test

name

test

description

End-to-end testing of xc-mcp MCP tools against the Thesis macOS app from ../thesis. Use when: (1) user says "test", "test with thesis", "try the tools", "test harness", "test the tool", "/test", (2) verifying any MCP tool works end-to-end (interact_, debug_, screenshot, build, preview_capture), (3) running a full UI automation scenario (build → tree → click → screenshot), (4) launching the Thesis app for manual feature evaluation, (5) testing MCP tools via JSON-RPC over pipes (test-debug.sh), (6) debugging MCP tool failures by running the server directly.

Test MCP Tools

End-to-end testing of xc-mcp MCP tools by launching the Thesis macOS app and driving its UI.

Prerequisites

• Accessibility permission granted to the terminal app (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility)
• Screen Recording permission (for screenshots)
• Thesis project at ../thesis/Thesis.xcodeproj (scheme: Standard)

Quick Test via test-debug.sh

Build xc-mcp and launch Thesis under LLDB, then use interact tools via the running MCP server:

# Build and launch (stopped at entry)
./test-debug.sh /Users/jason/Developer/toba/thesis/Thesis.xcodeproj Standard

# Or full screenshot workflow
./test-debug.sh /Users/jason/Developer/toba/thesis/Thesis.xcodeproj Standard screenshot

Server stderr saved to /tmp/xc-debug-last-stderr.log.

Interactive Test Workflow

For testing interact tools interactively (without test-debug.sh), use the xc-mcp MCP server tools directly:

1. Build and Launch

build_debug_macos(project_path: "/Users/jason/Developer/toba/thesis/Thesis.xcodeproj", scheme: "Standard", stop_at_entry: true)

Extract the PID from the response.

2. Continue Execution

debug_continue(pid: <PID>)

Wait ~5s for UI to render.

3. Get UI Tree

interact_ui_tree(pid: <PID>, max_depth: 4)

Inspect the element tree. Note element IDs for interaction.

4. Interact

interact_click(pid: <PID>, element_id: <ID>)
interact_find(pid: <PID>, role: "AXButton", title: "Settings")
interact_set_value(pid: <PID>, element_id: <ID>, value: "[e-mail]")
interact_menu(pid: <PID>, menu_path: ["File", "New"])
interact_key(key: "return")
interact_focus(pid: <PID>)
interact_get_value(pid: <PID>, element_id: <ID>)

5. Verify

screenshot_mac_window(pid: <PID>, save_path: "/tmp/interact-test.png")

What to Check

• interact_ui_tree returns a readable tree with element IDs
• interact_find finds elements by role, title, identifier
• interact_click successfully presses buttons (verify via screenshot or tree refresh)
• interact_set_value populates text fields
• interact_menu navigates menu bar items
• interact_key sends keyboard input
• interact_focus brings app to front
• interact_get_value returns full attributes for an element

Testing preview_capture

Test the preview capture tool against Thesis source files:

preview_capture(file_path: "/Users/jason/Developer/toba/thesis/App/Sources/SomeView.swift", project_path: "/Users/jason/Developer/toba/thesis/Thesis.xcodeproj")

The tool injects a temporary target, builds it, launches the preview host, and captures a screenshot. Check /tmp/xc-debug-last-stderr.log for build diagnostics.

Debugging MCP Tool Failures

Run the MCP server directly via JSON-RPC over pipes using test-debug.sh:

# The harness manages server lifecycle (named pipe stdin, temp files for stdout/stderr)
./test-debug.sh /Users/jason/Developer/toba/thesis/Thesis.xcodeproj Standard

# Server stderr is always saved for post-mortem
cat /tmp/xc-debug-last-stderr.log

For manual JSON-RPC testing, send requests to the server's stdin pipe and read responses from its stdout. The harness handles initialization and tool call framing.

Troubleshooting

• "Accessibility permission not granted": Add terminal app to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility
• "Application not found": Verify app is running (ps aux | grep Thesis)
• "Element not found in cache": Call interact_ui_tree first to populate cache
• Empty tree: Increase max_depth, or ensure app UI has rendered (wait after debug_continue)