Peekaboo Driver Skill
SkillDev toolsUse this skill when driving native-UI AX-tree snapshots and screenshots via steipete/peekaboo (MIT, macOS-only). Dispatched by `skills/test-runner/` to capture native-UI AX-tree snapshots + screenshots on macOS 15+ targets, and exits with deterministic JSON output the orchestrator can parse.
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
No other account needed.
Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.
Then ask your AI: use the Peekaboo Driver Skill skill
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by kanevry/session-orchestrator in skills/peekaboo-driver/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
Soul
Before anything else, read and internalize soul.md in this skill directory. It defines WHO you are — a thin executor, not an orchestrator. Every action in this session should reflect that identity.
Phase 0: Bootstrap Gate
Read skills/_shared/bootstrap-gate.md and execute the gate check. If GATE_CLOSED, invoke skills/bootstrap/SKILL.md and wait for completion. If GATE_OPEN, continue.
Package Note — Installation & Binary Name
Both install paths surface the same peekaboo binary at the same version:
| Install path | Command | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Homebrew (preferred) | brew install steipete/tap/peekaboo | Installs to /opt/homebrew/bin/peekaboo |
| npm / npx (CI-friendly) | npx -y @steipete/peekaboo | Requires Node 22+. No global install needed. |
The GitHub repository is github.com/steipete/peekaboo. Older links may surface openclaw/Peekaboo — both redirect to the same canonical repo and binary.
Canonical name verification: Always verify a package name via brew info or npm view before documenting. The playwright-driver PRD originally referenced @playwright/cli@0.1.13 (an unrelated stub) instead of canonical playwright@1.60.0. Verify @steipete/peekaboo against any look-alike before trusting an install path.
Install
brew install steipete/tap/peekaboo # Option A — Homebrew
npx -y @steipete/peekaboo --version # Option B — npx (CI)
peekaboo --version # Verify: expect 3.1.x
Baseline: v3.1.0. Latest at time of writing: v3.1.2 (May 11 2026).
Phase 1: Platform & Version Gate
Mandatory pre-flight. Run before any other peekaboo command.
[ "$(uname -s)" != "Darwin" ] && { echo "peekaboo-driver: non-darwin, skipping." >&2; exit 0; }
MACOS_MAJOR="$(sw_vers -productVersion | cut -d. -f1)"
[ "$MACOS_MAJOR" -lt 15 ] && { echo "peekaboo-driver: requires macOS 15+, skipping." >&2; exit 0; }
command -v peekaboo >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "peekaboo-driver: binary not found — install first." >&2; exit 2; }
Exit 0 (non-fatal skip) on non-darwin or macOS < 15.0 (Sequoia). Exit 2 (fatal) only when the binary is missing on an otherwise-compatible system.
Phase 2: Permission Probe
PERMS_JSON="$(peekaboo permissions status --json)"
MISSING="$(echo "$PERMS_JSON" | jq -r '.data.permissions[] | select(.isRequired == true and .isGranted == false) | .name')"
[ -n "$MISSING" ] && echo "peekaboo-driver: missing required permissions: ${MISSING}" >&2
The permissions status --json schema (verified 2026-05-14):
{
"success": true,
"data": {
"permissions": [
{ "name": "Screen Recording", "isRequired": true, "isGranted": false, "grantInstructions": "System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording" },
{ "name": "Accessibility", "isRequired": true, "isGranted": false, "grantInstructions": "System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility" },
{ "name": "Event Synthesizing", "isRequired": false, "isGranted": false, "grantInstructions": "System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility" }
],
"source": "local"
}
}
Required: Screen Recording (hard), Accessibility (hard). Optional: Event Synthesizing. Permission failures are never silent. Route to Phase 3 when any required permission is not granted.
Phase 3: Permission Remediation
Surface missing required permissions via AskUserQuestion (per ask-via-tool.md AUQ-003). Do not auto-grant — macOS requires manual user action in System Settings.
If $MISSING from Phase 2 contains more than one permission, present one AUQ per missing permission in the order they appear. The user can grant or skip each independently; the driver re-checks after each grant (one full Phase 2 sweep per round).
The loop executes once per permission in $MISSING, exiting after Phase 3 permission re-probe shows all required permissions granted or the user selects Skip for the current permission.
