argent-ios-device-interact

Use it when:: The agent drives your app on a physical iPhone, not a simulator.
It does:: Lists the Argent tools that exist on a physical iPhone and how they behave when the app is in the background.
You get:: An agent that skips unsupported tools and records, profiles or debugs on a simulator instead.
Needs:: argent-device-interact, which still applies to everything this skill doesn't list, and the Argent MCP server.

Skill 2 of 12 in the Argent bundle, after argent-device-interact and before argent-tv-interact.

Only works inside its bundle: Covers only what differs on a physical iPhone; argent-device-interact, which sends the agent here for one, still applies to everything else. Install Argent instead.

Covers only what differs on a physical iPhone; argent-device-interact still applies to everything else.

TL;DR

Part of Software Mansion's Argent toolkit, which lets the agent control simulators, emulators and devices. A physical iPhone supports only some of Argent's tools, and this skill is the short contract for it, read alongside argent-device-interact. Observation never changes the screen: describe and await-ui-element fail on a backgrounded app instead of bringing it forward, while gestures and the keyboard bring it back, after which the agent describes again. Launching, opening or restarting an app makes it the app Argent automates; reinstalling clears that and a tool-server restart forgets it, so the agent launches it again. On hardware the agent has app launch and reinstall, describe, screenshots and screenshot diffs, gestures, the home and volume buttons, the keyboard, waits, run-sequence and the e2e tools. Any other device tool fails with a bare "not supported on ios device", and the skill's list, not the error, says what to do instead: with no orientation change, shake, paste, permission tool, screen recording, debugger or profiler, the phone is moved by hand, text is typed with the keyboard, permissions are changed in its Settings, and debugging, profiling and recording happen on a simulator. Cable, trust and signing problems go to argent-ios-device-setup.

Summarizes the skill at b965c94.

npx skills add https://github.com/software-mansion/argent --skill argent-ios-device-interact

skills.sh page Source on GitHub All skills from software-mansion/argent

Total Downloads: 14,400 on skills.sh, Nov 9, 2026
Repo stars: 3,175 software-mansion/argent
First seen: Sep 3, 2026 on skills.sh

Weekly Downloads

1.8K

+33% over the 8 weeks to Nov 9

Weekly values

Week to	Installs
Sep 21	1,321
Sep 28	1,471
Oct 5	1,488
Oct 12	1,550
Oct 19	1,612
Oct 26	1,665
Nov 2	1,599
Nov 9	1,756

Category	category:debugging category:computer-use category:software-engineering Find root causes, review code and test what you built. Drive desktop apps, phones and simulators: tap, type, read the screen and test native apps. Everything for building software: planning, coding, debugging, design, frameworks, cloud, agents and skills.
Type	type:guidelines Knowledge and rules the agent applies while it works: best practices, design principles, API references.
Effect	effect:none Adds no side effects of its own. It shapes how the agent thinks, writes or reviews. Guidelines and routers are always effect:none, even when the task they support edits code.
Needs	needs:mcp Needs an MCP server connected.
Publisher	by:official A verified publisher on skills.sh, or the company or maintainer behind the product the skill operates.
Topics	mobile testing computer-use
Stack	stack:argent

SKILL.md

From software-mansion/argent at b965c94. Checked daily, last changed Nov 6, 2026.

Frontmatter

name: argent-ios-device-interact
description: Drive a physical iPhone through argent. Use when a physical iPhone is involved (a list-devices iOS entry with kind "device") and ONLY then; never for a simulator. For cable, trust, or signing problems read argent-ios-device-setup.

Physical iPhone interaction

Read this only for a physical iPhone. argent-device-interact still applies for everything not listed here.

Contract

Observation never changes the screen; mutation may. describe and await-ui-element fail on a backgrounded target instead of re-fronting it; await-screen-idle returns settled: false with no reason. The first describe within a second of button home can still return the old tree; describe again. Gestures and keyboard re-front it and return reactivated: true; re-describe before the next step.
launch-app, open-url and restart-app set the app under automation; reinstall-app clears it; a tool-server restart forgets it: launch again.
Each tool's description states its own hardware limits (named keys, buttons, edge swipes, tap counts). A gated tool fails with a bare not supported on ios device: the fix is in the list below, not in the error.

Tools on hardware

Only these exist: list-devices, launch-app, restart-app, reinstall-app, open-url, describe, screenshot, screenshot-diff, gesture-tap, gesture-swipe, gesture-custom, gesture-pinch, gesture-rotate, button (home, volumeUp, volumeDown, actionButton on models that have one), keyboard, await-ui-element, await-screen-idle, run-sequence, the e2e tools, stop-simulator-server and stop-all-simulator-servers (session end). Every other device tool fails with not supported on ios device.
No rotate (the orientation tool), shake, paste, settings-permissions, screen recording, debugger-*, react-profiler-*, native-profiler-*, native-*, boot-device: move the phone by hand, type with keyboard, change permissions in the phone's Settings, and debug, profile or record on a simulator.