Mobile Harness: Open-Source iOS and Android Control for AI Agents

X postNiels SchmidtAnnouncement

Niels Schmidt has introduced Mobile Harness, an open-source harness enabling coding agents such as Codex or Claude Code to drive real iOS and Android devices locally and in the cloud through a unified API.

Key points

  1. Mobile Harness uses the mobilerun-core Python library to provide a single control path across iOS and Android.
  2. The setup relies on a markdown-first architecture where AGENTS.md routes agents to platform guides, app cards, and recovery procedures.
  3. Supports both physical devices connected locally and remote cloud device fleets.
  4. Designed for agent runtimes with shell access via quickstart prompts that guide repository setup in a dedicated virtual environment.

Why it matters

Automating real mobile devices usually requires maintaining separate stacks across Android and iOS. Providing coding agents with a standardised interface and structured instructions lowers the barrier for automated mobile QA and autonomous device workflows.

Analysis

By partitioning documentation and routing tasks selectively, the project keeps LLM context usage small. While users highlight the utility for QA and mobile automation, community discussions also note potential security concerns if repository instruction files prompt agents to run package updates or shell commands without explicit user confirmation.

Original post

Niels Schmidt

@nielsmdt99 · 10 August 2026

Codex can now control real iOS and Android phones. 📱 Introducing t.co/xhPi0qMY1U, an open-source agent harness powered by mobilerun-core, giving agents one unified API and a consistent control path across local and cloud mobile devices. t.co/8xCgsY0QZT

1k likes31 replies1.3k bookmarks124.6k views

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More posts in the thread (1)
  1. Check it out here: t.co/SZW7g0knk8
Selected replies (5)
  • @trozee_dev @nielsmdt99 You can also do that using @agent_device . More info below 👇 t.co/owVF46jCh7
  • @ashcyp @nielsmdt99 you can just use WDA for iOS.. and android? you don't even need anything, it natively controls it. Can't believe people didn't know it.
  • @KCG3D @nielsmdt99 This is cool. I’ve been using IPhone Mirroring and letting Codex drive. Will check it out!
  • @BenHadley @nielsmdt99 @BenjaminBadejo
  • @LarryVelez @nielsmdt99 @pathlessknown I finally have a way to organize my app icons! It took a whole AI revolution to accomplish this.

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Summary generated by AI (Gemini 3.8 Flash, 27 September 2026). It may contain errors – the original source is authoritative.

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