Era

A fast and ergonomic iOS Simulator CLI tool written in Rust.

Overview

Era provides a command-line interface for managing iOS Simulators, offering a more streamlined alternative to xcrun simctl. It supports common simulator operations like booting, shutting down, installing apps, and taking screenshots, as well as advanced input automation features.

Installation

cargo install era

Requirements

• macOS with Xcode and Simulator installed
• Rust toolchain (for building from source)

Commands

Command	Description
list	List available simulators
boot	Boot a simulator
shutdown	Shutdown a simulator
install	Install an app on a simulator
launch	Launch an app on a simulator
screenshot	Take a screenshot of a simulator
input	Send keyboard input to a simulator
openurl	Open a URL in the simulator
tap	Tap on the simulator screen (supports --scale for pixel coordinates)
swipe	Swipe on the simulator screen (supports --scale for pixel coordinates)
enumerate	Enumerate available input devices

Usage Examples

List Simulators

# List all simulators
era list

# List only booted simulators
era list --booted

Boot and Shutdown

# Boot a simulator by name or UDID
era boot "iPhone 16 Pro"
era boot 12345678-ABCD-1234-ABCD-123456789ABC

# Shutdown a simulator
era shutdown "iPhone 16 Pro"

# Shutdown all simulators
era shutdown all

App Management

# Install an app
era install -d "iPhone 16 Pro" /path/to/MyApp.app

# Launch an app by bundle ID
era launch -d "iPhone 16 Pro" com.example.myapp

Screenshot

# Take a screenshot
era screenshot -d "iPhone 16 Pro" screenshot.png

Input Simulation

# Send keyboard input
era input -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -k home
era input -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -k lock
era input -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -k return
era input -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -k volume-up
era input -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -k volume-down
era input -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -k shake

URL Handling

# Open a URL in the simulator
era openurl -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -u "https://example.com"

# Open a deep link
era openurl -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -u "myapp://settings"

Touch Automation

# Tap at coordinates (in points)
era tap -d "iPhone 16 Pro" -x 200 -y 400

# Tap with pixel coordinates using --scale option
# Use --scale to convert pixel coordinates to points
# Example: 1260px / 3 (scale factor) = 420 points
era tap -d booted -x 1260 -y 2736 --scale 3

# Swipe gesture (in points)
era swipe -d "iPhone 16 Pro" --start-x 100 --start-y 500 --end-x 100 --end-y 200

# Swipe with pixel coordinates
era swipe -d booted --start-x 300 --start-y 1500 --end-x 300 --end-y 600 --scale 3

Coordinate Conversion

The --scale option enables automatic pixel-to-point conversion for tap and swipe commands. This is useful when working with coordinates obtained from screenshot tools or UI inspection tools that report pixel values.

Device	Scale Factor
Standard displays (iPhone SE, etc.)	2
Super Retina displays (iPhone 16 Pro, etc.)	3

Formula: point = pixel / scale

Device Enumeration

# List input devices
era enumerate -d "iPhone 16 Pro"

IDB Integration

Era optionally integrates with idb (iOS Development Bridge) for advanced UI automation features. While basic functionality works with simctl alone, idb provides more reliable touch input simulation.

Installing IDB

brew install idb-companion

When idb is not installed, Era gracefully falls back to simctl-based operations where possible.

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/tosh7/Era.git
cd Era
cargo build --release

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.