mobilecli
A universal command-line tool for managing iOS and Android devices, simulators, emulators and apps from Mobile Next.
Features 🚀
- Device Management: List, manage, interactive with connected mobile devices
- Cross-Platform Support: Works with iOS physical devices, iOS simulators, Android devices, and Android emulators
- Emulator/Simulator Control: Boot and shutdown emulators and simulators programmatically
- Screenshot Capture: Take screenshots from any connected device with format options
- Multiple Output Formats: Save screenshots as PNG or JPEG with quality control
- Screencapture video streaming: Stream mjpeg/h264 video directly from device
- Device Control: Reboot devices, tap screen coordinates, press hardware buttons
- App Management: Launch, terminate, install, uninstall, clear data, list, and get foreground apps
- Filesystem: Push, pull, list, mkdir, and rm files on-device or in app containers (Android, iOS Simulator)
- Location Override: Fake the GPS location reported by a device
- Crash Reports: List and fetch crash reports from iOS and Android devices
- Device Logs: Stream real-time device logs with filtering from iOS and Android devices
- Webview Inspection: List, navigate, query DOM, and evaluate JavaScript in embedded webviews
🎯 Platform Support
| Platform | Supported |
|---|---|
| iOS Real Device | ✅ |
| iOS Simulator | ✅ |
| Android Real Device | ✅ |
| Android Emulator | ✅ |
Installation 📦
Prerequisites 📋
- Android SDK with
adbin PATH (for Android device support) - Xcode Command Line Tools (for iOS simulator support on macOS)
Install globally with npm
npm install -g mobilecli@latest
Shell Completion ⌨️
# zsh echo 'source <(mobilecli completion zsh)' >> ~/.zshrc # bash 4.1+ (requires bash-completion; macOS ships bash 3.2) echo 'source <(mobilecli completion bash)' >> ~/.bashrc # fish mobilecli completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/mobilecli.fish
Run mobilecli completion --help for PowerShell and other options.
Agent Setup 🤖
Install mobilecli and add the skill so your coding agent knows how to use it:
npm install -g mobilecli@latest npx skills add https://github.com/mobile-next/mobilecli
CLI Reference
List Connected Devices 🔍
# List all online devices and simulators mobilecli devices # List all devices including offline emulators and simulators mobilecli devices --include-offline
Note: Offline emulators and simulators can be booted using the mobilecli device boot command.
Default Device 🎯
When only one device is online, mobilecli selects it automatically and --device isn't needed.
With several devices online, set MOBILECLI_DEVICE to skip --device on every command. An explicit --device still takes precedence.
export MOBILECLI_DEVICE=<device-id> # Taps on $MOBILECLI_DEVICE mobilecli io tap 100,200 # Overrides $MOBILECLI_DEVICE for this command only mobilecli io tap --device <other-device-id> 100,200
Take Screenshots 📸
# Take a PNG screenshot (default) mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> # Take a JPEG screenshot with custom quality mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> --format jpeg --quality 80 # Scale the screenshot down to half size mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> --scale 0.5 # Limit the largest dimension to 800 pixels, keeping aspect ratio mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> --max-size 800 # Crop to a region (x,y,width,height in screen points), applied before scaling mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> --clip 10,80,300,200 # Save to specific path mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> --output screenshot.png # Output to stdout mobilecli screenshot --device <device-id> --output -
UI Tree 🌳
# Dump the UI tree as indented text, each element with a ref like @e5 mobilecli snapshot --device <device-id> # Same as snapshot mobilecli dump ui --device <device-id> --format text # Dump the UI tree as JSON, including each element's rect mobilecli dump ui --device <device-id> # Tap an element by its ref from the latest dump mobilecli io tap --device <device-id> @e5
Stream Screen 🎥
mobilecli screencapture --device <device-id> --format mjpeg | ffplay -
Note that screencapture is one way. You will have to use io tap commands to tap on the screen.
Device Control 🎮
# Boot an offline emulator or simulator mobilecli device boot --device <device-id> # Shutdown a running emulator or simulator mobilecli device shutdown --device <device-id> # Reboot a device mobilecli device reboot --device <device-id> # Tap at coordinates (x,y) mobilecli io tap --device <device-id> 100,200 # Long press at coordinates (x,y) with optional duration in milliseconds mobilecli io longpress --device <device-id> 100,200 mobilecli io longpress --device <device-id> 100,200 --duration 2000 # Press hardware buttons mobilecli io button --device <device-id> HOME mobilecli io button --device <device-id> VOLUME_UP mobilecli io button --device <device-id> POWER # Send text mobilecli io text --device <device-id> 'hello world' # Read device clipboard mobilecli io clipboard get --device <device-id> # Write device clipboard mobilecli io clipboard set --device <device-id> 'hello world' # Send keys combination to paste (cmd+v for iOS, ctrl+v for Android) mobilecli io keys --device <device-id> "cmd+v"
Location Override 📍
# Fake the device location (latitude,longitude) mobilecli device location set --device <device-id> 37.7749,-122.4194 # Hold the override until Ctrl-C, then clear it automatically mobilecli device location set --device <device-id> 37.7749,-122.4194 --wait # Restore the real location mobilecli device location clear --device <device-id>
Caveats per platform:
| Platform | Notes |
|---|---|
| iOS Simulator | Works out of the box, the override survives mobilecli exiting |
| iOS Real Device | The override only lives as long as the mobilecli process that set it, so --wait is required. clear has to come from that same process |
| Android Emulator | Uses the emulator console. It has no way to undo a fix, so clear sets the location back to the coordinates an emulator boots with (the Googleplex), not to a real one |
| Android Real Device | Runs an on-device agent as a mock location provider, granting the mock_location appop to com.android.shell. Some OEM ROMs ignore mock providers, and apps checking Location.isFromMockProvider() or Play Integrity can tell |
Supported Hardware Buttons
HOME- Home buttonBACK- Back button (Android only)POWER- Power buttonVOLUME_UP,VOLUME_DOWN- Volume up and downDPAD_UP,DPAD_DOWN,DPAD_LEFT,DPAD_RIGHT,DPAD_CENTER- D-pad controls (Android only)
App Management 📱
# List installed apps on device mobilecli apps list --device <device-id> # Get currently foreground app mobilecli apps foreground --device <device-id> # Launch an app mobilecli apps launch <bundle-id> --device <device-id> # Terminate an app mobilecli apps terminate <bundle-id> --device <device-id> # Install an app (.apk for Android, .ipa for iOS, .zip for iOS Simulator) mobilecli apps install <path> --device <device-id> # Uninstall an app mobilecli apps uninstall <bundle-id> --device <device-id> # Clear app data (cache, preferences, databases) and reset permissions, without uninstalling # Supported on Android and iOS Simulator mobilecli apps clear <bundle-id> --device <device-id>
Filesystem 📂
Access files on the device or inside an app's data container. Currently supported on Android and iOS Simulator.
# Get the data container path of an app (Android) mobilecli apps path <bundle-id> --device <device-id> # List files at any absolute path (defaults to device root if omitted) mobilecli fs ls --device <device-id> mobilecli fs ls --device <device-id> /sdcard mobilecli fs ls --device <device-id> /sdcard/Download # List files inside an app's data container mobilecli fs ls --device <device-id> com.example.app mobilecli fs ls --device <device-id> com.example.app /Documents # Pull a file from the device to local disk mobilecli fs pull --device <device-id> /sdcard/recording.mp4 ./recording.mp4 # Pull a file from an app's private container mobilecli fs pull --device <device-id> /data/user/0/com.example.app/files/db.sqlite ./db.sqlite # Push a file to the device mobilecli fs push --device <device-id> ./config.json /sdcard/config.json # Push a file into an app's private container mobilecli fs push --device <device-id> ./config.json /data/user/0/com.example.app/files/config.json # Create a directory mobilecli fs mkdir --device <device-id> /sdcard/myfolder # Create a directory and all parent directories mobilecli fs mkdir --device <device-id> -p /sdcard/a/b/c mobilecli fs mkdir --device <device-id> -p /data/user/0/com.example.app/files/cache/v2 # Remove a file mobilecli fs rm --device <device-id> /sdcard/old_file.txt # Remove a directory recursively mobilecli fs rm --device <device-id> -r /sdcard/myfolder mobilecli fs rm --device <device-id> -r /data/user/0/com.example.app/files/cache
Notes:
- Paths under
/data/user/are accessed viarun-as, so the app must be debuggable. - Pushing to
/data/user/stages the file through/data/local/tmp/then copies it into the container. - Pulling binary files (images, databases, DEX files) is fully supported and binary-safe on all platforms.
