# Camera (/docs/sims/conditions/camera)



Specs, suites and [`warden ui`](/docs/sims/ui) feed a file into the app's real camera API, so the app's own preview, photo capture, video recording and QR scanning run against a known picture. There is no app-side bypass. Simulators and emulators only: a physical device fails with `E_UNSUPPORTED`.

Accepted files: png, jpg, heic (image), mp4, mov (video). warden reads the leading bytes, not the extension. Anything else is `E_CAMERA_MEDIA`, and a missing file is `E_CAMERA_NOT_FOUND`.

## In a spec [#in-a-spec]

```ts
import { expect, test } from "@delacour/warden-e2e";

test("scans the ticket", async ({ app, device, screen }) => {
	await device.camera.set("fixtures/qr-hello.png");
	await app.open();
	await expect(screen.getByTestId("scan-result")).toHaveText("hello");
	await device.camera.set("fixtures/qr-bye.png", { facing: "both" });
});
```

| Member                                        | Does                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `device.camera.set(path, { facing?, loop? })` | `path` is relative to the spec file. `facing`: `"back"` (default), `"front"` or `"both"`; the other facing keeps its feed. `loop` (video, default `true`). Returns `{ feeds, appliesOnLaunch?, appliesOnCameraOpen?, rebooted? }` |
| `device.camera.clear(facing?)`                | takes the feed off one facing, or both (default)                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| `device.camera.status()`                      | `{ feeds }` the spec has in place                                                                                                                                                                                                 |

The camera goes back to the suite's `camera` (or none) when the test ends. Each change is a `condition` line in `results.jsonl`.

## In a suite [#in-a-suite]

```ts
export default defineConfig({
	e2e: {
		scan: { camera: { back: "e2e/fixtures/qr-hello.png", front: { path: "e2e/fixtures/face.mp4", loop: true } } },
	},
});
```

Paths are relative to `warden.config.ts`. The feeds apply before each spec's first `app.open()`. On Android, the suite's legs claim emulators with `--camera`.

## By hand [#by-hand]

```bash
warden ui camera set fixtures/qr-hello.png            # back camera
warden ui camera set clip.mp4 --facing both --no-loop
warden ui camera status
warden ui camera clear
```

The feed is recorded on your lease and undone on release. With `--json` the answer is `result.camera`.

## iOS [#ios]

The app is launched with warden's injected library, which serves the feeds through the real AVFoundation and UIKit API: device discovery, the preview layer, photo output, movie recording, video data output, QR metadata output and the image picker's camera.

* A feed set while the app runs swaps live. Set before launch, it applies on the next `app.open()` (`appliesOnLaunch`).
* QR is the only code type decoded.
* Camera permission stays real. `simctl privacy` has no camera service, so the app's prompt shows: answer it with `device.alert("accept")` (turn `systemAlerts` off for the spec so it is not dismissed).

## Android [#android]

The emulator's cameras read files fixed at boot, so only a `--camera` emulator can be fed: `warden claim android --camera`, `warden dev android --camera`, or a suite with `camera`. These emulators have their own profile (`<profile>+cam`) and cold boot. They cannot be combined with `--biometrics` yet. Feeding any other emulator fails with `E_CAMERA_DEVICE`.

* An image shows on the app's next camera open (`appliesOnCameraOpen`). An open camera keeps its frames, so close and reopen it (or flip facing).
* A video feed, or switching between image and video, reboots the emulator (`rebooted`).
* Grant the permission up front with `device.permissions.set({ camera: "granted" })`.
* Frame the subject for the preview, not the file. The emulator fills the app's preview from the image and crops the rest, so a code near an edge can fall outside it, and a scanner only reads what reaches the app. With expo-camera on a Pixel emulator, a landscape preview shows about the left half of a 4:3 image: keep a QR code there, with a white margin. iOS passes the whole frame.

Errors and fixes are in [Debugging](/docs/e2e/debugging).