iOS Simulator MCP server for AI agents

The MCP Server for iOS Simulator provides a bridge between iOS simulators and the Model Context Protocol, enabling programmatic control of iOS simulators through a standardized interface. It uses stdio as its transport mechanism, making it compatible with Claude Desktop and other MCP clients.

Prerequisites

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

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @atom2ueki/mcp-server-ios-simulator --client claude

Manual 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:

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 using its UDID
list-booted-simulators - List all currently booted simulators

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
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

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

Configure Claude Desktop to use this server:
- Open Claude Desktop
- Go to Settings > Advanced
- Add 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
- Save and restart Claude Desktop

Example commands for Claude:

Direct UDID Approach (Recommended):

"Show me all available iOS simulators"
"Boot the iOS simulator with UDID 5272EA61-5796-4372-86FE-3B33831D5CC1"
"Shut down the simulator with UDID 5272EA61-5796-4372-86FE-3B33831D5CC1"

Session-Based Approach (Advanced):

"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 install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

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

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For 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 > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

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

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

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 explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

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

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect