preview

SwiftUI Preview Capture

Capture a screenshot of a SwiftUI View's #Preview block using axe preview report (preferred) or axe preview.

Steps

Default: Use axe preview report

axe preview report is preferred because it waits for rendering to complete (--wait, default 10s) and retries on failure. Use this unless you need to select a specific preview from multiple #Preview blocks.

1. Resolve $ARGUMENTS to a .swift file path. $ARGUMENTS may contain only a View name (e.g. ContentView), so use Glob to find the actual path (e.g. TodoApp/ContentView.swift).

2. Run axe preview report to capture the preview as a PNG image:

axe preview report <path/to/File.swift> --output <output.png>

2. Display the captured image using the Read tool.

   • If the file contains multiple #Preview blocks, --output must be a directory. In that case, each screenshot is saved as <basename>--preview-<index>.png. Display all captured images.

3. Describe what you see in the preview to the user.

Fallback: Use axe preview (oneshot)

Use axe preview when you need to select a specific preview from a file that contains multiple #Preview blocks, via --preview <title|index>.

Note: oneshot mode captures immediately after the app signals readiness, with no rendering delay. This may result in a blank screenshot for views that require time to render.

axe preview <path/to/File.swift> > <output.png>

Options

• --wait <duration> — Rendering delay before screenshot capture (default 10s, report only). Reduce for simple views, increase for complex ones.
• --reuse-build — Skip xcodebuild and reuse artifacts from a previous build. Useful when capturing multiple previews in succession or when only the View source changed.
• --preview <title|index> — Select a specific preview by title or index (oneshot only).

Notes

• If the command fails, read $ERR_LOG and report the error to the user. Common causes:
  • The file does not contain a #Preview block
  • Missing .axerc or --scheme not specified
  • axe or idb_companion not installed
• The screenshot reflects the current state of the source code on disk. If the user has unsaved edits, remind them to save first.
• Clean up generated screenshot and log files after they are no longer needed.

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