inspect-view

name	inspect-view
description	Inspect the view hierarchy of a running simulator app using axe view. Use when debugging layout issues, investigating view structure, or diagnosing UI problems in a running app.

View Hierarchy Inspector

Inspect the UIKit/SwiftUI view hierarchy of a running app to diagnose layout issues.

Steps

1. Identify the running app

If the user hasn't specified an app name, list running processes first:

axe ps

2. Get the view hierarchy

Pass all user arguments directly to axe view:

axe view $ARGUMENTS

Common invocation patterns:

• Full tree: axe view --app MyApp
• Frontmost only: axe view --app MyApp --frontmost
• Limited depth: axe view --app MyApp --depth 3
• Specific view detail: axe view 0x10150e5a0 --app MyApp --swiftui compact

Note: --swiftui (none/compact/full) is only valid in detail mode (when a 0x address is provided).

3. Analyze the hierarchy

Examine the view tree output (YAML format) and identify:

• Unexpected nesting: Views wrapped in unnecessary containers
• Frame issues: Zero-sized frames, overlapping views, off-screen elements
• Constraint violations: Ambiguous layouts or conflicting constraints
• Hidden views: Elements with isHidden: true or zero alpha
• SwiftUI structure: Body composition and modifier chains (when using --swiftui)

4. Correlate with source code

If the user provides source file context, correlate the hierarchy nodes with the SwiftUI/UIKit source to pinpoint where issues originate.

5. Report findings

Present:

1. A simplified view of the relevant hierarchy section
2. Identified issues with their view addresses
3. Suggested code changes to fix layout problems

Tips

• Use --depth 3 to limit output for deeply nested hierarchies
• Use --frontmost to focus on the visible view controller
• In detail mode output, the SwiftUI tree can be large. Focus on the relevant section.

Prerequisites

Run this if the command fails because axe is not found::

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/k-kohey/axe/main/install.sh | sh