Argent Device Interact

Unified tool surface

All interaction tools below accept a udid parameter and auto-dispatch iOS vs Android based on its shape (UUID → iOS simulator, chromium-cdp-<port> → Chromium (CDP) app, anything else → Android adb serial). You use the same tool names on every platform.

Chromium (CDP) app = any Chromium runtime exposing a Chrome DevTools Protocol endpoint: an Electron app (boot it with boot-device + electronAppPath), or any Chromium-family browser (Chrome/Brave/Edge) launched with --remote-debugging-port. The latter is auto-discovered by list-devices on port 9222 plus anything in ARGENT_CHROMIUM_PORTS. The same describe/tap/swipe/keyboard/screenshot surface drives all of them.

Multi-tab / windows (Chromium only): a Chromium device may have several tabs / BrowserWindows. Use chromium-tabs to list them (stable ids t1, t2, …, optional labels), open a new one, select which is active, or close one. Every other tool (describe, gesture-tap, screenshot, debugger-evaluate, open-url, …) acts on the active tab, so chromium-tabs action=select before driving a different tab. Note: a cross-process navigation (some redirects) can swap a tab's underlying CDP target — re-run chromium-tabs action=list to pick it up under a fresh id.

Cookies & storage (Chromium only): chromium-cookies reads/writes cookies via the Network domain (so HttpOnly cookies are visible): action=get (optionally scoped by url), set (name, value, + url/domain, optional secure/httpOnly/sameSite/expires), delete (name), clear (all). chromium-storage reads/writes Web Storage for the active page: store=local|session, action=get (one key or all entries), set, remove, clear. Both are per-origin / active-tab. Handy for seeding auth before a flow or asserting app state after one.

TV targets (Apple TV / Android TV) are not covered by this skill. A TV target is focus-driven, not touch-driven — the gesture-* tools are the wrong tools for it. This applies to both Apple TV simulators (UUID-shaped, identical to iOS) and Android TV / leanback devices (serial-shaped, identical to a phone emulator). If list-devices tags your target runtimeKind: "tv", stop and use the argent-tv-interact skill: describe to read focus, tv-remote for remote / D-pad presses, and keyboard to type.

For platform-specific caveats (Metro adb reverse, locked-screen describe errors, etc.), see § 9 Platform-specific notes at the bottom.

1. Before You Start

If you delegate simulator tasks to sub-agents, make sure they have MCP permissions.

Use list-devices to get a target id. Results are tagged with platform (ios, android, or chromium); booted/ready devices come first. Pick the first entry that matches the platform you need — if none are ready, call boot-device with udid (iOS), avdName (Android), or electronAppPath (boots an Electron app as a chromium device). A Chromium browser already running with a CDP port shows up directly — no boot-device needed. See argent-ios-simulator-setup / argent-android-emulator-setup for full setup flow.

Load tool schemas before first use. Gesture tools (gesture-tap, gesture-swipe, gesture-pinch, gesture-rotate, gesture-custom) may be deferred — their parameter schemas are not loaded until fetched. Always use ToolSearch to load the schemas of all gesture tools you plan to use before calling any of them. If you skip this step, parameters may be coerced to strings instead of numbers, causing validation errors.

2. Best Practices

1. Always refer to tapping_rule from your argent.md rule before tapping.
2. Before performing interactions, consider whether they can be dispatched sequentially - more on that in run-sequence.
3. Use gesture-swipe for lists/scrolling, not gesture-custom, unless you need non-linear movement. On Chromium use gesture-scroll instead — gesture-swipe is touch-only. Consider whether you need multiple swipes, if yes - use run-sequence.
4. Tap a text field before typing, then use keyboard to enter text.
5. Coordinates are normalized — always 0.0–1.0, not pixels.
6. For app navigation, prefer describe first. It works on any screen without app restart. Do not navigate from screenshots on regular in-app screens unless describe failed to expose a reliable target. Use native-describe-screen only when you need app-scoped UIKit properties.

