feat: simulator command enhancements (create/boot/delete) by mattleibow · Pull Request #35 · Redth/AppleDev.Tools

mattleibow · 2026-03-04T22:27:10Z

Summary

Enhances the simulator create, boot, and delete CLI commands with structured output and a --force delete option.

Changes

Create command (`apple simulator create`)

Inherits FormattableOutputCommandSettings (adds --format and --verbose)
After creating, looks up the simulator via GetSimulatorsAsync and outputs a Property/Value table (Name, UDID, State, Device Type, Runtime)
Supports --format json, --format json-pretty, --format xml for structured output

Boot command (`apple simulator boot`)

Inherits FormattableOutputCommandSettings (adds --format and --verbose)
After booting, looks up the simulator and outputs the same Property/Value table
Matches by UDID or name

Delete command (`apple simulator delete`)

New --force flag: shuts down the simulator first, never fails (cleanup semantics)
Useful for CI/CD teardown where the simulator may or may not be running

Test timeout fix

SimCtlComplexTests: increased WaitForBootedAsync timeout from 120s to 300s (matches the other timeout on line 47, already bumped in PR fix: gRPC retry on PROTOCOL_ERROR for IDB client stability #30)

New tests (`SimCtlCreateTests`)

CreateAsync_CreatesSimulator: verifies simulator does not exist before create, validates UDID format, Name, DeviceTypeIdentifier, State
CreateAndBoot_FullLifecycle: create → find by name → boot → wait → verify booted
DeleteNonExistentSimulator_ReturnsFalse: confirms delete returns false for non-existent targets

No library changes

SimCtl.cs is unchanged — all lookup logic lives in the CLI commands.

Add CreateWithUdidAsync to SimCtl that returns the UDID of the created simulator. Enhance CLI commands with structured output and new options. SimCtl library: - New CreateWithUdidAsync method returns UDID string (or null on failure) Create command: - Use CreateWithUdidAsync, output UDID on success - Add --boot, --wait, --timeout options for post-creation boot - Inherit FormattableOutputCommandSettings for JSON/XML output - JSON output includes udid, name, deviceType, runtime Boot command: - Inherit FormattableOutputCommandSettings for JSON/XML output - Structured JSON output with target and state on success - Clear error messages for boot and wait-for-ready failures Delete command: - Add --force flag: shutdown first, never fails (cleanup semantics) Tests: - New SimCtlCreateWithUdidTests: UDID format validation, boot+wait, delete non-existent simulator - SimCtlComplexTests: increase WaitForBootedAsync timeout 120s->300s, use SpringBoard predicate (always present) instead of Maps Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Keep only the WaitForBootedAsync timeout increase (120s->300s) which matches the other occurrence already at 300s on main. Revert SpringBoard predicate, Maps launch removal, and ClockKit assertion changes — those are unrelated to simulator command enhancements. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Split create and lookup into two focused methods: - CreateWithUdidAsync: creates simulator, returns UDID string - GetSimulatorAsync: looks up a single SimCtlDevice by UDID CreateSimulatorCommand chains both for structured output. Tests: - CreateWithUdidAsync_ReturnsValidUdid - GetSimulatorAsync_ReturnsDevice - GetSimulatorAsync_NonExistentUdid_ReturnsNull - CreateAndBoot_FullLifecycle - DeleteNonExistentSimulator_ReturnsFalse Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Remove CreateWithUdidAsync and GetSimulatorAsync. Instead, the create command uses the existing CreateAsync (bool) then finds the created simulator by name via GetSimulatorsAsync. Tests use the same pattern: create, then look up by name to verify. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

CreateAsync now creates the simulator then looks it up by name via GetSimulatorsAsync, returning the full SimCtlDevice or null on failure. Updated all callers: CLI command, MCP server, and tests. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

These are redundant with the existing boot command. Keep create focused on creation only. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

SimCtl stays unchanged (CreateAsync returns bool). The create and boot commands do the GetSimulatorsAsync lookup themselves to return the full SimCtlDevice in structured output. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Refactor simulator creation output handling to simplify logic and ensure output is generated for both existing and new simulators.

