# facebook/idb

idb is a flexible command line interface for automating iOS simulators and devices

Repository: https://github.com/facebook/idb
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/facebook-idb
Homepage: https://fbidb.io/
Language: Swift
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T16:54:10+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 60, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4017, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 2, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: prerelease_only
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5296, forks 500 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:15.263759+00:00)

## What it is
idb (iOS Development Bridge) is a command-line tool from Meta for automating iOS Simulators and Devices, consisting of a Swift companion server that runs on macOS and a Python client/CLI that can run anywhere. It exposes granular automation primitives over gRPC, built on the FBSimulatorControl and FBDeviceControl frameworks, including an interactive Swift REPL (idb-repl) for running code inside live simulator processes.

## Use cases
- automate ios simulators from ci
- run ios tests on a remote device lab
- install and launch apps on ios simulator from command line
- drive ios simulator ui taps and interactions in automation
- run swift code inside a running ios app process
- fan out test shards across a pool of ios simulators
- access xcode-only features without the xcode gui

## When to choose
- you need headless, scriptable automation of iOS simulators or devices on macOS
- you want to drive iOS devices from a non-macOS machine or remote CI infrastructure
- you need fine-grained primitives to build custom testing or automation workflows
- you want to expose Xcode GUI-only functionality in automated scenarios

## When to avoid
- you only need simple simulator control already covered by xcrun simctl
- you have no macOS host available to run the companion
- you need iOS automation on Windows or Linux locally without a remote Mac
- you want a GUI-driven manual testing tool

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: cli, testing, workflow-automation, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, mobile-development, testing
- platform: cli, python, cross-platform
- tags: ios, simulators, xcode, grpc, device-automation, swift, mobile-testing, automation, macos

## Member repositories
- facebook/idb (main) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:15.263759+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:59:10.607495+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/facebook/idb (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:15.263759+00:00, sha e2147d6b121c)
  - homepage: https://fbidb.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:54:00.566058+00:00, sha a48f4ccedcdf)
  - site_page: https://fbidb.io/docs/idb/overview (fetched 2026-08-29T08:54:00.568465+00:00, sha 34f31804697d)
  - site_page: https://fbidb.io/docs/idb-repl/overview (fetched 2026-08-29T08:54:00.570090+00:00, sha b74265f71925)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.