PreviewsMCP

Render and interact with SwiftUI previews outside of Xcode. Works as a CLI tool and as an MCP server for AI-driven UI development.

• Render `#Preview` blocks on macOS and iOS simulator without Xcode
• Hot-reload — edit source files and see changes instantly (literal-only changes preserve @State)
• iOS simulator — boot, install, launch, screenshot, and interact with previews headlessly
• Touch injection — tap and swipe gestures on iOS simulator (headless, no mouse cursor movement)
• Accessibility tree — inspect view hierarchy with labels, frames, and traits for targeted interaction
• MCP server — 7 tools for AI agents to render, inspect, and interact with SwiftUI views

git clone https://github.com/obj-p/PreviewsMCP.git
cd PreviewsMCP
swift build -c release

The binary is at .build/release/previewsmcp.

• macOS 14+
• Xcode 16+ (for iOS simulator support)
• Apple Silicon

# List #Preview blocks in a file
previewsmcp list MyView.swift

# Run a live preview window (macOS)
previewsmcp run MyView.swift

# Capture a screenshot
previewsmcp snapshot MyView.swift -o preview.png

# Start the MCP server
previewsmcp serve

Add to your .mcp.json (or Claude Code MCP config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "previews": {
      "command": "/path/to/previewsmcp",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | preview_list | List #Preview blocks in a Swift source file | | preview_start | Compile and launch a preview (macOS or iOS simulator) | | preview_snapshot | Capture a screenshot of a running preview | | preview_elements | Get the accessibility tree (labels, frames, traits) | | preview_touch | Send tap or swipe gestures to iOS simulator | | preview_stop | Close a preview session | | simulator_list |