A command line tool that generates your Xcode project from a YAML project spec and your folder structure. This allows for easy configuration which is git friendly, and means your project structure represents exacty what's on disk. The project can be re-generated on demand which means you can remove your xcode project from git and say goodbye to .xcodeproj merge conflicts!

Given a simple project spec file:

name: My Project
configs:
  debug: debug
  release: release
targets:
  - name: MyApp
    type: application
    platform: iOS
    sources: MyApp
    settings:
      INFOPLIST_FILE: MyApp/Info.plist
      PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER: com.myapp
    dependencies:
      - target: MyFramework
  - name: MyFramework
    type: framework
    platform: iOS
    sources: MyFramework

A project would be created with 2 connected targets, with all the required build settings. See below for the full spec and all the options it provides.

Install

Make sure Xcode 8 is installed and run the following commands in the same directory as this repo. You can either build via the Swift Package Manager on the command line or Xcode

1. Command Line

swift build -c release

This compiles a build via the Swift Package Manager. You can find the output in the build directory which by default is at .build/release/XcodeGen. You can simply run it with:

.build/debug/XcodeGen ..arguments

2. Xcode

swift package generate-xcodeproj

will create an xcodeproj file that you can open, edit and run in Xcode, which also makes editing any code easier.

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

Usage

Use XcodeGen -help to see the list of options:

spec (required): This is the path to the yaml project spec. If none is specified, XcodeGen will look for a xcodegen.yml file
project: (optional): This is an optional path the generated xcode project file. If it is left out, the file will be written to the same directory as the spec, and with the same name as the spec file

XcodeGen project spec

Each spec must contain a name which is used for the generated project name.

configs

Configs specify the build configurations in the project. Each config maps to a build type of either debug or release which will then apply default build settings for those types. Any value other than debug or release (for example "none"), will mean no default build settings will be loaded

configs:
  Debug: debug
  Release: release

If no configs are specified, default Debug and Release configs will be created automatically

settings

Project settings use the Settings spec. Default base and config type settings will be applied first before any custom settings

settingPresets

Setting presets can be used to group build settings together and reuse them elsewhere. Each preset is a Settings schema, so can include other presets

settingPresets:
  preset1:
    BUILD_SETTING: value
  preset2:
    base:
      BUILD_SETTING: value
    presets:
      - preset
  preset3:
     configs:
        debug:
        	presets:
            - preset

Settings Spec

Settings can be defined on the project and each target, and the format is the same. Settings can either be a simple list of build settings or can be more advanced with the following properties:

presets: a list of presets to include and merge
configs: a mapping of config name to a new nested settings spec. These settings will only be applied for that config
base: used to specify default settings that apply to any config

settings:
  BUILD_SETTING_1: value 1
  BUILD_SETTING_2: value 2

settings:
  base:
    BUILD_SETTING_1: value 1
  configs:
    my_config:
      BUILD_SETTING_2: value 2
  presets:
    - my_settings

Settings are merged in the following order: presets, configs, base.

targets

This is list of targets

targets:
  - name: MyTarget

type

This specifies the product type of the target. This will provide default build settings for that product type. Type can be any of the following:

application
framework
library.dynamic
library.static
bundle
bundle.unit-test
bundle.ui-testing
app-extension
tool
application.watchapp
application.watchapp2
watchkit-extension
watchkit2-extension
tv-app-extension
application.messages
app-extension.messages
app-extension.messages-sticker-pack
xpc-service

platform

Specifies the platform for the target. This will provide default build settings for that platform. It can be any of the following:

iOS
tvOS
macOS
watchOS

sources

Specifies the source directories for the target. This can either be a single path or a list of paths. Applicable source files, resources, headers, and lproj files will be parsed appropriately

targets:
  - name: MyTarget
    sources: MyTargetSource
  - name: MyOtherTarget
    sources:
      - MyOtherTargetSource1
      - MyOtherTargetSource2

settings

Species the build settings for the target. This uses the same Settings spec as the project. Default platform and product type settings will be applied first before any custom settings

dependencies

Species the dependencies for the target. This can be another target, a framework path, or a carthage dependency.

Carthage dependencies look for frameworks in Carthage/Build/PLATFORM/FRAMEWORK.framework where PLATFORM is the target's platform, and FRAMEWORK is the carthage framework you've specified. If any applications contain carthage dependencies within itself or any dependent targets, a carthage copy files script is automatically added to the application containing all the relevant frameworks

targets:
  - name: MyTarget
    dependencies:
      - target: MyFramework
      - framework: path/to/framework.framework
      - carthage: Result  
  - name: MyFramework

configFiles

Specifies .xcconfig files for each configuration for the target.

targets:
  - name: MyTarget
    configFiles:
      Debug: config_files/debug.xcconfig
      Release: config_files/release.xcconfig

generateSchemes

This is a conveniance used to automatically generate schemes for a target based on large amount of configs. A list of names is provided, then for each of these names a scheme is created, using configs that contain the name with debug and release variants. This is useful for having different environment schemes.

For example, the following spec would create 3 schemes called:

MyApp Test
MyApp Staging
MyApp Production

Each scheme would use different build configuration for the different build types, specifically debug configs for run, test, and anaylze, and release configs for profile and archive

configs:
  Test Debug: debug
  Staging Debug: debug
  Production Debug: debug
  Test Release: release
  Staging Release: release
  Production Release: release
targets
  - name: MyApp
    generateSchemes:
      - Test
      - Staging
      - Production

Attributions

This tool is powered by:

Contributions

Pull requests and issues are welcome

License

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