Agent Management 🤖
On iOS, the on-device agent is required for touch input (taps, swipes, button presses), screen capture streaming, and UI tree inspection. These capabilities are not available through standard iOS tooling without an agent running on the device.
On Android, no agent is needed. Running mobilecli agent status on an Android device simply reports that.
# Check if the agent is installed on a device mobilecli agent status --device <device-id> # Install the agent mobilecli agent install --device <device-id> # Force reinstall the agent mobilecli agent install --device <device-id> --force # Install on a real iOS device (requires provisioning profile) mobilecli agent install --device <device-id> --provisioning-profile /path/to/profile.mobileprovision
Example output for agent status:
{
"status": "ok",
"data": {
"message": "Agent version 0.0.12 is installed on device",
"agent": {
"version": "0.0.12",
"bundleId": "com.mobilenext.devicekit-iosUITests.xctrunner"
}
}
}Webview Inspection 🌐
Inspect and interact with embedded webviews (WKWebView on iOS, android.webkit.WebView on Android) running inside native apps.
On Android the same commands also drive the tabs of Chrome when it is the foreground app, over the Chrome DevTools Protocol. Chrome freezes the tabs it is not showing, so only the visible tab (isVisible: true) answers eval and the commands built on it.
On iOS, real devices and simulators alike, the same commands also drive the tabs of Safari when it is the foreground app, through the device's Web Inspector service. A real device needs Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Web Inspector turned on. Safari does not keep the tabs it is not showing running: a command on such a tab fails after 2 seconds, so use the tab listed with isVisible: true.
# List embedded webviews in the foreground app mobilecli webview list --device <device-id> # Navigate a webview to a URL mobilecli webview goto <id> https://example.com --device <device-id> # Reload, go back or forward mobilecli webview reload <id> --device <device-id> mobilecli webview back <id> --device <device-id> mobilecli webview forward <id> --device <device-id> # Get current URL and page title mobilecli webview url <id> --device <device-id> mobilecli webview title <id> --device <device-id> # Dump the full HTML content of the page mobilecli webview content <id> --device <device-id> # Query DOM elements by CSS selector mobilecli webview query <id> "button" --device <device-id> mobilecli webview query <id> "[data-testid='submit']" --device <device-id> # Evaluate arbitrary JavaScript mobilecli webview eval <id> "document.querySelectorAll('a').length" --device <device-id> # Wait for the page to finish loading mobilecli webview wait <id> --state load --device <device-id> mobilecli webview wait <id> --state domcontentloaded --timeout 5000 --device <device-id>
Example output for webview list:
{
"status": "ok",
"data": [
{
"id": "1",
"url": "https://example.com",
"title": "Example Domain"
}
]
}Example output for webview query <id> "button":
{
"status": "ok",
"data": [
{ "tag": "button", "text": "Sign In", "id": "login-btn", "class": "btn-primary", "value": null, "href": null },
{ "tag": "button", "text": "Cancel", "id": null, "class": "btn-secondary", "value": null, "href": null }
]
}Crash Reports 💥
# List crash reports from a device mobilecli device crashes list --device <device-id> # Get a specific crash report by ID mobilecli device crashes get <crash-id> --device <device-id>
Example output for crashes list:
{
"status": "ok",
"data": [
{
"processName": "ShareExtension",
"timestamp": "2026-01-24-195529",
"id": "ShareExtension-2026-01-24-195529.ips"
}
]
}Note: On iOS real devices, crash reports are fetched via the Apple crashreport service. On iOS simulators, they are read from ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/. On Android, crashes are parsed from adb logcat -b crash.
Device Logs 📋
# Stream logs from a device (Ctrl+C to stop) mobilecli device logs --device <device-id> # Stop after 100 entries mobilecli device logs --device <device-id> --limit 100 # Filter by field (exact match) mobilecli device logs --filter process=SpringBoard mobilecli device logs --filter tag=ActivityManager # Exclude by field mobilecli device logs --filter process!=SpringBoard # Combine filters (AND logic) mobilecli device logs --filter level=Error --filter process!=SpringBoard
Supported filter keys: pid, process, tag, level, subsystem, category, message
Each log entry is printed as a JSON line:
{"timestamp":"2026-04-15 12:17:14.224451+0300","message":"Start proc...","level":"Default","subsystem":"com.apple.UIKit","category":"EventDispatch","pid":54052,"process":"SpringBoard"}Logs are also available over the HTTP API via the device.logs method, which takes the same limit and filters and returns a URL to stream from:
curl -X POST http://localhost:12000/rpc -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "device.logs", "id": 1, "params": { "deviceId": "<device-id>", "limit": 100, "filters": ["level=Error", "process!=SpringBoard"] } }' # => {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":{"sessionUrl":"/sessions/<session-id>/logs"}} curl -N http://localhost:12000/sessions/<session-id>/logs
The session expires one minute after creation and accepts a single connection. Disconnecting stops the log stream on the device.
