Release notes

Every version of @delacour/warden (and @delacour/warden-e2e, which moves in lock-step). Run warden update to get the latest, see Updating & releasing.

0.4.0

GitHub release

Minor changes

• #94 warden builds rm <hash…> (alias remove) removes cached builds by hash or a unique prefix (at least 6 characters), with their aliases, and forgets the install records at those hashes so the next warden dev / warden app ensure reinstalls on those devices. --platform, --dry-run, --yes and --json ({ dryRun, removed, forgotInstalls }) are supported. It asks first in a terminal, and refuses a prefix that matches several builds or a build being fetched or built right now.
• #89 warden dev: declining the warden.config.ts offer for an app read through expo config now writes the config to the repo's overlay under ~/.warden/projects/<repo>/ instead of skipping it, so later starts (from any worktree or branch of the same repo) skip the expo config call without a file in the checkout. A monorepo app gets root set to its path from the checkout. A warden.config.ts in the repo always wins over the overlay one.
• #88
  • warden dev draws a dashboard on an interactive terminal: task rows on the left (claim device, show simulator, dev build, metro, dev client, session), the selected row's live output on the right, and Metro's own terminal in the metro row. --no-tui or WARDEN_TUI=0 keeps the plain output; --json, pipes and CI are always plain.
  • The dashboard has two modes. List mode takes warden's keys; Enter or i on the metro row sends every key to Expo (a, i, w, j, r, m, o, ?) until Esc, Esc Esc sends a literal Esc, and Shift+PgUp / Shift+PgDn scroll Metro's history. ? lists the keys.
  • Action keys in list mode: r reload, d show the simulator, o open the dev client, s screenshot, R reinstall the dev build, x restart the simulator (iOS), c restart Metro with --clear, l stream device logs, h toggle the HUD, q quit and release.
  • The perf keys drive warden perf sessions from the dashboard: p starts and stops a session, P records every capture, m asks for a mark label, f reads frames (Android) and g shows the report. One session records per device, and R and x are refused while it does.
  • A perf HUD at the top right (terminals 100 columns or wider) shows CPU with a short history, memory (RSS on iOS, PSS on Android), fps and jank (Android), Metro's last bundle time and the recording clock. --no-hud turns it off and --hud-interval <duration> sets the sampling interval (default 1s, minimum 200ms).
  • Each dashboard session writes warden.log, metro.log and shots/ under $WARDEN_HOME/dev/<leaseId>/; warden gc removes a session directory once its lease is gone and its files are 24 hours old.
  • perf metrics --watch on iOS costs ~1% of a core instead of ~16%: the app's pid is resolved once and each sample is one pid-scoped ps.
• #91
  • warden dev holds one devtools connection to the app for the whole session (the dashboard's devtools row). It captures console lines, uncaught exceptions and fetch calls from launch, and warden ui devtools verbs read from it instead of opening their own connection. Without a dev session they connect directly as before.
  • warden dev logs reads Metro's output, classified as bundle_start, bundle_done, bundle_failed, hmr, error, warn and info, with file, line and code frame for bundle and transform errors. It takes --since, --tail, --grep, --kind, --follow and --json.
  • New warden ui exceptions, warden ui route and warden ui devtools status|resume. warden ui logs and warden ui network gain --since, --level, --grep, --status and --limit.
  • Exception and console stacks are symbolicated through Metro to source file and line, with Metro's code frame. Errors React Native reports through its exception handler count as exceptions.
  • warden ui logpoint add <file:line[:col]> '<expression>' logs a value every time a source line runs, without pausing the app or editing code. --hits <n> removes it after n hits. It comes with logpoint list|rm|clear|hits. Logpoints are set again after a reload and end with the session. They need the Fusebox debugger.
  • warden perf js records through the dev session's connection when warden dev runs. Other perf captures hand the connection back when they finish.
  • warden perf js hotspots now map to source on React Native apps, which load their bundle as index.bundle//&….
  • When Chrome DevTools takes the app on a Metro that allows one debugger, the session's connection waits instead of taking it back. warden ui devtools resume reattaches.