3. Opening Apps

Never navigate to an app by tapping home-screen icons. Use launch-app or open-url — they are instant and reliable.

launch-app — by bundle ID

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "bundleId": "com.apple.MobileSMS" }

Common IDs: com.apple.MobileSMS (Messages), com.apple.mobilesafari (Safari), com.apple.Preferences (Settings), com.apple.Maps, com.apple.Photos, com.apple.mobilemail, com.apple.mobilenotes, com.apple.MobileAddressBook (Contacts)

open-url — by URL scheme

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "url": "messages://" }

Common schemes: messages://, settings://, maps://?q=<query>, tel://<number>, mailto:<address>, https://... (Safari)

4. Choosing the Right Tool

Action	Tool	Notes
Multiple actions	run-sequence	Batch steps in one call (no intermediate screenshots)
Open an app	launch-app	Always — never tap home-screen icons
Restart an app	restart-app	Terminate and relaunch by bundle ID
Open URL/scheme	open-url	Web pages, deep links, URL schemes
Single tap	gesture-tap	Buttons, links, checkboxes
Scroll/swipe	gesture-swipe	Straight-line scroll or swipe
Scroll (Chromium)	gesture-scroll	Wheel-based; deltas are window fractions, positive deltaY = down
Drag (Chromium)	gesture-drag	Sliders, drag-and-drop, text selection
Long press	gesture-custom	Context menus, drag start
Drag & drop	gesture-custom	Complex drag interactions
Pinch/zoom	gesture-pinch	Two-finger pinch with auto-interpolation
Rotation	gesture-rotate	Two-finger rotation with auto-interpolation
Custom gesture	gesture-custom	Arbitrary touch sequences, optional interpolation
Hardware key	button	Home, back, power, volume, appSwitch, actionButton
Type text	keyboard	Every platform. Text or one named key per call, never both
Paste text	paste	Only where a user would paste (OTP code, long link). Sim/emu only
Rotate device	rotate	Orientation changes
Shake device	shake	Shake handlers (sim/emu only), Undo-typing prompt, RN dev menu
Wait for UI	await-ui-element	Block until an element is visible/hidden/exists/contains text
Wait for idle	await-screen-idle	Block until a non-empty screen tree stops changing

5. Finding Tap Targets

IMPORTANT. When moved to a different screen after an action or do not know the coordinates of component, always perform proper discovery first.

App type	Discovery tool	What it returns
Target app discovery	describe	Accessibility element tree for the current device screen (iOS AX-service, Android uiautomator, or Chromium DOM walker) with normalized frame coordinates. Works on any app, system dialogs, and Home screen — no app restart or bundleId required
React Native	debugger-component-tree	React component tree with names, text, testID, and (tap: x,y)
App-scoped native	native-describe-screen	Low-level app-scoped accessibility elements with normalized and raw coordinates; requires bundleId
Permission / system modal overlay	describe	describe detects system dialogs automatically and returns dialog buttons with tap coordinates. Fall back to screenshot only if describe does not expose the controls
Final visual fallback	screenshot	Use only when discovery tools cannot inspect the current UI reliably. Do not derive routine in-app navigation targets from screenshots

Point follow-up native diagnostics after you already have a candidate point:

• native-user-interactable-view-at-point: deepest native view that would receive touch at a known raw iOS point; requires bundleId
• native-view-at-point: deepest visible native view at a known raw iOS point; requires bundleId

If describe Fails

Read the exact error and choose the action that matches it:

• Error mentions ax-service not available or daemon startup failure: the ax-service daemon could not start. Check that the simulator is booted. Use screenshot as a temporary fallback, or use native-describe-screen with an explicit bundleId if the app has native devtools injected.
• describe returns an empty element list: the screen may be blank, loading, or showing content without accessibility labels. Use screenshot to see what is visible, then retry after the content has loaded.
• describe succeeds but is not detailed enough for a React Native app: use debugger-component-tree next.
• You need app-scoped inspection with full UIKit properties (accessibilityIdentifier, viewClassName): use native-describe-screen with an explicit bundleId. This requires native devtools (dylib) injection.
• You already have a candidate point and want to confirm what would actually receive touch: use native-user-interactable-view-at-point. Use native-view-at-point when you want the visually deepest view instead of the hit-test target.

6. Tool Usage

gesture-tap — Single tap at a point

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "x": 0.5, "y": 0.5 }

Coordinates: 0.0 = left/top, 1.0 = right/bottom.

