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NativeScript Core

tns debug ios

Description

Initiates a debugging session for your project on a connected iOS device or in the iOS simulator. When necessary, the command will prepare, build, deploy and launch the app before starting the debug session. While debugging, the output from the application is printed in the console and any changes made to your code are synchronizes with the deployed app. Any debugging traffic is forwarded to port 8080 (or the next available one) from the device to the local machine.

WARNING: You can run this command only on macOS systems. To view the complete help for this command, run $ tns help debug ios

IMPORTANT: Before building for iOS device, verify that you have configured a valid pair of certificate and provisioning profile on your macOS system. For more information, see the Code Signing and Maintain Signing Assets sections from the Apple Developer documentation.

Commands

Usage Synopsis
Deploy on device/emulator, run the app, attach a debugger and generate a Chrome DevTools link for debugging $ tns debug ios
Deploy on device/simulator, run the app and stop at the first code statement $ tns debug ios --debug-brk [--device <Device ID>] [--no-client]
Deploy in the iOS simulator, run the app and stop at the first code statement $ tns debug ios --debug-brk --emulator [--no-client]
Attach the debug tools to a running app on specified device or simulator $ tns debug ios --start [--device <Device ID>] [--no-client]
Attach the debug tools to a running app in the iOS simulator $ tns debug ios --start --emulator [--no-client]

Options

  • --device - Specifies a connected device or iOS simulator on which to run the app. <Device ID> is the device identifier of the target device as listed by the $ tns device ios command.
  • --emulator - Indicates that you want to debug your app in the iOS simulator.
  • --debug-brk - Prepares, builds and deploys the application package on a device or in a simulator, runs the app, launches the developer tools of your Safari browser and stops at the first code statement.
  • --start - Attaches the debug tools to a deployed and running app and launches the developer tools of your Safari browser.
  • --no-client - If set, the NativeScript CLI attaches the debug tools but does not launch the developer tools in Safari. Could be used on already started Safari Web Inspector.
  • --timeout - Sets the number of seconds that NativeScript CLI will wait to find the inspector socket port from device's logs. If not set, the default timeout is 10 seconds.
  • --no-watch - If set, changes in your code will not be reflected during the execution of this command.
  • --clean - If set, forces the complete rebuild of the native application.
  • --no-hmr - Disables Hot Module Replacement (HMR). In this case, when a change in the code is applied, CLI will transfer the modified files and restart the application.
  • --chrome - Deprecated - default behavior uses '--chrome' implicitly. Allows debugging in Chrome Developer Tools. If set, Safari Web Inspector is not started and debugging is attached to Chrome Developer Tools.
  • --inspector - If set, the developer tools in the Safari Web Inspector are used for debugging the application.
  • --force - If set, skips the application compatibility checks and forces npm i to ensure all dependencies are installed. Otherwise, the command will check the application compatibility with the current CLI version and could fail requiring tns migrate.

Command Limitations

  • You can run $ tns debug ios only on macOS systems.
  • You must have Google Chrome installed on your machine.
  • If you want to debug in the iOS simulator, you must have the latest versions of Xcode installed on your machine.
Command Description
build Builds the project for the selected target platform and produces an application package that you can manually deploy on device or in the native emulator.
build ios Builds the project for iOS and produces an APP or IPA that you can manually deploy in the iOS simulator or on device, respectively.
debug Debugs your project on a connected device or in a native emulator.
debug android Debugs your project on a connected Android device or in a native emulator.
deploy Builds and deploys the project to a connected physical or virtual device.
device Lists all connected devices/emulators.
device ios Lists all connected devices/simulators for iOS.
run Runs your project on a connected device or in the native emulator for the selected platform.
run ios Runs your project on a connected iOS device or in the iOS simulator, if configured.
test init Configures your project for unit testing with a selected framework.
test ios Runs the tests in your project on iOS devices or the iOS simulator.
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