karagoz text

Types into whatever has focus.

Android emulator Done
Android device Done
iOS simulator Done
iOS device Done

Usage

karagoz text <text> [--device <id>]
karagoz text [--device <id>] -- <text starting with ->

Before you start

On Android, for input to reach apps: the screen unlocked. On a lock screen text types into the PIN field, and a wrong PIN counts as a failed unlock attempt.
On an iOS simulator:
- Xcode, opened once.
- With Xcode 27 or newer: a simulator on iOS 27 or newer.
- No UI test running on the same simulator.
On an iPhone: paired with the Mac, Developer Mode on, connected by USB cable, Settings > Developer > Enable UI Automation on, and Karagöz’s runner installed with install-runner.

Examples

Type into the focused field

$ karagoz text hello
{"device":"emulator-5554","text":"hello"}exit 0

Characters

Printable ASCII, newline (sent as Enter), tab (sent as Tab), ç, Ç and ß. Anything else fails before anything is typed:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "TEXT_UNSUPPORTED",
    "message": "cannot type 'ü' (U+00FC): Android's input text types only printable ASCII, newline, tab, ç, Ç and ß; nothing was typed"
  }
}

Quotes, spaces and %s are typed as they are; Karagöz handles the escaping.

Errors

Code	When
`INVALID_ARGS`	Empty text.
`TEXT_UNSUPPORTED`	A character outside the set under Characters. Nothing is typed.

Long text is sent in pieces of up to 100 characters. If a piece fails, the error keeps its code and the message ends with ; <n> of <total> characters were typed before this.

Plus INPUT_BLOCKED, the device selection errors and the adb errors.

Notes

Characters typed right after a field appears can be lost. Waiting about 2 s after the field shows up fixed it in testing.
100 characters take about 0.9 s.

On an iOS simulator

Any Unicode text is typed exactly, at the cursor; iOS’s auto-capitalization and smart quotes and dashes are not applied.

{
  "device": "27024DC1-EDB0-4BF2-8010-08FE3936BAB6",
  "text": "çğş it's -- ok"
}

Control characters other than newline and tab fail before anything is typed: cannot type 'U+0001' on an iOS simulator: control characters other than newline and tab; nothing was typed (TEXT_UNSUPPORTED).
With no focused field nothing is typed, and the call still exits 0.
It types 120 characters a second after about 1 s of setup: 300 characters took 3.5 s.
The first of ui-tree, tap, swipe, text or key on a simulator compiles a small helper, which takes a few seconds.
A cancelled or timed-out call can still type the whole text: the simulator gets it in one piece.
The call loads Xcode’s XCUIAutomation frameworks and puts the simulator in automation mode for its length, as a UI test does.
When the call ends, the simulator turns its app accessibility setting off. text writes it back if it was on, so later ui-tree reads still see apps. An app opened while the call ends can read as an empty tree until it is opened again.
Errors:
- NOT_SUPPORTED at once with Xcode 27 or newer on a simulator older than iOS 27: 'text' on an iOS 26.2 simulator needs an iOS 27 or later simulator with Xcode 27 or later; tap, swipe, key and ui-tree work on it.
- AUTOMATION_BUSY when a UI test holds the simulator.
- HELPER_FAILED when the session is not granted or the typing fails.

On an iPhone

Any Unicode text is typed exactly through Karagöz’s runner, as on the simulator.

Control characters other than newline and tab fail before anything is sent: cannot type 'U+0001' on an iPhone: ... (TEXT_UNSUPPORTED).
A newline acts as Return: in a single-line field it ends editing, and what follows it is not typed. A tab is typed as a tab.
With no focused field nothing is typed, and the call still exits 0.
120 characters a second: 20 characters took 0.6 s, 300 took 2.9 s.
Errors: those of tap on an iPhone.

MCP equivalent

MCP equivalenttext {"text":"hello"}MCP tools

Arguments: text (required), device. The names are the CLI's option and positional names.

karagoz tap: Its iPhone section lists the errors text gets on an iPhone.