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Using Meta XR Operator with Meta XR Simulator

Updated: Jul 23, 2026

Experimental feature

Meta XR Operator is an experimental component of the Meta XR Core SDK. Tool names, APIs, and behavior may change in future releases. Avoid depending on it in production apps.

Meta XR Simulator runs your XR app on your computer without a headset. Combined with Meta XR Operator, it’s the fastest way to let an AI agent drive and inspect your app. Because Meta XR Operator works at the OpenXR layer, the same MCP tools work whether you run in the Simulator, in the Editor with Quest Link, or on a headset.

Why use Meta XR Simulator

Iterate quickly without headset hardware or a tethered device.

Simulate mixed reality, including passthrough and spatial entities, so tools that read the room work.

Run repeatable, agent-driven development and testing sessions on a single machine.

Before you begin

Set up Meta XR Operator in your project. See Getting started for more information.

Install and configure Meta XR Simulator. See the Meta XR Simulator overview.

Run your app with Meta XR Simulator

Activate Meta XR Simulator for your project, as described in the Meta XR Simulator overview.

Enter Play mode. The Simulator window opens and your app runs in XR. Meta XR Operator starts its local MCP server inside the running app.

Connect your agent and ask it about the running app. Your agent connects through the registered MCP proxy, so you don’t work with the underlying endpoint directly. See Getting started for more information.

A Unity app running in Meta XR Simulator

Simulate a mixed reality environment

To let an agent reason about the physical space, such as listing rooms, walls, and furniture, run your app against a synthetic environment that provides mixed reality data. With a synthetic environment loaded, an agent can query spatial entities and capture composited images through Meta XR Operator, just as it would on a headset. See the Meta XR Simulator overview for how to enable and configure synthetic environments.

Control the simulated session

Meta XR Operator lets the agent set the head and controller poses and send controller input, which is especially useful in the Simulator where there’s no physical headset to move. You can also use the Simulator’s own keyboard and mouse controls to move the view and trigger input alongside the agent.