Use shared SimulatorColumns with OutputHelper.Output<T> overload that accepts column definitions, so create and boot render a Property/Value table instead of calling ToString(). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…rColumns Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Enhances the apple simulator CLI workflow by adding richer post-action output for create/boot, introducing a --force cleanup-oriented delete option, and extending simulator lifecycle test coverage.

Changes:

Add formatted/structured output support (--format, --verbose) to simulator create and simulator boot, including a property/value summary of the resulting simulator.
Add --force to simulator delete to shutdown-before-delete and always return success for teardown scenarios.
Add simulator create/boot/delete tests and increase a boot-wait timeout in complex lifecycle tests.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
AppleDev.Tool/Commands/Simulators/DeleteSimulatorCommand.cs	Adds `--force` option to shutdown then delete, and always succeed for cleanup.
AppleDev.Tool/Commands/Simulators/CreateSimulatorCommand.cs	Adds `--format/--verbose` settings inheritance and outputs created simulator details after creation.
AppleDev.Tool/Commands/Simulators/BootSimulatorCommand.cs	Adds `--format/--verbose` settings inheritance and outputs booted simulator details after boot/wait.
AppleDev.Test/SimCtlCreateTests.cs	Adds new tests for simulator create and lifecycle behaviors.
AppleDev.Test/SimCtlComplexTests.cs	Increases `WaitForBootedAsync` timeout from 120s to 300s in one lifecycle test.

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Copilot · 2026-03-05T02:14:32Z

        if (success)
        {
-            AnsiConsole.MarkupLine($"[green]Successfully created simulator '{settings.Name}'[/]");
+            var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);


GetSimulatorsAsync() defaults to availableOnly: true, so a newly-created simulator that ends up unavailable (e.g., missing runtime) won’t be returned and the command will fall back to the generic success message. If the intent is to always show the created device details when possible, pass availableOnly: false for this lookup.

Suggested change

var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);

var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(availableOnly: false, cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);

Copilot · 2026-03-05T02:14:33Z

+                OutputHelper.Output(device, settings.Format,
+                    new[] { "Name", "UDID", "State", "Device Type", "Runtime" },
+                    d => new[] { d.Name, d.Udid, d.State, d.DeviceType?.Name ?? d.DeviceTypeIdentifier, d.Runtime?.Name });


This command now inherits FormattableOutputCommandSettings (adding --verbose), but settings.Verbose is never used when producing the property/value output. Either wire Verbose into the output (e.g., add additional properties only when verbose, or use the ColumnInfo overload that supports verbose columns), or avoid exposing a flag that has no effect.

Suggested change

OutputHelper.Output(device, settings.Format,

new[] { "Name", "UDID", "State", "Device Type", "Runtime" },

d => new[] { d.Name, d.Udid, d.State, d.DeviceType?.Name ?? d.DeviceTypeIdentifier, d.Runtime?.Name });

if (settings.Verbose)

{

OutputHelper.Output(device, settings.Format,

new[] { "Name", "UDID", "State", "Device Type", "Runtime", "Details" },

d => new[]

{

d.Name,

d.Udid,

d.State,

d.DeviceType?.Name ?? d.DeviceTypeIdentifier,

d.Runtime?.Name,

$"Device Type Id: {d.DeviceTypeIdentifier}"

});

}

else

{

OutputHelper.Output(device, settings.Format,

new[] { "Name", "UDID", "State", "Device Type", "Runtime" },

d => new[] { d.Name, d.Udid, d.State, d.DeviceType?.Name ?? d.DeviceTypeIdentifier, d.Runtime?.Name });

}

Copilot · 2026-03-05T02:14:33Z

+            else
+            {
+                AnsiConsole.MarkupLine($"[green]Simulator '{settings.Target}' booted successfully[/]");
+            }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            AnsiConsole.MarkupLine($"[red]Failed to boot simulator '{settings.Target}'[/]");
+        }


When --format is set to json/json-pretty/xml, the success/failure messages are still printed with Spectre markup in the device is null and !success paths. That makes the command output not reliably machine-parseable. Consider switching to Console.WriteLine (no markup) or emitting a structured error payload when settings.Format != OutputFormat.None.