Before tapping near the bottom of the screen in React Native apps, check that "Open Debugger to View Warnings" banners are not visible — tapping them breaks the debugger connection. Close them with the X icon if present.

gesture-swipe — Straight-line gesture

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "fromX": 0.5, "fromY": 0.7, "toX": 0.5, "toY": 0.3 }

Swipe up (fromY > toY) = scroll content down. Default duration: 300ms. Optional: "durationMs": 500 for slower swipe.

gesture-pinch — Two-finger pinch

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "centerX": 0.5, "centerY": 0.5, "startDistance": 0.2, "endDistance": 0.6 }

All values are normalized 0.0–1.0 (fractions of screen, not pixels) — same as all other gesture tools. startDistance: 0.2 means fingers start 20% of the screen apart; endDistance: 0.6 means they end 60% apart. startDistance < endDistance = pinch out (zoom in). startDistance > endDistance = pinch in (zoom out). Defaults: angle: 0 (horizontal), durationMs: 300. Optional: "angle": 90 for vertical axis, "durationMs": 500 for slower pinch, "endCenterX"/"endCenterY" to let the centroid drift to a new center over the gesture (omitted = fixed center).

gesture-rotate — Two-finger rotation

{
  "udid": "<UDID>",
  "centerX": 0.5,
  "centerY": 0.5,
  "radius": 0.15,
  "startAngle": 0,
  "endAngle": 90
}

All positions and radii are normalized 0.0–1.0 (fractions of screen, not pixels). radius: 0.15 means each finger is 15% of the screen away from center. endAngle > startAngle = clockwise. Default duration: 300ms. Optional: "durationMs": 500 for slower rotation, and "radiusX"/"radiusY" (fractions of screen width/height; give both — they override radius) with radiusX·width = radiusY·height for a physically circular orbit — a single radius traces a physical ellipse on a non-square screen, coupling a slight pinch into the turn.

gesture-custom — Custom touch sequence

For long-press, drag-and-drop, and other complex sequences, see references/gesture-examples.md. Set "interpolate": 10 to auto-generate smooth intermediate Move events between keyframes.

button — Hardware button press

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "button": "home" }

Values: home, back, power, volumeUp, volumeDown, appSwitch, actionButton

keyboard — Type text or press special keys

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "text": "search query" }

One call does one action. text and key are mutually exclusive, and a call that carries both is rejected with nothing typed. To type and then submit, send two keyboard steps in one run-sequence (§ 8) — { "text": "search query" }, then { "key": "enter" }. Two separate calls do the same work, but cost an extra round-trip.

Special keys: enter, escape, backspace, tab, space, arrow-up, arrow-down, arrow-left, arrow-right, f1–f12. Optional: "delayMs": 100 between keystrokes (default 50ms) — applies to the iOS simulator and Chromium; it is ignored on Android phones/tablets (typed via adb input text, no per-key cadence), on Vega, and on TV targets.

Typing secrets. To enter a credential without its plaintext ever entering your context, transcript, or logs, use a secret placeholder in text (works in keyboard, paste, run-sequence keyboard steps, and flow type steps):

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "text": "{{secret:APP_PASSWORD}}" }

The placeholder is resolved on the machine running the tool-server, from the first of these that defines the name:

#	Source	Which keys it exposes
1	ARGENT_SECRET_<NAME> environment variable	prefixed vars only — the CI-native path
2	<project>/.argent/secrets.env	every key (APP_PASSWORD=…) — gitignore this file
3	<project>/.env.local, then <project>/.env	only ARGENT_SECRET_-prefixed keys, so app config stays unreachable
4	~/.argent/secrets.env	every key — per-user, works in any project

Rules:

• The result echoes the placeholder, never the value. An unknown name fails with the list of available secret names and every source it looked in, with paths — read that list before asking the user anything.
• The auto-screenshot after the call is skipped so the typed value cannot re-enter your context as pixels. Do not describe or screenshot a non-secure field you just filled with a secret — submit or navigate away first, then verify the resulting screen. To submit, put the text step and the Enter step in one run-sequence. The skip covers a whole batch that contains the placeholder, but a second bare keyboard call gets its own screenshot of the filled field.
• Nothing outside those sources is reachable; never ask the user to paste a secret value into the conversation. Ask them to put it in a secrets file instead — a file edit applies to the next call, while an exported env var only reaches a tool-server started afterwards.
• The project sources are found by walking up from the tool-server's working directory. If a project file is not being picked up, the failure's source list shows the paths actually consulted; ~/.argent/secrets.env needs no project and always applies.

paste — Paste text into the focused field

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "text": "482913" }

Puts text on the device clipboard (the host clipboard is untouched) and triggers the platform's paste shortcut. iOS simulator and Android emulator only; a TV target, a physical device, Chromium and Vega are rejected.

paste is not a faster keyboard. keyboard types the way a user types and stays the default for every text entry — a search query, a login, a form field. Reach for paste only where a real user would paste: a 2FA / OTP code copied from another app, a long link or token, or to test how the app handles pasted input. It also carries what keyboard can't type on a given platform (multi-line text, non-ASCII on Android), but that alone is not a reason to paste — ask whether the user would.

