Agent Devtool (Inspect)

The Inspect pane is the in-sim devtools tab where you talk to a coding agent and watch it work. Open it from the rail (devtools button), or press Option+I to toggle it.

[ network ]  [ logs ]  [ agent ]              [ ? ] [ dock ] [ × ]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PROMPT     "rename the home tab to feed"
PLAN       1. find the tab label  2. rename it  3. verify
TOOL       sootsim find --text "Home"
FILE       app/(tabs)/_layout.tsx — read
DIFF       app/(tabs)/_layout.tsx
              -  <Tabs.Screen name="home" options={{ title: "Home" }} />
              +  <Tabs.Screen name="home" options={{ title: "Feed" }} />
APPROVAL   write app/(tabs)/_layout.tsx?  [accept]  [reject]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> ask the agent something…

How it connects

Sootsim runs an agent daemon. Attach a project once, pick a provider (Claude, Codex, Gemini, …) in shell settings, and the daemon matches every running sim to its project by bundle URL.

Each (project × provider) pair gets its own session.
Switching providers in shell settings retargets the prompt bar to the latest session for the new provider.

You’ll know it’s wired up when the prompt composer appears at the bottom of the agent tab. If it doesn’t, the daemon isn’t running or this sim isn’t attached — see Setup and the CLI.

Sending a prompt

Type into the composer at the bottom of the pane.
Optionally select a node on the canvas first — the agent receives an inspect summary alongside your prompt.
Submit. If there’s no active session for the selected provider, one lazy-starts.

Inspect-as-context is the killer feature: tap a button on the canvas, then ask “why doesn’t this open the right screen?” — the agent gets the node’s type, testID, layout, ARIA, and a short trace of its parent chain along with your prompt.

Reading the transcript

Each row is one event. The label tells you what kind:

Label	What it is
`PROMPT`	what you sent (with any inspect context attached)
`PLAN`	the agent’s plan steps, as a bulleted list
`THINKING`	streamed reasoning (collapsed into one row per turn)
`ASSISTANT`	streamed assistant message
`TOOL`	a tool call the agent made
`FILE`	a file the agent read or edited
`DIFF`	per-file code diff
`INSPECT`	inspect snapshot the agent attached to a turn
`APPROVAL`	agent is waiting for you to approve an action
`STATUS`	non-fatal session status
`ERROR`	a step that failed
`SESSION`	session lifecycle (ready, exited)

Tone color codes severity at a glance: muted for trace, info for normal flow, warning for approvals, error for failures.

Approvals

Some agent actions (writing files, running shell commands) gate on your approval. The pane shows an APPROVAL row — accept or reject inline. Until you do, the agent waits.

This is the safety valve: long autonomous runs stay safe because anything with side effects pauses for a human OK.

Pop out

The dock toggle in the top right detaches the devtools into its own window. The agent transcript stays in sync with the sim via BroadcastChannel — keep the sim full-screen on one display and the transcript on another.

Multi-window / multi-agent

Per-session claim leases keep multiple agents from stepping on each other on the bridge — see CLI Use › claim leases. The pane shows the foreground session for the selected provider; switching providers in settings retargets it.

Troubleshooting

No composer at the bottom — window.sootsimAgent isn’t installed. The daemon isn’t running, or this sim isn’t attached. Run sootsim agent attach.
Nothing streams when I submit — daemon is up but the session is stuck. Check STATUS/ERROR rows and sootsim agent logs.
Provider change doesn’t switch sessions — close and reopen the popout, or restart the sim window.

CLI Use

Overview