  • warden mcp is an MCP server on stdio. Its tools are dev_sessions, metro_logs, app_console, app_exceptions, app_network, app_eval, app_tree, app_route, app_reload, logpoint_add|hits|list|remove, profile_start|stop|status and devtools_status|resume.
• #88
  • warden dev (and every command that finds the project) works from a monorepo root without a warden.config.ts: when nothing is found upwards it looks below, in the package.json workspaces (else apps/* and packages/*). One app there is used and named; with several, warden dev asks which one, and a pipe gets the list and --project <dir>.
  • warden dev runs bare React Native apps. An app whose package.json depends on react-native but not expo gets its bundle ids from ios/*.xcodeproj and android/app/build.gradle, Metro as react-native start on the leased port, react-native build-ios / build-android as the default local build, and is relaunched against Metro (-RCT_jsLocation on iOS, port 8081 reversed on Android). No expo-dev-client is asked for. c restarts Metro with --reset-cache.
  • New projects[].framework ("expo" | "react-native") in warden.config.ts overrides the guess from package.json.
• #88
  • warden dev resolves an app whose config is code (app.config.ts / .js / .mjs / .cjs) without a bundle id in app.json: it runs expo config --json --type public in the app directory once and takes the bundle id, slug and scheme from the result, instead of stopping with "app.config.ts is dynamic". --bundle-id still overrides it and a warden.config.ts skips the call. The same applies to every command that finds the project this way (warden app, warden e2e, warden run).
  • warden dev checks the request and the app before it leases a device or opens the dashboard, and a failure there is one line with the fix on the terminal. With a person at the terminal each missing piece is offered: a package the dev-client run needs (expo-dev-client) is added and installed through the checkout's package manager (yarn / pnpm / bunx / npx expo install, from the nearest lockfile), and an app read through expo config can get a warden.config.ts with the resolved ids so later starts skip the call (run through the checkout's prettier when it has one). Without a terminal (--json, a pipe) the blocking issues are the error, each with its command.
  • The dashboard no longer swallows a failure: when the session never comes up, or Metro dies, warden's lines are printed to the terminal after the dashboard has closed, with the session log directory.
  • warden init names the install command for the checkout's package manager instead of always bunx expo install.
• #97 warden e2e and warden ui record stop no longer need bun installed: warden runs the specs with the bun built into its own binary. WARDEN_BUN still picks a different bun.
• #85
  • On iOS, fill pastes the text with one Cmd+V instead of typing every character, about 400 ms whatever its length. Secure fields are pasted too.
  • locator.fill(text, { via: "paste" | "type" }) and warden ui fill --via paste|type choose how the text goes in; paste is the default and type keeps the old key-by-key typing. Android always types.
  • A paste that cannot be confirmed on the simulator pasteboard is typed in the same attempt, and the retry after a failed read-back always types, so a field that mangles a paste (a mask, a maxLength) still passes.
  • warden ui record writes via: "type" on a fill step that was typed, and the generated spec passes { via: "type" }; existing recordings are unchanged.
• #82
  • Every iOS simulator warden creates boots already slim by default. --slim / --no-slim on claim, run, dev, batch and e2e, config slim (top-level, e2e.<suite>.slim, batches.<name>.slim) as true | false | { except, keep }, and WARDEN_SLIM=0 choose per run, per suite or per machine.
  • The slim overrides are written to the simulator before its first boot, so clones come up slim with no per-daemon spawns. Once the sim is ready they are read back, and any drift is fixed live.
  • warden sim slim --except <categories> and --keep <labels> leave whole categories or single com.apple.* labels running. warden sim profiles lists the categories.
  • warden sim measure [udid|--booted] prints a booted simulator's real memory (summed phys_footprint) and its heaviest processes. warden devices --mem adds the figure to the device list.
  • warden capacity counts a slim simulator at 1792 MB and a stock one at 4096 MB (measured, up from 2048), so admission matches what simulators really use. cost.ios.memMb and cost.ios.slimMemMb override them.
  • gamed and nanotimekitcompaniond are no longer disabled, and are re-enabled on a simulator an older warden already slimmed.
  • A plain warden claim no longer restores a slimmed simulator. warden sim slim --restore does.

