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Alternative
The closest match on this site — we add TV, tests that outlive the agent, Play submission and a public price.
Limrun is the closest thing to Sidekick anywhere: remote Xcode sandboxes with version pinning and S3-backed caches, cloud iOS simulators and Android emulators, per-instance tokens for sandboxed agents, batch actions with millisecond precision, 60fps recording, SDKs in three languages.
The differences are at the ends of the loop and in the open. Sidekick adds TV devices, tests that survive the agent (record-replay, visual regression, CI checks), Google Play submission, published pricing with a free tier — and every line of it is source-available under FSL.
$ sidekick agent-setup # skill + MCP, one command $ sidekick xcode build . --scheme MyApp # no Mac needed $ sidekick ios create # agent drives, you watch in the browser
| What you are deciding | Sidekick | Limrun |
|---|---|---|
| Build | ||
| Remote Xcode build (no Mac needed)Sidekick: Claim-logs-finish loop unit-tested (fakeRunner); no Mac fleet witnessed | 🛣️ Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Android / Gradle cloud buildSidekick: Daemon runs xcodebuild only; no Gradle path implemented | 🛣️ Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Signing handled (certs, profiles, keystores)Sidekick: No signing code yet | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Store submit from terminal (TestFlight + Play)Sidekick: Play dry-run validated in unit tests only; no live upload witnessed | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Devices | ||
| iOS simulatorsSidekick: Provision/verb loop unit-tested (fakeDevice); needs a Mac fleet | 🛣️ Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Android emulators + adb tunnel | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Apple TV / tvOS + Android TVSidekick: No TV code yet | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Roku (real hardware)Sidekick: Backlog: needs real hardware pool | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Foldables (posture + rotate verbs) | ➖ Partial | ❌ No |
| Real physical devices | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Agent control | ||
| CLI with device verbs (tap, type, screenshot) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Agent skill file (skill install) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| MCP server | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| UI / accessibility tree reads | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Batch actions (ms precision) | ➖ Partial | ✅ Yes |
| Session video recording | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| App logs + network capture | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Sharing | ||
| Live share links (no login needed)Sidekick: webrtc_url plumbed; no media server witnessed | 🛣️ Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Embeddable player (iframe / SDK)Sidekick: No iframe/SDK implemented | 🛣️ Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Live collaboration + human takeoverSidekick: Not implemented | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Testing | ||
| Record once, replay everywhere | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Visual regression per step | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| AI / plain-English testing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| CI runner + GitHub checksSidekick: Actions + checks | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Platform | ||
| Self-hostable (BYO Mac minis) | ➖ Partial | ❌ No |
| Source-available (FSL → Apache-2.0) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Public pricing + free tier, no card | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Per-instance sandbox tokens + region pin | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Sidekick 13 Yes · 11 Roadmap · 3 Partial · 1 No · Limrun 14 Yes · 0 Roadmap · 4 Partial · 10 No. ✅ Yes · 🛣️ Roadmap = public, lands in the open (self-host nightlies available) · ➖ Partial · ❌ No. Last updated 27 Sep 2026 — Limrun claims checked at https://lim.run. Limrun pricing: Unpublished — 'split between idle and build time'.
Xcode version pinning, per-instance credentials, jurisdiction pinning (us/eu/as), per-instance timeouts. Running 100 sandboxed agents is a problem Limrun has thought about harder than we have.
Limrun records sessions; we take per-step screenshots inside tests. For demo videos today, they win the row.
You ship a TV app: Sidekick runs tvOS/Android TV with d-pad verbs. Limrun's own guide says tvOS schemes don't support simulator attachment yet.
You want tests that outlive the agent: Sidekick record-replay + visual regression shipped and witnessed; CI checks are roadmap. Limrun points at 'your favorite framework' — legitimate, and a different product.
You submit to Google Play from the terminal: Sidekick submits to TestFlight and Play. Limrun documents App Store upload only.
You run a fleet of sandboxed agents across regions: Limrun. Per-instance tokens and jurisdiction pinning are documented and mature; our scoped tokens and region pin are fresh and witnessed across two regions — pick them for fleet depth, us for openness.
You need the price before you start: Every Sidekick plan is public with a no-card free tier. Limrun publishes its model, not its numbers.
It started as a source-available answer to Limrun's closed platform — same high-level interface (remote builds, cloud sims, agent skill) so migrations are trivial. It diverges in TV coverage, post-agent testing, Play submission, self-hosting and license.
Its CLI guide says tvOS/visionOS schemes build but 'do not support simulator attachment, installation, or XCTest yet'. Sidekick attaches TV devices with d-pad and focus-walk verbs.
Its homepage says pricing is split between idle and build time; no plan or per-minute price is published. Sidekick lists every plan (Free/Dev/Team/Scale) plus $0 self-hosting.
Published Sep 2026 · Limrun homepage and docs verified 27 Sep 2026 ·t Scores count roadmap as delivered because every roadmap item is public and source-available.