Remote Devices ☁️
# Allocate a remote iOS device mobilecli remote allocate --platform ios --version ">=18" --name "iPhone*" --wait # Allocate a remote Android device (exact OS version) mobilecli remote allocate --platform android --version 14 --wait # List available remote devices mobilecli remote list-devices # Release an allocated remote device mobilecli remote release --device <device-id>
Claude Code Skill 🤖
This repo includes an agent skill (skills/mobilecli/SKILL.md) that teaches Claude Code (or any SKILL.md-compatible agent) how to drive mobilecli — listing devices, tapping and typing, dumping UI trees, managing apps, and using the JSON-RPC server for fast automation.
Install it with skills:
# current project only npx skills add mobile-next/mobilecli # or globally, for all projects npx skills add mobile-next/mobilecli -g
Then ask your agent things like "take a screenshot of my emulator" or "tap the login button" — the skill triggers automatically.
Daemon ⚙️
Every device command talks to a per-user background daemon that keeps discovered devices, iOS tunnels and on-device agents alive between invocations, so only the first command pays the discovery cost. The daemon starts automatically on the first device command (mobilecli --help and --version never start it) and exits after 30 minutes without requests.
# Inspect or control it explicitly mobilecli daemon status mobilecli daemon stop # Run it in the foreground (e.g. under a service manager), with a custom idle timeout mobilecli daemon start --idle-timeout 0
The CLI and daemon talk JSON-RPC over a unix domain socket in ~/.mobilecli/ (override with MOBILECLI_HOME); the daemon's log is ~/.mobilecli/daemon.log. A daemon left over from an older mobilecli version is restarted automatically. auth login and auth logout stop a running daemon so it picks up the new credentials.
On Android, the daemon keeps a small server running on the device (com.mobilenext.mobilecli.DeviceServer) that holds the device's only UiAutomation connection, so other UiAutomator clients such as uiautomator dump or Appium cannot run alongside it. The daemon stops that server when it exits, so mobilecli daemon stop hands the device back to other tools; the server also exits by itself after 30 minutes without requests (MOBILECLI_DEVICE_SERVER_IDLE_TIMEOUT=5m shortens that).
HTTP API 🔌
mobilecli provides an http interface for all the functionality that is available through command line. The server is a thin front for the daemon above, so HTTP clients and the CLI share one set of devices and tunnels.
For the full list of available JSON-RPC methods and their parameters, see the OpenRPC specification.
# Start the server (default port 12000) mobile server start curl http://localhost:12000/rpc -XPOST -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "id": 1, "method": "devices", "params": {}}' curl http://localhost:12000/rpc -XPOST -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "id": 1, "method": "screenshot", "params": {"deviceId": "your-device-id"}}'
WebSocket Support 🔌
mobilecli includes a WebSocket server that allows multiple requests over a single connection using the same JSON-RPC 2.0 format as the HTTP API.
# Start the server (default port 12000) mobilecli server start # Connect and send requests using wscat wscat -c ws://localhost:12000/ws > {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"devices","params":{}} < {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":[...]} > {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"screenshot","params":{"deviceId":"your-device-id"}} < {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"result":{...}}
Note: screencapture is not supported over WebSocket - use the HTTP /rpc endpoint for video streaming.
Platform-Specific Notes
iOS Real Devices
- Requires the on-device agent. Install it with
mobilecli agent install --device <device-id> --provisioning-profile /path/to/profile.mobileprovision. A valid Apple provisioning profile is needed to re-sign the agent for your device.
Development 👩💻
Building 🛠️
Please refer to (docs/TESTING.md) for further instructions regarding testing mobilecli locally.
make lint
make build
make testSupport 💬
For issues and feature requests, please use the GitHub Issues page.
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