For each ${PERM_NAME} in $MISSING:
AskUserQuestion({
questions: [{
question: `${PERM_NAME} is not granted. Enable the terminal entry under System Settings > Privacy & Security, then confirm.`,
header: "Zugriff",
options: [
{ label: "Granted — continue (Recommended)", description: "I enabled the terminal entry in that pane — the driver then checks again and carries on if the grant took effect." },
{ label: "Skip this run", description: "Abort peekaboo-driver. Test-runner will record a framework-error finding." }
],
multiSelect: false
}]
})
After confirmation, re-probe ($MISSING Phase 2 sweep). If still not granted or user selects Skip for any permission, exit 2 (fatal). Do NOT attempt any capture without required permissions — the binary will fail ungracefully.
Canonical Usage
The orchestrator (skills/test-runner/) dispatches via Bash. Inputs via environment variables: RUN_ID, RUN_DIR, TARGET (app name), PROFILE.
# Validate TARGET (app name) — alphanumeric, spaces, dots, hyphens only
# (Prevents shell injection per SEC-PD-MED-1 + path traversal per SEC-PD-LOW-1)
[[ "${TARGET}" =~ ^[A-Za-z0-9\ \.\-]+$ ]] || { echo "peekaboo-driver: invalid TARGET (must match ^[A-Za-z0-9 .-]+$)" >&2; exit 2; }
TARGET_SAFE="${TARGET//[^A-Za-z0-9_.-]/_}" # filename-safe variant for artifact paths
RUN_DIR=".orchestrator/metrics/test-runs/${RUN_ID}"
mkdir -p "${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots" "${RUN_DIR}/screenshots"
peekaboo see --app "${TARGET}" --json > "${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots/main-${TARGET_SAFE}.json"
peekaboo image --app "${TARGET}" --format png --path "${RUN_DIR}/screenshots/main-$(date +%s%3N).png"
Artifact Layout
.orchestrator/metrics/test-runs/<run-id>/
results.json # driver summary {run_id, exit_code, scenarios_*}
exit_code # plain integer: 0, 1, or 2
ax-snapshots/
<scenario>.json # peekaboo see --json output (one per scenario)
glass-modifiers-<ts>.json # Liquid Glass conformance artifact (Check 4)
screenshots/
<step>-<timestamp>.png # peekaboo image output
console.ndjson # driver log events (NDJSON)
Token discipline: NEVER inline AX-tree dumps into the coordinator context. Always write to disk. The ux-evaluator agent reads from disk, not from prompt context.
AX-Snapshot Pattern
peekaboo see --app "${APP_NAME}" --json > "${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots/${SCENARIO}.json"
Key fields in the see --json output the ux-evaluator reads: snapshot_id (capture ID), ui_elements (flat AX element list — primary consumer input), ui_map (hierarchical tree), interactable_count, capture_mode ("screen" or "window"). Each ui_elements entry carries role, role_description, bounds ({x, y, width, height}), identifier, and children. ux-evaluator Check 4 scans ui_elements for frame identifiers and cross-references the glass-modifiers artifact.
Liquid-Glass Conformance Artifact
For SwiftUI 26+ targets (projects with Package.swift declaring .iOS("26") or .macOS("26")+), emit a conformance artifact alongside the AX snapshot:
# Gate: glass-modifiers emit is opt-in per the active profile's rubric_features flag (v1 rubric does not consume).
PROFILES_FILE=".orchestrator/policy/test-profiles.json"
HAS_GLASS_V2="false" # preconditions unmet (no PROFILE / no file / no jq) = feature not requested
if [ -n "${PROFILE:-}" ] && [ -f "$PROFILES_FILE" ] && command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
# Fallback is `unknown`, NOT `false`: false is jq's legitimate "feature off" answer,
# so a jq crash on a malformed profiles file would read as a deliberate opt-out.
HAS_GLASS_V2=$(jq -r --arg p "$PROFILE" '(.[$p].rubric_features // []) | contains(["glass-v2"])' "$PROFILES_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)
fi
if [ "$HAS_GLASS_V2" = "unknown" ]; then
echo "WARN: glass-v2 probe failed (jq could not read $PROFILES_FILE) — no conformance artifact emitted" >&2
elif [ "$HAS_GLASS_V2" = "true" ]; then
cat > "${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots/glass-modifiers-$(date +%s%3N).json" <<EOF
{
"schema_version": "v1",
"status": "stub",
"run_id": "${RUN_ID}",
"captured_at": "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)",
"glassEffect_frames": [],
"legacy_material_frames": [],
"blur_modifier_frames": []
}
EOF
fi
HAS_GLASS_V2 has three states, and the third is the reason the fallback is not false:
| Value | Meaning | Driver action |
|---|---|---|
true | The active profile lists glass-v2 in rubric_features | Emit the conformance artifact |
false | The profile does not list it — a real answer from a readable file, or preconditions unmet (no PROFILE, no profiles file, no jq) | Skip the artifact silently |
unknown | The probe itself failed — jq could not read/parse $PROFILES_FILE | WARN on stderr, skip the artifact. Never collapsed into false: a crashed probe is not an opt-out, and ux-evaluator Check 4 would otherwise report screenshot-only fallback as if the profile had chosen it |
The ux-evaluator Check 4 reads this file. glassEffect_frames = compliant (uses .glassEffect()). legacy_material_frames = non-compliant (uses .background(.thinMaterial) etc.). blur_modifier_frames = non-compliant (uses .blur(radius:) as background). In v1 the arrays are always empty — the evaluator falls back to screenshot-only analysis. Do NOT emit a bare {} — use the full schema structure with empty arrays.