Tap the field first so it has focus; pasting with no focused field is a silent no-op, as with keyboard. text accepts the same {{secret:<NAME>}} placeholders as keyboard, with the same auto-screenshot skip.

rotate — Change orientation

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "orientation": "LandscapeLeft" }

Values: Portrait, LandscapeLeft, LandscapeRight, PortraitUpsideDown

await-ui-element — Block until a UI element reaches a state

Instead of polling screenshot/describe in a loop, use await-ui-element to block server-side until an element reaches an expected state (or timeoutMs, default 5000ms, elapses). It polls the same accessibility/DOM tree as describe. (For a plain pause, use your own harness sleep — this tool deliberately has no bare-timer mode.)

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "condition": "visible", "selector": { "text": "Continue" } }

• condition: exists, visible, hidden, or text.
• selector: { text?, identifier?, role? } — every provided field must match. text matches the element's label or value and role its element role (e.g. AXButton, button, TextView, StaticText), both as case-insensitive substrings; identifier matches its accessibility id / resource-id / testID exactly (case-insensitive), also accepting the unqualified Android resource-id name (submit matches com.example.app:id/submit). The synthetic ROOT container describe prints is never matched, so a role like AXGroup/html won't trivially "match the screen".
• Prefer a specific selector. A loose substring can match several elements, and the tool may then key off one you didn't mean: text reads the first visible match in reading order (top-to-bottom, left-to-right — the same order describe lists them, so it's the one you saw first; when no match is visible, the first match overall), while visible/exists are satisfied by any match. Disambiguate with a longer or more exact string, an identifier, or a role (e.g. pin to a text role like StaticText to skip a same-named button). On a text timeout the note quotes the matched element's text, so you can see which one it landed on.
• text condition also needs expectedText (substring the matched element must contain).
• hidden passes when the selector matches nothing. If note says it never matched, treat the check as failed and fix the selector. On iOS, a degraded empty tree does not report hidden success; the note gives the recovery hint.
• Optional timeoutMs (default 5000) and pollIntervalMs (default 400).

Returns { success, elapsed, note?, cause? }. On failure, note describes the result. cause is unmet, unreadable, or cancelled. Only unmet means the tree was readable and the condition was false.

await-screen-idle — Block until the screen stops changing

Use after launch/navigation and before a raw tap, when an early-painted element may still be moving:

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "timeoutMs": 3000, "minStableMs": 250 }

On local iOS, Android, and Chromium, the tool waits for a non-empty describe tree to stop changing. Continue only when settled: true. Pair it with a destination-specific await-ui-element; stillness does not identify a screen.

Use it only for live diagnosis. Do not record it or put it in run-sequence. Flows use await: { idle: true }, which also compares pixels. This live tool can return during a presentation-layer animation.

---

7. Screenshots

Use the explicit screenshot tool only when:

• You need the initial screen state before any action.
• You are about to edit visible UI and need a baseline capture before making changes.
• The auto-attached screenshot shows a transitional or loading frame.
• You require extra context.
• You want to check state after a delay (e.g. waiting for a network response).
• A permission dialog, system alert, or native modal overlay is visible and describe did not expose reliable targets.

When using screenshot for permission or native modal navigation:

• Do not switch to screenshot-driven navigation just because a modal is visible. On regular app screens and in-app modals, keep using describe.
• Prefer obvious, centered alert buttons such as Allow, OK, Don't Allow, Not Now, or Continue.
• Tap one control at a time and inspect the returned auto-screenshot before doing anything else.
• After the modal is dismissed, return to normal discovery with describe, native-describe-screen, or debugger-component-tree.

Prefer the dialog over the Settings tool. When the app triggers its own permission prompt, answering it here is the real user path — do that. Reach for the settings-permissions tool only when you can't get to the change through the app: pre-authorize/deny a permission before the app asks, re-enable one the user already denied (iOS won't re-prompt), or reset it so the prompt reappears. See the argent-settings-permissions skill.

Optional rotation parameter: { "udid": "<UDID>", "rotation": "LandscapeLeft" } — rotates the capture without changing simulator orientation.

Screenshots are downscaled by default (30% of original resolution) to reduce context size. Use the normal downscaled screenshot for UI context and state checks. scale accepts values from 0.01 to 1.0, but do not use scale: 1.0 as a general readability or tapping aid.

