r/iOSProgramming • u/Rizzmanity • 15h ago
Question How are you giving Claude Code visibility into your iOS simulator during Expo/React Native development?
I've been building React Native apps with Expo using Claude Code, and my biggest frustration is that Claude can't see what it's building on the native side, which means a lot of back-and-forth on layout and visual issues that a web-based workflow wouldn't have. I just can't seem to loop on the build and see the visuals as well as it can building a web app using the browser.
I recently learned about the Expo MCP server's local capabilities (screenshots, view geometry, tap automation) and Software Mansion's "Argent" as two options for giving the agent eyes on the running simulator, but I'm curious what the community is actually using in production workflows. Is anyone running a setup where Claude or another AI coding agent can self-validate UI changes against the live simulator, and if so, what's working? Also interested in non-RN solutions. If there's a better answer here by building fully native in Swift/Xcode, is this still a problem, or does the native toolchain solve it?