simctl passthrough reference

sim-remote simctl <SUBCOMMAND> [ARGS...]

sim-remote simctl runs xcrun simctl on the machine. For a subcommand that sim-remote forwards without changes, the subcommand name, the arguments, the options, the output and the exit codes are the ones of simctl. The subcommands in the table below are different. sim-remote runs them on its own, accepts only the forms in the table, and can print an error of its own. sim-remote simctl help [SUBCOMMAND] shows the usage of simctl.

Subcommands with local files

Most arguments go to the machine without changes. A subcommand that names a file is different, because a path from your computer means nothing on the machine. sim-remote runs these subcommands on its own and moves the file for you.

Subcommand	Direction	Description
install <DEVICE> <PATH>	Upload	Upload the .app bundle and install it
install_app_data <DEVICE> <PATH>	Upload	Upload the .xcappdata bundle
addmedia <DEVICE> <PATH>...	Upload	Upload every file after the device
push <DEVICE> [<BUNDLE_ID>] <FILE>|-	Upload	Read the payload from the file or from stdin (-). sim-remote rejects a malformed payload with the message of simctl
keychain <DEVICE> add-cert <PATH> and keychain <DEVICE> add-root-cert <PATH>	Upload	Upload the certificate. keychain <DEVICE> reset goes to the machine without changes
io <DEVICE> screenshot [--type=<TYPE>] [--display=<DISPLAY>] [--mask=<MASK>] <FILE>	Download	Save the screenshot to the file on your computer. Without --type, the extension of the file selects the type: png, tif, tiff, jpg, jpeg, bmp or gif. Other extensions produce PNG
io <DEVICE> recordVideo [--codec=h264|hevc] [--display=<DISPLAY>] [--mask=<MASK>] [--force] <FILE>	Download	Record until you press Ctrl-C, then save the video to the file on your computer. record-video is also accepted
get_app_container <DEVICE> <BUNDLE_ID> [<CONTAINER>]	Download	Download a copy of the container to your computer
pbcopy <DEVICE>	Clipboard	Copy stdin from your computer to the clipboard of the simulator
pbsync <SOURCE> <DESTINATION>	Clipboard	Sync the clipboards when one side is host. host is your computer
boot <DEVICE> and shutdown <DEVICE>|all	None	sim-remote runs these on its own for a faster response. The arguments are the ones of simctl

sim-remote accepts these subcommands in the forms above only. For another form, sim-remote prints an error that names the accepted usage:

sim-remote runs `simctl install` itself rather than forwarding it, and so far only accepts: simctl install <device> <path>

Subcommands without changes

All other subcommands go to the machine as they are. This includes list, launch, terminate, listapps, uninstall, create, delete, erase, clone, rename, upgrade, bootstatus, openurl, getenv, status_bar, ui, privacy, logverbose, icloud_sync, pbpaste and io enumerate.

launch --console streams the output of the app to your terminal for as long as the app runs.

Limits

• One upload is at most 1 GiB. A larger upload fails with upload exceeds the 1 GiB limit.
• sim-remote streams the output. When the consumer closes the pipe, for example | head, the remote command stops.
• The paths of --display and --mask are options, and sim-remote passes them to simctl without changes.