iOS Simulator MCP server

This MCP server for iOS simulator provides a bridge between iOS simulators and the Model Context Protocol, enabling programmatic control of iOS simulators through standardized communication. It uses stdio as its transport mechanism, making it ideal for integration with Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible clients.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or later)
• macOS (required for iOS simulators)
• Xcode with iOS simulators installed
• TypeScript 4.5+

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/atom2ueki/mcp-server-ios-simulator.git
cd mcp-server-ios-simulator

# Install dependencies
npm install

Configuration

Configuration is handled through environment variables:

SIMULATOR_DEFAULT_DEVICE=iPhone 16
SIMULATOR_DEFAULT_OS=18.2
SIMULATOR_TIMEOUT=30000

Usage

Building and Starting the Server

# Build the project
npm run build

# Start the server
npm start

MCP Tools

The server provides two approaches for controlling iOS simulators:

Direct Simulator Management (Recommended)

These tools work directly with simulator UDIDs without requiring session management:

• list-available-simulators - List all available simulators with their UDIDs
• boot-simulator-by-udid - Boot a simulator directly using its UDID
• shutdown-simulator-by-udid - Shutdown a simulator directly using its UDID
• list-booted-simulators - List all currently booted simulators

This approach is best when you just want to boot, use, and shut down simulators directly.

Session-Based Management (Advanced)

These tools use a session layer that tracks simulators with custom session IDs:

• list-simulator-sessions - List all active simulator sessions
• create-simulator-session - Create a new simulator session
• terminate-simulator-session - Terminate a session (shuts down simulator and cleans up)
• create-and-boot-simulator - Create a new simulator session and boot it
• boot-simulator - Boot a simulator for an existing session
• shutdown-simulator - Shutdown a simulator for an existing session

This approach is more suitable when tracking simulator metadata, referencing simulators by custom IDs, or using advanced management features.

Application Management

• install-app - Install an application on a simulator
• launch-app - Launch an application on a simulator
• terminate-app - Terminate a running application on a simulator

Interaction Tools

• take-screenshot - Take a screenshot of the simulator screen
• tap-coordinate - Perform a tap at the specified coordinates

Integration with Claude Desktop

1. Configure Claude Desktop to use this server as an MCP tool:

   • Open Claude Desktop
   • Go to Settings > Advanced
   • Add the following configuration to the "MCP Servers" section:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "simulator": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": [
           "/path/to/your/mcp-server-ios-simulator/dist/index.js"
         ]
       }
     }
   }
   

   • Replace /path/to/your with the actual path to your installation
   • Save the settings and restart Claude Desktop

2. Using the tools from Claude Desktop:

   Direct UDID Approach (Recommended):

   First, list available simulators:

   "Show me all available iOS simulators"
   

   Boot a specific simulator by UDID:

   "Boot the iOS simulator with UDID 5272EA61-5796-4372-86FE-3B33831D5CC1"
   

   When finished, shut it down:

   "Shut down the simulator with UDID 5272EA61-5796-4372-86FE-3B33831D5CC1"
   

   Session-Based Approach (Advanced):

   Only use this if you need session tracking features:

   "Create a new simulator session for iPhone 16 Pro with iOS 18.2"
   "Boot the simulator for session abc-123"
   "Take a screenshot of the simulator for session abc-123"
   "Terminate the simulator session abc-123"
   

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.