argent-lens

Prerequisite — feature flag. This workflow is gated behind the argent-lens flag (off by default). Run argent enable argent-lens once before using it. If propose_variant / await_user_selection come back not-found, the flag is off — enable it and retry.

1. Overview

You implement several candidate designs, capture each one running on the device, and stage them with propose_variant. Each proposed element shows up as a floating card next to the live simulator stream in the Argent Lens window (a native window that opens automatically), connected by a thin line to the real element. The human picks per element, optionally pins free-form comments to elements, and presses Complete selection. await_user_selection is the single blocking call that returns their decision.

The golden rule: one variant = one real, distinct screenshot. A proposal is only useful if its previewImage shows the variant actually rendered on the device, captured AFTER that specific variant was applied. Never propose a variant you have not built and seen on screen, and never point two variants at the same file path — if two captures end up byte-identical you have not actually changed anything and the Argent Lens degenerates to identical thumbnails. Plan → build → navigate → screenshot → propose, repeated for every variant of every element, then await once.

2. Tools

Tool	Blocking?	Purpose
propose_variant	No	Stage ONE variant for ONE element. Call once per variant. Keep working.
await_user_selection	Yes	Call ONCE after every variant is staged. Parks until the human is done.

propose_variant params: element (human name), optional match ({ by: "text"|"label"|"identifier"|"role", value }), optional udid (the device id you captured the variants on), and variant ({ name, summary, code?, filePath?, previewImage?, frame? }). Repeated calls with the same element accumulate variants on that element; different element values create separate cards.

Always pass udid (the same simulator/emulator id you screenshotted and described with). The preview window then streams that device directly — the human never has to pick a simulator. Set it on the first propose_variant of a round; later calls may omit it (the last value wins).

3. Workflow

Resolve a simulator/emulator first (argent-ios-simulator-setup / argent-android-emulator-setup) and, for React Native, argent-react-native-app-workflow to run the app and reload the bundle. Argent shows the staged variants in a native preview window that opens automatically on the user's screen; you don't open or display anything yourself. Just stage variants and call await_user_selection, and the window appears on its own.

Step 0 — Plan the variants

Decide, before touching code, exactly which elements you are redesigning and the distinct variants for each. Write them down (e.g. "Search field: Filled / Outlined / Pill" — "Primary CTA: Solid / Gradient"). Each variant must be a single, self-contained change you can apply, screenshot, and revert independently. Vague or overlapping variants produce useless proposals.

Step 1 — Get a precise matcher

For each element, run describe (or debugger-component-tree for RN) on the screen where it lives and read its exact label / identifier / role. Pass that as match so the floating card's connector anchors to the right element:

• Stable testID / accessibilityIdentifier → { by: "identifier", value: "search-input" } (most reliable)
• Exact a11y label → { by: "label", value: "Search" }
• Otherwise → { by: "text", value: "Search" } (fuzzy contains; the default if match is omitted)

Omitting match defaults to { by: "text", value: element }, which is fine only when the element's visible text is unique.

Step 2 — For each variant: build → navigate → screenshot → propose

Loop over every variant of every element:

1. Build the variant. Implement that one variant in code.
2. Apply it on the device. Reload the RN bundle (debugger-reload-metro) or rebuild as needed so the running app shows this variant.
3. Navigate to it. Drive the app (argent-device-interact) to the screen where the element is visible — a screenshot is only meaningful if the element is actually on screen.
4. Screenshot. Call screenshot and pass the returned file path straight through as variant.previewImage. NEVER hand-crop, resize, re-encode, or copy the screenshot to another folder (e.g. a crop.py into /tmp/variants/): that double-crops against the preview window's own cropping and writes the image somewhere the server won't serve it ("No preview"). Capture the whole screen — the preview window crops it for you using variant.frame (step 5). The path you got back must be a NEW file; if you suspect the device froze or the variant didn't apply (you see no visible change vs. the previous capture), diff with the previous path (shasum -a 256) before proposing — byte-identical captures mean the variant is not on screen yet. Fix that before proposing, never propose anyway.
5. Propose. Call propose_variant with element, match, udid (the device you captured on), and variant.previewImage set to that screenshot path. The tool auto-captures the crop frame: it describes the device at propose time and matches the element, so each thumbnail crops to its own current layout — as long as the variant is still on screen when you call propose_variant (propose right after the screenshot, before reverting). You may pass variant.frame (the matched node's normalized {x, y, width, height} in 0..1 from a describe on THIS variant) to override the auto-capture — useful when the element can't stay on screen at propose time. Add summary (what changed and why) and code/filePath when useful.
6. Revert. Roll the variant change back before building the next one — only one variant can be on screen at a time. Keep going; propose_variant does not block.

