appstore-screenshot-mcp

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for automating App Store screenshot capture from iOS Simulator. Optimized for the 2026 App Store requirements with 6.9" iPhone and 13" iPad buckets plus accepted fallback pixel sizes.

Features

• Simulator Management: List, boot, and shutdown iOS simulators with App Store-specific presets

• Screenshot Capture: Capture screenshots at native resolution with automatic status bar cleanup

• App Store Optimization: Pre-configured for iPhone 6.9" and iPad 13" buckets with all accepted pixel sizes

• Status Bar Control: Set clean status bar (9:41, full battery, WiFi) automatically

• App Management: Install, launch, and navigate apps for screenshot automation

• UI Interaction: Tap, swipe, scroll, and type to navigate apps to specific screens

• Video Recording: Record simulator interactions for App Store preview videos

• Appearance Control: Toggle dark/light mode, set locale, adjust text size

• Accessibility: Inspect UI hierarchy, find elements, configure accessibility settings

• Privacy Permissions: Grant, revoke, or reset app permissions (camera, location, photos, etc.)

• Push Notifications: Send simulated push notifications for UI testing

• Location Simulation: Set GPS coordinates or use preset locations

• System Alerts: Accept or dismiss permission dialogs automatically

• Keychain & Biometrics: Manage keychain, trigger Face ID/Touch ID

• Device Frames: Add device bezels for professional screenshots

• Validation: Verify screenshots meet App Store requirements

Related MCP server: iOS Device Control MCP Server

Installation

Via npx (recommended)

npx appstore-screenshot-mcp

From source

git clone https://github.com/your-org/mcp-screen-iOS.git
cd mcp-screen-iOS
npm install
npm run build

Requirements

• macOS with Xcode installed

• Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)

• iOS 26+ Simulator runtimes

• Node.js 18+

Configuration

Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude.json or project .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "appstore-screenshots": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "appstore-screenshot-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or via CLI:

claude mcp add appstore-screenshots npx appstore-screenshot-mcp

Codex CLI

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.appstore-screenshots]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "appstore-screenshot-mcp"]

Available Tools

Simulator Management

Screenshot Capture

App Management

UI Interaction

Video Recording

Appearance Control

Accessibility Inspection

App Store Screenshot Sizes (2026)

Privacy Permissions

Push Notifications

Location Simulation

System Alerts

Keychain & Biometrics

Device Frames

App Store Screenshot Sizes (2024+)

Apple's 2026 requirements focus on two primary display buckets, with multiple accepted pixel sizes per bucket:

The server validates against all accepted sizes for each bucket and reports whether a screenshot matches in portrait or landscape.

Example Workflows

Basic Screenshot Capture

1. Boot iPhone simulator: boot_appstore_simulator(deviceClass: "iphone_6.9")
2. Install your app: install_app(appPath: "/path/to/MyApp.app")
3. Launch app: launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
4. Navigate to screen (if needed): open_url(url: "myapp://feature")
5. Capture screenshot: capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/home.png")

Full App Store Screenshot Set

1. Boot both required simulators:
   - boot_appstore_simulator(deviceClass: "iphone_6.9")
   - boot_appstore_simulator(deviceClass: "ipad_13")

2. Install app on both (use UDIDs from step 1)

3. Navigate to desired screen

4. Capture all: capture_all_appstore(outputDir: "./screenshots")

Clean Status Bar Only

set_status_bar(
  time: "9:41",
  batteryLevel: 100,
  batteryState: "charged",
  wifiMode: "active",
  wifiBars: 3
)

Navigate with UI Interactions

1. Launch app: launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
2. Tap settings button: ui_tap(x: 350, y: 50)
3. Scroll down: ui_scroll(direction: "down", distance: 400)
4. Type in search: ui_type(text: "profile")
5. Toggle dark mode: ui_press_button(button: "toggleAppearance")
6. Capture screenshot: capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/settings-dark.png")

Record App Store Preview Video

1. Boot simulator: boot_appstore_simulator(deviceClass: "iphone_6.9")
2. Launch app: launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
3. Start recording: start_recording(outputPath: "./videos/preview.mp4")
4. Perform interactions: ui_tap, ui_scroll, etc.
5. Stop recording: stop_recording()

Capture Screenshots in Multiple Languages

1. Set locale: set_locale(locale: "ja_JP")
2. Terminate app: terminate_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
3. Launch app: launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
4. Capture: capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/home_ja.png")
5. Repeat for other locales (fr_FR, de_DE, etc.)

Light and Dark Mode Screenshots

1. set_appearance(mode: "light")
2. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/home_light.png")
3. set_appearance(mode: "dark")
4. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/home_dark.png")

Grant Permissions Before Screenshots

1. grant_all_permissions(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
2. launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
3. -- App won't show permission dialogs, clean screenshots!
4. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/camera_feature.png")

Capture Notification UI

1. launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
2. send_notification(bundleId: "com.example.myapp", title: "New Message", body: "You have a new message!")
3. -- Wait for notification banner
4. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/notification.png")

Location-Based Screenshots

1. set_preset_location(preset: "tokyo")
2. launch_app(bundleId: "com.example.myapp")
3. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/map_tokyo.png")
4. set_preset_location(preset: "new_york")
5. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/map_nyc.png")

Add Device Frame to Screenshot

1. capture_screenshot(outputPath: "./screenshots/home.png")
2. add_frame(inputPath: "./screenshots/home.png", shadow: true)
3. -- Creates home_framed.png with device bezel

Resources

The server exposes an MCP resource for device configurations:

appstore-screenshot-mcp://devices

This returns the supported App Store device presets with their identifiers and resolutions.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run in development (with watch)
npm run dev

# Type check
npm run typecheck

How It Works

The server wraps xcrun simctl commands and AppleScript to provide:

1. Device Creation: Uses simctl create with exact device type identifiers for App Store sizes

2. Status Bar Override: Uses simctl status_bar override for clean screenshots

3. Screenshot Capture: Uses simctl io screenshot with --mask=black for notch handling

4. App Control: Uses simctl install/launch/terminate for app lifecycle

5. UI Interaction: Uses AppleScript to control Simulator.app for taps, swipes, and keyboard input

6. Video Recording: Uses simctl io recordVideo with H.264/HEVC codecs

7. Appearance Control: Uses simctl ui appearance and simctl spawn defaults for settings

8. Accessibility: Uses simctl ui describe for UI hierarchy inspection

9. Privacy: Uses simctl privacy grant/revoke/reset for permission management

10. Notifications: Uses simctl push to send APNS payloads

11. Location: Uses simctl location set/clear for GPS simulation

12. Biometrics: Uses notifyutil to trigger Face ID/Touch ID events

13. Device Frames: Uses ImageMagick (if available) or sips for image processing

All commands are executed via Node.js child processes with proper error handling.

License

MIT