Patch changes

• #90 warden claim, warden run and warden dev say what a claim is doing while it creates or boots a device (creating …, … booting, … waiting until it is ready), so warden dev's claim row is no longer blank during a slow boot. A warm booted device is still claimed silently.
• #99 Every simulator warden shuts down now has its viewer window closed, not only the one warden dev stops on a clean exit: warden release --shutdown, SessionEnd, warden batch, warden gc (stale leases and idle sims) and the capacity gate's idle shutdown. On Xcode 27 this stops Device Hub windows offering "Start" from piling up after a warden dev session whose terminal was closed.
• #90 warden dev's dashboard streams the local build's own output (expo run:ios, xcodebuild, Gradle) into the dev build row while it runs, instead of showing nothing until the build ends. The R reinstall action streams it into its row too. Plain output (--no-tui, --json, pipes, agents) is unchanged.
• #94 warden dev, warden app ensure and warden run --app no longer cache a dev build made from a stale git-ignored ios/ / android/ dir. When the native fingerprint has changed since that dir was prebuilt (a new native dependency such as expo-application), or warden does not know which fingerprint it was prebuilt for, the local build removes it first so expo prebuild and pod install run again. Before, the build skipped both and linked none of the new native modules, so the dev client crashed with Cannot find native module '<X>'. A committed native dir, and a custom build command that does not run expo prebuild / expo run:*, are left as they are.
• #93
  • warden claim / warden dev no longer queue forever on macOS when the kernel reports memory pressure warn while plenty of memory is free: a kernel warn now holds the boot queue only when memory_pressure also shows under 25% free (critical still always holds). warden capacity shows the same reading.
  • warden dev's dashboard shows the claim's progress under the claim row (queued [#1](https://github.com/delacournz/warden/issues/1) of 1 (high) — memory pressure warn and similar), instead of sitting on "preparing the ios dev build" with no output.
• #88 warden dev boots a held simulator that is shut down (--udid, --lease, or the device lease an earlier session in the same shell left behind) and waits for it before installing, instead of opening Device Hub on a stopped sim and failing with "Unable to lookup in current state: Shutdown". It only boots a device under the session's own lease; a shut-down device that is not yours is an error naming it.
• #98
  • warden dev on iOS opens the Expo dev client without the dev menu's first-run onboarding sheet or the dev menu covering the app at launch. The dev menu stays reachable by shake, ⌃D or the floating button.
  • The warden skill says warden dev ios opens without the sheet, and that warden ui open --relaunch can still show it.
• #88
  • warden dev shows the simulator it leased: once the device is held it brings the sim's window to the front, launching Device Hub (Xcode 27) or Simulator.app (Xcode ≤ 26) when no viewer is running, instead of leaving the window behind other apps or never opening one. --headless skips it; a viewer that can't be opened is a warning, not a failure.
  • warden dev shuts the simulator it booted down when it ends (Metro exits, Ctrl-C, a kill), and closes its Device Hub / Simulator.app window, instead of leaving it running until warden gc with a window behind. A sim that was already booted when leased, or one given with --udid / --lease, is left on. --no-shutdown keeps dev's own sim booted.
  • warden dev and warden run treat the terminal going away (SIGHUP) like Ctrl-C: the child is stopped and the leases released.
• #81
  • A settle no longer counts as input for the stable-frame rule: an action right after app.open() or a device.settle() that reported quiet trusts its one look instead of taking a second snapshot.
  • On iOS, an action whose look followed a tap or a key within 300 ms confirms that its element has stopped moving with one hit-test instead of a second whole-screen snapshot (not with systemAlerts set, where the full look is what finds an alert).
• #85
  • iOS typing is about 2.6x faster: the default key pacing drops to 5 ms after a key, 20 ms hold and 50 ms before a repeated key, down from 30, 40 and 300 (about 38 ms per character instead of 99 on a local simulator).
  • WARDEN_SIMD_PACE_MS, WARDEN_SIMD_HOLD_MS and WARDEN_SIMD_REPEAT_GAP_MS and the paceMs, holdMs and repeatGapMs request fields still override the defaults.
  • The typing delays no longer go through the simulator library's timers, so a loaded host (a CI VM) stops stretching them into several times the requested pause.
• #83
  • iOS app.launch, app.terminate and app.openUrl (every spec app.open, device.openLink and warden ui open) run inside the resident warden-simd helper instead of spawning xcrun simctl for each call: the helper already holds CoreSimulator, which every simctl process loaded again (about 0.13 CPU-s on the host per launch, roughly 40 % of warden's host CPU per bench rep). Launch arguments and environment reach the app as before, relaunch: false keeps a running instance, terminating an app that is not running is still a success, and the driver.app.launch span now carries via (simd or simctl) and the app's pid.
  • A helper built before these ops answers once and the driver falls back to simctl for the rest of the session ([ios] this warden-simd predates the \launch` op …in the log; restart it withwarden ui close --udid or rebuild withbun run --cwd packages/e2e native:build). Install, uninstall, isRunningandclearDatastay onsimctl`.
• #96 The warden agent skill (warden skill install, warden install) matches the current CLI: warden builds, warden dev logs, warden mcp tools, warden perf subcommands, warden ui devtools verbs and the flags added since 0.3 are documented, and stale defaults and error codes are corrected.
• #100 warden ui open <bundleId> --metro <url> on iOS launches the Expo dev client the way warden dev does: no dev menu onboarding sheet and no dev menu at launch. Your --args follow those flags.