previewImage accepts a local screenshot path (served from the OS temp dir / cwd), an http(s) URL, or a data: URI. A local screenshot of the real running variant is strongly preferred.

Step 3 — Await the human's decision (once)

After every variant for every element is staged, call await_user_selection exactly once. It returns:

• { status: "completed", selections: [{ element, chosenVariant, comment? }], unselected, annotations: [{ target, match, comment }], globalComment } — apply chosenVariant for each element; skip elements in unselected. Treat each annotations entry (inspector comments the human pinned to elements) and globalComment as a change request.
• { status: "pending", proposedElements } — timeoutSeconds elapsed, not an error. Proposals are still live; call await_user_selection again.
• { status: "no_proposals" } — you called it before any propose_variant. Stage variants first.

Step 4 — Apply the outcome

Implement the chosen variant for every selected element, address every annotation/comment, and report what you applied and what was skipped. If the human commented but skipped a variant, the comment still matters — act on it.

4. Rules

• At least two variants per element. A choice needs alternatives — every element you propose must have ≥2 distinct variants (call propose_variant at least twice for it). If you only have one look for an element, either produce a real alternative or don't propose that element at all; a lone variant isn't a choice.
• Build before you propose. Every previewImage must be a screenshot of that variant actually running on the device. No mockups, no guesses, no proposing un-built ideas.
• Distinct screenshot per variant. Reusing a previewImage path across two variants — or capturing two paths whose bytes turn out identical — defeats the whole point of the Argent Lens. If you can't produce visibly different captures (e.g. the app is read-only, accessibility is broken so you can't navigate, the bundle won't hot-reload), STOP and tell the user instead of staging duplicates.
• One blocking call. propose_variant never blocks — stage freely. await_user_selection is the only call that waits, and you call it once, last.
• Anchor accurately. Pull matchers from describe; a wrong match makes the card point at the wrong element or float unanchored.
• One variant on screen at a time. Apply → screenshot → revert before the next variant so screenshots never bleed together.
• pending is normal. On pending, just await again — proposals persist across timeouts.
• Re-proposing starts a fresh round. Calling propose_variant after a round was consumed begins round N+1 and clears the previous round's elements; stage a full set each round.

5. Example

describe { udid }                                  # read exact label/identifier
propose_variant { element: "Search field",
  match: { by: "identifier", value: "search-input" },
  variant: { name: "Outlined", summary: "1pt border, transparent fill",
             previewImage: "/var/folders/.../search-outlined.png" } }
propose_variant { element: "Search field",
  match: { by: "identifier", value: "search-input" },
  variant: { name: "Pill", summary: "Fully rounded, filled grey",
             previewImage: "/var/folders/.../search-pill.png" } }
propose_variant { element: "Primary CTA",
  match: { by: "label", value: "Get started" },
  variant: { name: "Gradient", summary: "Accent gradient fill",
             previewImage: "/var/folders/.../cta-gradient.png" } }
await_user_selection {}                             # ONE blocking call → human picks
→ { status: "completed",
    selections: [ { element: "Search field", chosenVariant: { name: "Pill" } },
                  { element: "Primary CTA",  chosenVariant: { name: "Gradient" } } ],
    annotations: [ { target: "Tab bar", comment: "raise contrast" } ] }
# → apply Pill + Gradient, and raise tab-bar contrast.