iOS Simulator MCP server

This MCP server enables programmatic control over iOS simulators through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It allows you to manage simulators, install applications, and launch apps directly from Claude or other MCP-compatible systems.

Installation

To use the iOS Simulator MCP Server, you need to add it to your Claude Config JSON file. This configuration tells Claude how to communicate with the simulator server.

Add the following to your Claude Config JSON file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "simulator": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "y",
        "@joshuarileydev/simulator-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Usage

Once configured, you can use the simulator MCP server to perform various operations:

Listing Available Simulators

You can get a list of all available iOS simulators on your system:

// Example of how to request simulator list through MCP

Booting Simulators

To start a specific simulator:

// Example command to boot a simulator by ID

Shutting Down Simulators

When you're done with a simulator, you can shut it down:

// Example command to shut down a simulator

Installing Applications

You can install .app bundles on a simulator:

// Example of installing an app to a simulator

Launching Applications

To launch an installed application on a simulator:

// Example of launching an app by bundle ID

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues with the simulator MCP server, ensure that:

• You have Xcode and iOS simulators properly installed
• Your Claude Config JSON file is correctly formatted
• You have proper permissions to access the iOS simulators

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":"npx","args":["y","@joshuarileydev/simulator-mcp-server"]}'

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": "npx",
            "args": [
                "y",
                "@joshuarileydev/simulator-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": "npx",
            "args": [
                "y",
                "@joshuarileydev/simulator-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect