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ios-simulator-triage

Skill8 starsChanged 5 months agoMITView on GitHub

Diagnose and recover from failures when building, running, or driving an app on the iOS Simulator. A living catalog organized by layer: build failures (xcodebuild, CocoaPods, signing, codegen), runtime failures split into app-runtime vs Expo-runtime (the red error overlay), and automation failures that emit no error (element not found in the accessibility tree, stuck flow). Each layer names where its logs live. Used alongside ios-simulator and expo-ios-simulator when something breaks. Project-agnostic.

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

2 rules. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈1

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 1

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Very specific:

    Every layer has a log that names the cause.

    line 34
  2. Distinctive:

    Every factual claim here and in the references cites a primary source (the tools' own help, Apple).

    line 45

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

iOS Simulator Triage (living failure catalog)

Classify first (which layer failed), then recover. Most fixes live in the sibling skills; this skill routes you to them and supplies the logging tools that turn a symptom into a cause.

Route by symptom

  • It never installs or launches (xcodebuild, CocoaPods, or prebuild failed): a build failure -> references/build-failures.md.
  • It launches, then crashes or misbehaves: a runtime failure -> references/runtime-failures.md, split into app-native and Expo / React-Native because the logs and the fixes differ.
  • It runs, but AXe cannot find or tap the element: an automation failure -> references/automation-failures.md.

Read the logs first

Every layer has a log that names the cause; guessing without it wastes a cycle. references/logging.md is the cross-cutting tool, indexed by layer: the unified log (simctl spawn booted log stream), the app's stdout and stderr (simctl launch --console), crash reports, the diagnostic bundle (simctl diagnose), and the Metro terminal for the JS layer.

Rules

  • Identify the layer before changing anything; a build fix will not cure a runtime crash.
  • Pull the log before forming a hypothesis; the unified log or the crash report usually names the cause outright.
  • Every factual claim here and in the references cites a primary source (the tools' own help, Apple); a prior-art skill is never a source.

Out of scope

Happy-path driving -> ios-simulator and expo-ios-simulator. What makes an app addressable -> mobile-accessibility.

Where to go

  • references/build-failures.md: code signing, CocoaPods, prebuild, and architecture.
  • references/runtime-failures.md: native crashes and the Expo / RN failure modes.
  • references/automation-failures.md: empty describe-ui, missed taps, and blocking overlays.
  • references/logging.md: the unified log, console output, crash reports, and diagnose.

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