/argent-tv-interact

name: argent-tv-interact
description: Control and inspect TV apps via argent — Apple TV (tvOS), Android TV (leanback), and Amazon Fire TV (Vega). Boot the target, read focus, navigate with the D-pad remote, type, screenshot, and on Vega debug the JS runtime (evaluate, console logs, network inspector). Use when a task targets a TV (runtimeKind "tv", or platform "vega"), or mentions Apple TV / tvOS / Android TV / leanback / Vega / Fire TV / VVD.

Argent TV (Apple TV + Android TV + Fire TV)

Critical

• A TV is **focus-driven, not touch-driven.** Drive every interaction with `describe` + `tv-remote` + `keyboard`; never use `gesture-*` / coordinate taps — they don't apply on any TV platform.
• **Always `describe` before navigating** to find the live cursor and your target — never guess focus from a screenshot. The cursor is the focused element; on **Vega** the toolkit often leaves `focused` false and marks the highlighted item `[selected]`, so treat `[selected]` as the cursor when nothing reports `[focused]`.
• Pass the `udid` from `list-devices` — an Apple TV simulator UDID or an Android TV / Vega `serial`. Dispatch is automatic from the id; the same tools drive all three.

The navigation loop

1. `describe` — find the cursor and your target (returns the focused element + all focusable ones, not a tap tree). 2. `tv-remote` — move focus toward the target. Prefer **one** call with a path ending in `select`, e.g. `{button:["down","right","select"]}`; count rows/columns from the frames to build the path. 3. `describe` again to confirm. On a miss, repeat.

Tools

• `describe {udid}` — focus view: the focused / `[selected]` element + focusable elements with labels and normalized frames. Call before and after navigating. Empty tree → see the per-platform notes.
• `tv-remote {udid, button}` — D-pad / remote. `button` is one key **or a whole path** (run in one call). Keys: `up`/`down`/`left`/`right`, `select`, `back`, `menu`, `home`, `playPause`, plus media keys `rewind`/`fastForward`/`next`/`previous`/`volumeUp`/`volumeDown`/`mute`. Single: `{button:"down"}`; repeat: `{button:"down", repeat:3}`; path: `{button:["up","right","select"]}`.
• `keyboard {udid, text}` — type into the focused field (focus it with `tv-remote` first). One call carries `text` or `key`, never both — to type and then press a key, send two `keyboard` steps in one `run-sequence`. Named `key` presses (e.g. `{key:"enter"}`) work on Vega; on Apple TV / Android TV move focus with `tv-remote` instead.
• `launch-app` / `restart-app` / `reinstall-app {udid, bundleId}` — `bundleId` from the app manifest. Vega `reinstall-app` takes `appPath` = a `.vpkg`.
• `screenshot {udid, scale?}` — Apple TV via `xcrun simctl io` (downscaled); Android TV / Vega host-side via `adb` / `screencap`.

Per-platform

Apple TV (tvOS simulator)

• Boot like any iOS sim (`boot-device`); the AX + HID daemons auto-start on the first `describe` / `tv-remote` (first call may take a few seconds). Give the RN bundle a few seconds to render before the first `describe`.
• Media-transport / volume keys are **rejected** — the sim's HID stack ignores them (they work on Android TV / Vega).
• Dev build: `open-url {udid, url:"<scheme>://expo-development-client/?url=http%3A%2F%2F<HOST_IP>%3A8081"}` (`<HOST_IP>` = your Mac's LAN IP, shown on the launcher).

Android TV (leanback emulator)

• Boot the leanback AVD like any emulator — see `argent-android-emulator-setup`.
• **`describe` may report zero focusables on a screen with visible tiles**: many `react-native-tvos` screens use RN's own focus engine, invisible to the OS accessibility tree. `describe` auto-falls-back to the full UI tree (and says so in the hint); `tv-remote` still moves focus, so drive blind + `screenshot` to confirm.
• Dev build: `adb -s <serial> reverse tcp:8081 tcp:8081`, deep-link `<pkg>://expo-development-client/?url=http%3A%2F%2F10.0.2.2%3A8081`, dismiss the first dev-menu with `adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_CENTER` (not Back — Back exits the app).

Fire TV (Vega / VVD)

• `list-devices` shows a `serial` (use as `udid`) and a `vvdImage`. `boot-device {vvdImage}` (e.g. `"tv"`) starts the single SDK-managed VVD; skip if one already runs.
• **Stop the VVD** with `vega virtual-device stop` in your shell. The CLI only tracks VVDs it started in the foreground, so it may report "not running" for one started via `boot-device`; to restart that one use `boot-device {vvdImage, force:true}` (stops then re-boots).
• Empty `describe` tree → `restart-app` (the automation toolkit attaches at launch), then retry. Input ignored → enable developer mode in the VVD: `vsm developer-mode enable`.
• Editing `node_modules` has no effect on a Release build — only Debug `.vpkg` builds load patchable JS.
• Profiling / crashes → `amazon-devices-buildertools-mcp` server (`analyze_perfetto_traces`, `get_app_hot_functions`, `symbolicate_acr`); docs via its `search_documentation` tool.

Common gotchas

• **Empty focus right after `launch-app` / `restart-app`** is the splash / loading window — `describe` retries internally; wait ~2-3s and retry on a cold start.
• Passing a phone/tablet (`runtimeKind: "mobile"`) udid to `tv-remote` fails with a clear "tvOS-only" / "Android-TV-only" error — pick a TV target from `list-devices`.

Fast Refresh (dev builds)

Needs a Debug build + Metro running. argent only _connects_ to Metro — start Metro and port-forward yourself (any platform). Metro is fixed on **:8081**.

• **Apple TV / Android TV:** use the dev-build deep-links above; `npm start` for Metro.
• **Vega:** build/install a Debug `.vpkg` (`vega device install-app -p <path>`), `npm start`, `vega device start-port-forwarding --port 8081 --forward false`, then `vega device launch-app -a <appId>`. Confirm `http://localhost:8081/json/list` shows a `Hermes React Native` target; `.tsx` edits then hot-reload.

Debugging the JS runtime (Vega)

Once that same Debug build + Metro setup is in place, the