Use full-resolution screenshots only when saving baseline/current PNG files for comparison. In that case, suppress the image block so the full-size PNG is not loaded into agent context:

{ "udid": "<UDID>", "scale": 1.0, "includeImageInContext": false }

For visual regression checks, before/after screenshot comparisons, and detailed screenshot-diff parameter guidance, use the argent-screenshot-diff skill. Keep this skill focused on device interaction mechanics and screenshot capture.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Screenshot times out	Restart the simulator-server via stop-simulator-server tool
No booted iOS simulator	Call boot-device with the iOS udid
No ready Android device	Call boot-device with avdName

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8. Action Sequencing with run-sequence

Use run-sequence to batch multiple interaction steps into a single tool call. Only one screenshot is returned — after all steps complete. Use cases: scrolling multiple times, typing and submitting automatically, known sequence of multiple taps, rotating device back and forth.

Do not use run-sequence when any step depends on observing the result of a previous step

Use cases

Use the sequencing when:

• Knowing that some action needs multiple steps without necessarily immediate insight of screenshot
• "scroll to bottom", "scroll to top", "scroll to do X" -> sequence scroll 3-5 times
• form interactions, "clear and retype field" -> you may use triple-tap to select all, type new value
• "submit form" → fill all fields in sequence, tap submit
• "go back to X" → defined tap sequence for the navigation

Allowed tools inside run-sequence

gesture-tap, gesture-swipe, gesture-scroll, gesture-drag, gesture-custom, gesture-pinch, gesture-rotate, button, keyboard, paste, rotate, shake, tv-remote, await-ui-element

The udid is shared — do not include it in each step's args. Optional delayMs per step (default 100ms).

Add an await-ui-element step to gate a later tap on a screen transition (e.g. tap → wait for the next screen's button → tap it). If its condition is not met before the timeout, the sequence stops at that step and the following steps do not run — so a mistimed tap can't fire against a screen that never settled.

Examples

Scroll down three times:

{
  "udid": "<UDID>",
  "steps": [
    { "tool": "gesture-swipe", "args": { "fromX": 0.5, "fromY": 0.7, "toX": 0.5, "toY": 0.3 } },
    { "tool": "gesture-swipe", "args": { "fromX": 0.5, "fromY": 0.7, "toX": 0.5, "toY": 0.3 } },
    { "tool": "gesture-swipe", "args": { "fromX": 0.5, "fromY": 0.7, "toX": 0.5, "toY": 0.3 } }
  ]
}

Type into a focused field and submit. This is the only way to mix text and a key, because one keyboard call cannot carry both:

{
  "udid": "<UDID>",
  "steps": [
    { "tool": "keyboard", "args": { "text": "hello world" } },
    { "tool": "keyboard", "args": { "key": "enter" } }
  ]
}

Tap a known button, then scroll down:

{
  "udid": "<UDID>",
  "steps": [
    { "tool": "gesture-tap", "args": { "x": 0.5, "y": 0.15 } },
    {
      "tool": "gesture-swipe",
      "args": { "fromX": 0.5, "fromY": 0.7, "toX": 0.5, "toY": 0.3 },
      "delayMs": 300
    }
  ]
}

Tap, wait for the next screen, then act on it — the await-ui-element step gates the tap after it:

{
  "udid": "<UDID>",
  "steps": [
    { "tool": "gesture-tap", "args": { "x": 0.5, "y": 0.9 } },
    {
      "tool": "await-ui-element",
      "args": { "condition": "visible", "selector": { "text": "Continue" } }
    },
    { "tool": "gesture-tap", "args": { "x": 0.5, "y": 0.5 } }
  ]
}

Prefer this over a fixed delayMs when a step depends on a screen transition: it adapts to real load time, and if the condition is not met before the timeout the sequence stops there so the next tap can't fire against a screen that never settled.

Stops on the first error (or unmet await-ui-element condition) and returns partial results.

---

9. Platform-specific notes

Android

• Metro reachability: run adb reverse tcp:8081 tcp:8081 on the device before the RN app starts, or Metro won't be reachable from the device. See argent-metro-debugger for the full workflow. Re-run if the device restarts.
• First-launch permission prompts: reinstall-app on Android always installs with -g so runtime permissions are pre-granted on first launch — no flag to pass.
• Locked screen / secure surfaces: describe throws a clear error if it can't capture (keyguard, DRM, Play Integrity). Unlock the device or fall back to screenshot.
• APK vs .app in reinstall-app: pass .apk absolute path on Android; .app directory on iOS.

iOS

(no iOS-only gotchas collected here yet — add them as they come up)