Automation

You cannot see the device, so inspect and screenshot are your eyes. The loop that works: inspect to find an element, act on it by selector, screenshot to confirm.

Inspect the screen

appetize inspect
appetize inspect --select-test-id login-form --pretty

The hierarchy is written to inspect.json (name a path to choose another file) and a summary is printed:

{
  "bytes": 11551,
  "nodes": 44,
  "output": "inspect.json"
}

The JSON is { platform, root }, where each node carries attributes, bounds and children. Only what is on screen right now appears: an element scrolled away or covered is not in the tree, so absence means "not visible", not "does not exist".

An unscoped hierarchy runs past 100 KB on an ordinary screen. Scope it with a selector and read the file rather than dumping it to the terminal.

Selectors

Match what an element is, not where it happens to sit.

Flag	Matches
--select-test-id	Android resource-id or iOS accessibilityIdentifier, exact
--select-text	An exact string, or /regex/flags such as /sign in/i
--select-index	Which match when several, 0-based
--select-position	A screen position as x,y, each 0-1
--select-x, --select-y	A point within the matched element (0-1; outside that range reaches past its edge)

Pick one of --select-test-id, --select-text or --select-position. A test id is the most durable, then text. Coordinates are right for canvases, maps and slider tracks, and wrong everywhere else. A selector survives a layout change and a coordinate does not.

swipe names two points, so it takes the same suffixes under --from-* and --to-*.

Tap, type and press

appetize tap --select-test-id save
appetize tap --select-text 'Log in'
appetize tap --select-text '/^item \d+/i' --select-index 2
appetize tap --select-position 0.5,0.75

appetize type '[e-mail]{Tab}hunter2{Enter}'
appetize type '{Backspace>16/}'

Typing does not focus a field, so tap it first. In type, {...} names a key (Enter, Tab, Backspace, the arrows), {Backspace>16/} repeats one 16 times, and {{ types a literal {.

appetize press home
appetize press back
appetize rotate landscapeLeft

home and lock work on both platforms; back, menu, unlock, volumeUp and volumeDown are Android only.

Swipe

Scroll the screen with --direction, optionally from a starting point:

appetize swipe --direction up
appetize swipe --direction up --distance 0.25
appetize swipe --direction left --from-test-id card --from-index 1

Drag along a path by naming both ends. This is how you reorder a list or drop something on a target:

appetize swipe --from-test-id card-3 --to-test-id archive-bin
appetize swipe --from-text 'Drag me' --from-y 0.9 --to-test-id drop-zone

Gesture

tap and swipe cover single taps, scrolls and straight drags. For a long-press, a double tap, a hold before dragging, or a path through several points, play a gesture:

appetize gesture '<syntax>' [--timeout <ms>]

> presses the pointer down, / lifts it, and {...} moves it to an element or screen position, or pauses with {wait}:

appetize gesture '{byText=Photo}>{wait=800}/'                    # long-press
appetize gesture '{0.5,0.5}>/{wait=100}>/'                       # double tap
appetize gesture '{byText="Row 3"}>{wait=500}{byText="Row 1"}/'  # hold, then drag
appetize gesture '{0.5,0.8}>{0.5,0.6}{0.8,0.6}{0.8,0.2}/'        # path

Single-quote the gesture. Double taps need {wait=100} between taps; Android drops faster ones. appetize gesture --help lists the full syntax and more examples.

Wait for an element, don't sleep

appetize inspect --select-test-id home-feed --timeout 5000

--timeout waits for the element and fails if it never appears. This is a faster and more reliable way to wait for a condition than using a sleep.

Dismiss the keyboard

There is no keyboard-dismiss command, and tapping an inert element only clears focus if the app wired that up. Press the return key on iOS, and back on Android. While the keyboard is up, back dismisses it instead of navigating:

appetize type '{Enter}'   # iOS
appetize press back       # Android

Both leave you on the same screen with the field still focused. Confirm with screenshot, not inspect: the keyboard is a separate window and does not appear in the hierarchy inspect returns.

Watch an agent do it

A real Claude Code session driving a device with these commands. It inspects the screen to find its way in, taps by test id, types, screenshots to check the result, then stops the session, about 50 seconds end to end.