0.3.1

GitHub release

Patch changes

• #74 bun run release <version> asks npm about every package before writing the version or building: a version already published for all of them is reported and skipped without touching the tree, and packages that already have it are listed as skipped up front.

0.3.0

GitHub release

Minor changes

• #72
  • warden ui record start|note|undo|use|status|cancel|stop (#63): every warden ui action and query is journalled under $WARDEN_HOME/ui/<udid>/, and stop writes a typed @delacour/warden-e2e spec (or an exported helper) directly, then runs it once on the leased device (--no-verify skips). The journal is kept until a passing stop or a cancel, so you can undo, fix and stop again.
  • record use runs an exported helper on the device, then records an import and a call to it.
  • Generated specs use durable selectors only (testID > role+label > text); snapshot -i marks elements without one as [no-id]. Lints: coords_target, text_only_selector, ambiguous_selector, unverified_navigation, empty_recording.
  • Secrets typed through WARDEN_UI_SECRET_<NAME> never land in the spec; testIDs are merged into an ids module; wait / is / get become auto-waiting expects; app.open({ wait: "quiet" }).
  • Recordings reuse the suite's shared test.use options and emit launch: "none" when the recording or its helper opens the app itself.
  • stop prints the specs.<id> entries for warden.config.ts from the routes seen on a dev client (helper routes merged); it never edits the config.

0.2.0

GitHub release

Minor changes

• #58
  • warden-simd links idb v1.7.7, whose typed bridge answers replace the generic frame decode: the helper's CPU per accessibility read drops by about three quarters (host 9.12 → 3.79 CPU-seconds per bench rep on EAS macos-large with the equivalent patch), memory unchanged. A guest that stops answering now surfaces as E_TIMEOUT with the seconds allowed.
  • WARDEN_SIMD_TIMEOUT (a duration, e.g. 60s) sets the per-request timeout of the helper client warden ui and the e2e runner connect with; the default stays 10 s.
  • warden e2e / warden dev honour the core eas: false opt-out and never call eas-cli when it is set.
  • Golden settle probe works without a GUI launchd session (hosted workers, ssh).

Patch changes

• #69 iOS typeText with characters the HID keyboard cannot type (café, emoji, CJK) pastes the right text again on Xcode 27.1: the simulator pasteboard is written through devicectl device pasteboard copy (falling back to simctl pbcopy) and confirmed with pbpaste before the paste keystroke. simctl pbcopy exits 0 there without changing the pasteboard, so the field used to receive whatever the Mac had copied last. An unconfirmed write is now E_IO and nothing is pasted.

0.1.2

GitHub release

Patch changes

• #64 Releases now flow through a changesets "Version Packages" PR into develop; merging it fast-forwards main, which deploys the docs and publishes the npm packages together.