Copilot · 2026-03-05T02:14:33Z

+            var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            var device = sims.FirstOrDefault(s =>
+                string.Equals(s.Udid, settings.Target, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
+                string.Equals(s.Name, settings.Target, StringComparison.Ordinal));
+


GetSimulatorsAsync() defaults to availableOnly: true; if the target simulator is currently unavailable, this lookup won’t find it and the command will fall back to the generic message even though the boot succeeded. Consider passing availableOnly: false for the post-boot lookup so the output is consistent with the requested target.

Copilot · 2026-03-05T02:14:33Z

+		{
+			await _simCtl.ShutdownAsync(_testSimName);
+		}
+		catch { }


This test cleanup swallows exceptions with an empty catch { }, which can hide real failures/leaks and make CI flakes harder to diagnose. Prefer at least logging the exception to ITestOutputHelper, or catching specific expected exceptions only.

Suggested change

catch { }

catch (Exception ex)

{

_testOutputHelper.WriteLine($"Shutdown cleanup failed: {ex.Message}");

}

Copilot · 2026-03-05T02:14:34Z

+            var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            var device = sims.FirstOrDefault(s => string.Equals(s.Name, settings.Name, StringComparison.Ordinal));
+
+            if (device is not null)
+            {
+                OutputHelper.Output(device, settings.Format,
+                    new[] { "Name", "UDID", "State", "Device Type", "Runtime" },
+                    d => new[] { d.Name, d.Udid, d.State, d.DeviceType?.Name ?? d.DeviceTypeIdentifier, d.Runtime?.Name });
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                AnsiConsole.MarkupLine($"[green]Successfully created simulator '{settings.Name}'[/]");
+            }


When --format is set to json/json-pretty/xml, the fallback path still writes Spectre markup to stdout if the created simulator can’t be found. This breaks machine-parseable output (and contradicts the repository pattern where structured output is emitted via Console.WriteLine). Consider emitting plain text via Console.WriteLine (or a structured error object) when settings.Format != OutputFormat.None, and avoid ANSI markup in that mode.

mattleibow and others added 15 commits March 5, 2026 00:26

Verify simulator does not exist before create test

72ce38d

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Remove --boot/--wait/--timeout from create command

0b7b6f3

These are redundant with the existing boot command. Keep create focused on creation only. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Remove unused parameter from GetSimulatorsAsync call

3219a84

Refactor simulator output handling

1e5bb74

Refactor simulator creation output handling to simplify logic and ensure output is generated for both existing and new simulators.

Fix simulator creation logic and output handling

cfe010d

Simplify: use OutputHelper.Output with properties instead of Simulato…

4f315f4

…rColumns Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Use default GetSimulatorsAsync (availableOnly: true)

ba28517

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Restore if/else success pattern in create and boot commands

56cb9c2

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

mattleibow changed the title ~~feat: simulator command enhancements and CreateWithUdidAsync~~ Mar 4, 2026

mattleibow requested a review from Copilot March 5, 2026 02:00

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of mattleibow March 5, 2026 02:01

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Copilot AI reviewed Mar 5, 2026

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mattleibow merged commit b8705db into main Mar 5, 2026
11 of 13 checks passed

mattleibow deleted the pr/simulator-enhancements branch March 5, 2026 02:18

mattleibow mentioned this pull request Mar 6, 2026

Enhance simulator commands: create UDID, boot format, delete force, JSON compact #28

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feat: simulator command enhancements (create/boot/delete) - #35

feat: simulator command enhancements (create/boot/delete)#35
mattleibow merged 15 commits into
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pr/simulator-enhancements

mattleibow commented Mar 4, 2026 •

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	var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
	var sims = await simctl.GetSimulatorsAsync(availableOnly: false, cancellationToken: data.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);

-		catch { }
+		catch (Exception ex)
+		{
+			_testOutputHelper.WriteLine($"Shutdown cleanup failed: {ex.Message}");
+		}

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Summary

Changes

Create command (apple simulator create)

Boot command (apple simulator boot)

Delete command (apple simulator delete)

Test timeout fix

New tests (SimCtlCreateTests)

No library changes

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Pull request overview

Reviewed changes

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mattleibow commented Mar 4, 2026 •

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Create command (`apple simulator create`)

Boot command (`apple simulator boot`)

Delete command (`apple simulator delete`)

New tests (`SimCtlCreateTests`)