md — every gesture type with copy-pasteable JSON examples + the coordinate convention restated.
• references/cli.md — full subcommand list, flags, and exit/output format for each baguette command.

Read these on demand — don't pull both into context unless the task actually needs the breadth (e.g., authoring a long input pipeline → read wire-protocol.md; debugging which subcommand to use → read cli.md).

Install (only when missing)

brew install baguette
baguette --version

Requires Xcode 26 + Apple Silicon. If baguette already works, skip this — agents shouldn't reinstall on every invocation.