Control a mobile (iOS) emulator / simulator stream from inside Orca Lab using the `orca` CLI. Use for taps, gestures, typing, hardware buttons, camera injection, permissions, accessibility tree, and more — all while seeing the live view in Orca Lab's emulator pane. Prefer this over raw `npx serve-sim` or direct simctl when running agents inside Orca Lab (the orca surface handles device scoping, helper lifecycle, and worktree context). Complements the orca-cli skill for terminals, worktrees, and the built-in browser.
Install
npx skillscat add ab2webco/orca-oss/orca-emulator Install via the SkillsCat registry.
Orca Emulator
This file is a discovery stub, not the usage guide. The full, version-matched Orca Lab emulator
reference is served by the orca binary itself — kept out of this file on purpose so it can
never drift from the binary that will actually run your commands.
Engage Orca Lab whenever you drive a mobile (iOS) emulator / simulator stream from inside the
Orca Lab app: taps, gestures, typing, hardware buttons, camera injection, runtime permissions,
the accessibility tree, and more — all while the live view stays in Orca Lab's emulator pane.
Prefer this over raw serve-sim or direct simctl when running agents inside Orca Lab, which
handles device scoping, helper lifecycle, and worktree context for you. It complements the
orca-cli skill for terminals, worktrees, and the built-in browser.
Resolve the CLI for this session
Choose the executable once and reuse it for every later command:
- If the
ORCA_CLI_COMMANDenvironment variable is set, use its value. Orca Lab exports this
for managed WSL sessions. - Otherwise, in a dev checkout whose session exposes
ORCA_DEV_REPO_ROOT, useorca-dev. - Otherwise, on Linux outside an Orca Lab-managed terminal, use
orca-ide. Never run bareorcathere — outside Orca Lab's terminals it normally resolves to the
GNOME Orca screen reader (/usr/bin/orca) and starts speech on the user's machine. - Otherwise, use
orca.
Below, ORCA is a placeholder for the executable you resolved. Substitute it before
running anything; do not create a shell variable or run ORCA literally. This works the
same way in POSIX shells, PowerShell, and cmd.exe.
If the selected executable cannot run, report its exact error and stop. Do not fall through
to another executable, which could silently target a different Orca Lab build.
Load the full guide before running Orca Lab commands
ORCA skills get orca-emulatorThat prints the complete, version-matched guide for the exact binary that will handle your
next commands — booting devices, taps and gestures, typing, hardware buttons, camera
injection, permissions, and the accessibility tree. Read it first, then run the specific
command you need.
Don't guess subcommands or flags from memory or from a cached copy of this stub. They
change between Orca Lab releases, and this file deliberately no longer lists them. Confirm the
app is up with ORCA status --json (start it with ORCA open --json if needed), and
prefer --json for agent-driven calls.
If an older Orca Lab does not recognize skills get
Use this fallback only when the selected binary explicitly reports that skills get is an
unknown command. Another failure is not proof of an older binary; report it rather than
guessing or changing executables. For a confirmed pre-guide binary, use only this bounded,
read-only bootstrap to orient. Do not dead-end and do not invent commands:
ORCA status --json
ORCA emulator list --jsonThen tell the user that updating Orca Lab restores the full, version-matched guide viaORCA skills get orca-emulator. Beyond these commands, ask the user rather than guessing a
command surface this older binary may not support.