AXe Reference

Reference for AXe, a CLI tool for automating iOS Simulator interactions using Apple's Accessibility APIs. Enables tapping by accessibility identifier, gestures, text input, screenshots, video recording, and UI tree inspection -- all without a daemon.

When to Use This Reference

Use this reference when:

• Automating UI interactions in the iOS Simulator beyond what simctl offers
• Tapping elements by accessibility identifier or label instead of fragile coordinates
• Recording video or streaming from the simulator via CLI
• Inspecting the accessibility tree to discover element identifiers
• Building CI/CD automation scripts that interact with simulator UI

Example Prompts

Questions you can ask Claude that will draw from this reference:

• "How do I tap a button in the simulator by accessibility ID?"
• "How do I type text into a field in the iOS Simulator from the command line?"
• "How do I record video from the simulator?"
• "How do I inspect the UI tree to find element identifiers?"
• "What's the difference between AXe and simctl?"
• "How do I automate a login flow in the simulator?"

What's Covered

• Installation via Homebrew and UDID discovery
• Tapping by accessibility identifier, label, or coordinates (with priority guidance)
• describe-ui for inspecting the full accessibility tree and element frames
• Swipe, scroll, and edge gesture commands
• Text input with character delay and stdin/file support
• Hardware button simulation (home, lock, Siri, Apple Pay)
• Screenshots and video recording/streaming
• Common workflows: login flows, scroll-to-find, error capture
• AXe vs simctl capability comparison
• Troubleshooting: element not found, tap failures, text input issues

Key Pattern

Always inspect the UI tree before automating interactions:

# 1. Get the UI tree with element identifiers
axe describe-ui --udid $UDID

# 2. Tap by accessibility ID (most stable)
axe tap --id "loginButton" --udid $UDID

# 3. Or by label (stable, but may change with localization)
axe tap --label "Login" --udid $UDID

Priority order: --id (most stable) > --label > -x -y coordinates (last resort).

Documentation Scope

This page documents the axiom-axe-ref reference skill -- the complete AXe CLI guide Claude uses when you need to automate simulator UI interactions.

For UI testing with XCTest: See UI Testing for Xcode's built-in UI testing framework.

For simctl device control: AXe handles UI interactions; use xcrun simctl for device lifecycle, permissions, push notifications, and deep links.

Related

• UI Testing -- Xcode UI testing with Recording UI Automation

Resources

GitHub: https://github.com/cameroncooke/AXe