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Let VS Code use your iPhone.

Add Spatia to VS Code and it can see your iPhone's screen and tap, type and scroll for you, through iPhone Mirroring. One click in the setup assistant, or the exact config, with nothing to install on the phone.

Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot's agent mode. VS Code keeps MCP servers under “servers”.

What you need

A Mac on macOS 15 Sequoia or later, with VS Code installed.
An iPhone on iOS 18 or later, on the same Apple Account, nearby, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on.
Spatia, from the home page (free while it's in beta), moved to your Applications folder.

Set it up

Allow access. Open Spatia. Its setup assistant asks for Accessibility (to tap and type) and Screen Recording (to see the phone). They're granted to Spatia itself, not to VS Code.
Connect your iPhone. Pair iPhone Mirroring once, with the phone locked and nearby. From then on Spatia connects for you.
Add it to VS Code. In the setup assistant, click Add next to VS Code. Or add it yourself:
mcp.json
```
{
  "servers": {
    "iphone": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/Applications/Spatia.app/Contents/MacOS/iphone-mcp"
    }
  }
}
```
It goes in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json. The server is the iphone-mcp executable inside Spatia.app; nothing else is installed.
Reload the window, or start the server from the MCP list, to load it.
Just ask. Copilot's agent mode, in every workspace.

Try asking

“Open our app on my iPhone and check whether the new screen renders.”
“Tap through onboarding and tell me which step has no back button.”
“Read the error on my iPhone's screen.”
“Screenshot the Settings page of our app.”

How it works in VS Code

Spatia is a local MCP server with 27 tools: VS Code reads the iPhone's screen as words with tap points, so it taps on recognised text instead of guessing at pixels, and types exact text in any language. Every action can verify itself in the same call. The full list is in the developer section; how it compares with computer use, Appium and the open-source bridges is on the comparison page.

You stay in control: by default it asks before anything that sends, buys, posts or deletes, it never types a password, you can block apps by name, and the pause switch in the menu bar stops every tool at once. Picking up your iPhone stops it too.

Questions

Do I need to install anything on my iPhone to use it from VS Code?

No. Spatia runs entirely on your Mac, through iPhone Mirroring. There's no app, profile or cable on the phone.

Where does VS Code keep the Spatia config?

In ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json. Spatia's setup assistant writes it for you and backs up the file first; the snippet above is exactly what it adds.

What can VS Code do on my iPhone?

Open apps, read the screen as text, tap, type, scroll, swipe and take screenshots: 27 tools in all. It asks before anything that sends, buys, posts or deletes, never types a password, and you can pause it from the menu bar.