Demo mode for apps with a login

ShowTake never asks for real accounts and the agent never guesses credentials. When a login wall, paywall or empty state blocks the feature you want to film, give the app a demo mode.

Launch arguments and environment

prepare_ios and prepare_macos take launch_args and env; both are saved in the flow, so replays start the same way.

{ "scheme": "Notes", "launch_args": ["-demoMode", "YES"], "env": { "DEMO_USER": "alex" } }

In the app, read them once at launch:

let isDemo = ProcessInfo.processInfo.arguments.contains("-demoMode")
    || UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: "demoMode")
if isDemo {
    session = .signedIn(DemoData.user)   // skip the login screen
    store.load(DemoData.notes)           // realistic content
}

Keep demo mode out of release builds you ship (#if DEBUG, or a build setting): ShowTake builds the Release configuration by default, so pass "configuration": "Debug" or a dedicated Demo configuration if your demo code is behind DEBUG.

Test accounts

If the app must sign in for real, use a test account and pass its credentials through env from your own shell environment, never in the prompt. When the agent types a password it sets mask: true, so the text is hidden in the render and in the logs.

Seed data and environment (iOS)

prepare_ios can also:

• add images and videos to Photos (photos),
• set a location (location: [latitude, longitude]),
• pre-grant permissions so no alert interrupts the take (privacy: ["photos", "camera", "location"]),
• set the appearance (light or dark), the locale (de_DE) and the status bar time (default 9:41).

Elements without labels

If buttons have no accessibility label or identifier, the agent can only tap by coordinates, which breaks easily on replays. Adding .accessibilityIdentifier("todos.add") to the controls in the demo makes takes and flows far more reliable, and helps VoiceOver users too.