Stepper

/ NSStepper · Stepper /

also called stepper control, stepper arrows, numeric stepper, incrementer

A stepper is a pair of small stacked arrow buttons for changing a value by a fixed increment. It commonly sits beside a numeric text field so users can either type an exact value or adjust it one step at a time. Its enabled states should reflect the configured minimum and maximum, and holding an arrow can repeat the change.

If you called it…

“the tiny up and down arrows beside a number field”“little control that increases or decreases a value”“stacked arrow buttons next to a numeric input”“small plus minus style control for changing a number”“spinner arrows for adjusting a value one step at a time”

…you meant Stepper.

Anatomy — every part, named

1
Increment buttonNSStepper.increment
“The tiny upper arrow that raises the number” is the increment button.
2
Decrement buttonNSStepper.increment
“The tiny lower arrow that reduces the number” is the decrement button.

Prompt — paste into your agent

Place a native Stepper using NSStepper (SwiftUI: Stepper) beside the numeric field, with the compact up/down arrow pair vertically aligned to that field. Bind both controls to the same value and enforce the intended increment, minimum, and maximum.

Debug prompt — when it misbehaves

Paste this, then describe what you’re seeing — it hands your agent the classic failure modes to rule out first.

Debug my macOS stepper (NSStepper, SwiftUI Stepper). Rule out: the stepper and its text field not bound to the same value so they drift; valueWraps looping from max back to min; autorepeat firing continuously while held when single steps were expected; a number formatter clamping or rejecting the value the stepper just set. The symptom:

In code

The exact names this thing goes by in code — each row is one framework’s word for it. Use the row that matches your project (or paste it into your prompt).

AppKit	`NSStepper`
SwiftUI	`Stepper`
AppKit	`NSStepper.increment`
AppKit	`NSStepper.minValue`
AppKit	`NSStepper.maxValue`

If you called it…

Anatomy — every part, named

Prompt — paste into your agent

Debug prompt — when it misbehaves

In code

See also