Composability Contract
Invocation Shape
RUN_DIR="${RUN_DIR}" TARGET="${APP_NAME}" PROFILE="${PROFILE}" bash skills/peekaboo-driver/SKILL.md
All inputs via environment variables. No positional arguments accepted.
Exit Codes
| Code | Meaning | Orchestrator Action |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | All captures succeeded (or platform skip) | Record pass or skip, continue |
| 1 | At least one capture failed | Failures become findings (non-fatal) |
| 2 | Framework error (missing binary, permission denied, OS mismatch) | Surface as driver error, halt peekaboo portion of run |
Outputs the Orchestrator MUST Parse
${RUN_DIR}/exit_code— plain integer file written by driver before exit${RUN_DIR}/results.json— driver summary withexit_code,scenarios_attempted,scenarios_passed,scenarios_failed${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots/<scenario>.json— peekaboo AX-tree output per scenario${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots/glass-modifiers-<ts>.json— Liquid Glass conformance artifact (consumed by ux-evaluator Check 4; only emitted when the active profile declaresrubric_features: ['glass-v2']in.orchestrator/policy/test-profiles.json)${RUN_DIR}/screenshots/<step>-<ts>.png— per-step screenshots (evidence for ux-evaluator findings)${RUN_DIR}/console.ndjson— driver log events as NDJSON
Version Pin + Upper-Bound Advisory
Baseline: v3.1.0 (2026-05-14). Latest: v3.1.2 (May 11 2026). Re-validate on v3.2+. Key surfaces: permissions status --json schema, see --json schema (ui_elements, ui_map), image --path flag behavior.
Peekaboo Subcommands Reference
| Subcommand | Purpose |
|---|---|
peekaboo permissions status [--json] | Check Screen Recording / Accessibility / Event Synthesizing grant status |
peekaboo see --app <name> [--json] [--mode screen|window] | Capture AX-tree snapshot for a running application |
peekaboo image --app <name> [--format jpg|png] [--path <output>] | Capture screenshot of a running application |
peekaboo click [query|--on <id>|--coords x,y] | Synthesize a click event (requires Event Synthesizing) |
peekaboo type [text] [--delay ms] [--wpm 80-220] | Synthesize keyboard input |
peekaboo scroll --direction up|down|left|right [--amount n] | Synthesize a scroll gesture |
peekaboo run <scriptPath> [--output file] [--no-fail-fast] [--json] | Execute a .peekaboo.json script in scripted mode |
peekaboo agent [task] [--max-steps n] [--dry-run] | Autonomous agent mode (non-deterministic — not for CI) |
Anti-Patterns
- DO NOT auto-grant permissions — macOS requires manual user action. Never use
tccutilor similar workarounds. - DO NOT ignore exit codes — exit 2 is a fatal framework error. Surface it; do not treat it as a test failure.
- DO NOT inline AX-tree JSON into agent prompt context — always write to
${RUN_DIR}/ax-snapshots/. Trees for complex apps exceed 50K tokens. - DO NOT invoke from Linux or Windows without the platform gate — Phase 1 exits 0 (skip) but nothing downstream handles peekaboo output on non-darwin.
- DO NOT use
peekaboo agentmode in automated CI runs — non-deterministic and expensive. Reserve for manual exploratory sessions. - DO NOT emit a bare
{}for the glass-modifiers artifact — use the full schema with empty arrays. The ux-evaluator validates schema fields.
Sub-File Reference
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
soul.md | Driver identity: thin wrapper around native macOS UI capture, not an orchestrator |
Signals
- GitHub stars
- 50
- Forks
- 7
- Last commit
- Sep 2026
Advanced
- Catalog kind
- skill
- Gateway key
peekaboo-driver- Source
- github.com/kanevry/session-orchestrator