XcodeGen

XcodeGen is a command line tool that generates your Xcode project using your folder structure and a simple project spec.

The project spec is a YAML or JSON file that defines your targets, configurations, schemes, custom build settings and many other options. All your source directories are automatically parsed and referenced appropriately while preserving your folder structure. Sensible defaults are used in many places, so you only need to customize what is needed. Very complex projects can also be defined as well.

• ✅ Create projects on demand and remove your .xcodeproj file from git, which means no merge conflicts!
• ✅ Groups in Xcode are always synced to your directories on disk
• ✅ Easy configuration of projects which is human readable and git friendly
• ✅ Easily copy and paste files and directories without having to edit anything in Xcode
• ✅ Share build settings across multiple targets with build setting groups
• ✅ Automatically generate Schemes for different environments like test and production
• ✅ Easily create new projects with complicated setups on demand without messing around with Xcode
• ✅ Generate from anywhere including on CI
• ✅ Distribute your spec amongst multiple files for easy sharing and overriding
• ✅ Easily create multi-platform frameworks
• ✅ Integrate Carthage frameworks without any work

Given a very simple project spec file like this:

name: MyProject
options:
  bundleIdPrefix: com.myapp
targets:
  MyApp:
    type: application
    platform: iOS
    deploymentTarget: "10.0"
    sources: [MyApp]
    settings:
      CUSTOM_BUILD_SETTING: my_value
    dependencies:
      - target: MyFramework
  MyFramework:
    type: framework
    platform: iOS
    sources: [MyFramework]

A project would be created with 2 connected targets, with all the required configurations and build settings. See the Project Spec documentation for all the options you can specify, and Usage for more general documentation.

Installing

Make sure Xcode 9.3 is installed first.

Mint

$ mint run yonaskolb/xcodegen

Make

$ git clone https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen.git
$ cd XcodeGen
$ make

Homebrew

$ brew tap yonaskolb/XcodeGen https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen.git
$ brew install XcodeGen

Swift Package Manager

Use as CLI

$ git clone https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen.git
$ cd XcodeGen
$ swift run xcodegen

Use as dependency

Add the following to your Package.swift file's dependencies:

.package(url: "https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen.git", from: "1.0.0"),

And then import wherever needed: import XcodeGenKit

Usage

Simply run:

$ xcodegen

This will look for a project spec in the current directory called project.yml

Use xcodegen --help to see the list of options:

• --spec: An optional path to a .yml or .json project spec.
• --project: An optional path to a directory where the project will be generated. By default this is the directory the spec lives in.
• --quiet: Suppress informational and success messages. By default this is disabled.

Editing

$ git clone https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen.git
$ cd XcodeGen
$ swift package generate-xcodeproj

This use Swift Project Manager to create an xcodeproj file that you can open, edit and run in Xcode, which makes editing any code easier.

If you want to pass any required arguments when running in Xcode, you can edit the scheme to include launch arguments.

Documentation

• See Project Spec documentation for all the various properties and options that can be set
• See Usage for more specific usage and use case documentation
• See FAQ for a list of some frequently asked questions
• See Examples for some real world XcodeGen project specs out in the wild

Attributions

This tool is powered by:

• xcodeproj
• JSONUtilities
• Spectre
• PathKit
• Commander
• Yams

Inspiration for this tool came from:

• struct
• xcake
• CocoaPods Xcodeproj

Contributions

Pull requests and issues are welcome

License

XcodeGen is licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE for more info.