Embedded Simulator

Launch and interact with Android emulators and iOS simulators directly inside VS Code. View device screens, tap to interact, and monitor tool versions — all without leaving your editor.

Features

Android Emulator

Live video streaming via scrcpy — real-time device display in a VS Code webview panel.
Tap interaction — click on the device view to send touch events via ADB.
Auto-launch — starts an AVD if none is running (configurable via embedded-device-emulator.avdName).
Configurable stream quality — adjust max resolution and video bitrate.

iOS Simulator (Experimental)

Screenshot polling — streams the simulator display as JPEG frames at ~2.5 FPS using xcrun simctl io screenshot.
Tap interaction — uses the macOS Accessibility API (osascript + System Events click at) to send taps to the Simulator window. Requires Xcode 26+.
Opt-in — disabled by default; enable via embedded-device-emulator.enableIosSimulator.

Diagnostics

Show Tool Versions — opens an output channel with versions for the extension, Node.js, platform, ANDROID_HOME, ADB, emulator, Java, Xcode, sim runtimes, scrcpy, and scrcpy-server.

Requirements

Platform	Dependency
Android	Android SDK with platform tools (`adb`, `emulator`)
Android	scrcpy (`brew install scrcpy` or equivalent)
iOS	Xcode 26+ (full Xcode, not just Command Line Tools)
iOS	macOS — System Events Accessibility API for tap input

Note: The iOS Simulator viewer requires Xcode 26.3 or later. simctl io screenshot is used for display; simctl io tap was removed in Xcode 26.3, so taps are sent via AppleScript.

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

Setting	Default	Description
`embedded-device-emulator.androidHome`	`""`	Path to Android SDK root (e.g., `~/Android/Sdk`). Leave empty to use `ANDROID_HOME` environment variable.
`embedded-device-emulator.avdName`	`""`	Name of the AVD to launch if no emulator is running.
`embedded-device-emulator.scrcpyServerJar`	`""`	Path to `scrcpy-server.jar`. Leave empty to use the version bundled with scrcpy.
`embedded-device-emulator.maxSize`	`1080`	Maximum video dimension for the scrcpy stream.
`embedded-device-emulator.videoBitRate`	`4000000`	Video bitrate for the scrcpy stream (bps).
`embedded-device-emulator.enableIosSimulator`	`false`	Enable the iOS Simulator viewer (experimental).

Commands

Command	Title
`embedded-device-emulator.startAndroidEmulator`	Embedded Simulator: Start Android Emulator
`embedded-device-emulator.startIosSimulator`	Embedded Simulator: Start iOS Simulator
`embedded-device-emulator.showVersions`	Embedded Simulator: Show Tool Versions

Known Issues

iOS viewer is experimental. Screenshot polling is limited to ~2.5 FPS. Tap coordinates may need calibration depending on your Simulator window size and macOS version.
macOS Accessibility permission may be required for iOS taps. Grant permission to VS Code (or Terminal) in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
The extension cannot run in virtual or untrusted workspaces — it needs access to local ADB, xcrun, and emulator binaries.

Embedded Device Emulator

Jullury