README.md

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides Xcode-related tools for integration with AI assistants and other MCP clients.

Table of contents

• Table of contents
• Overview
• Why?
• Features
  • Xcode project management
  • Simulator management
  • App utilities
• Getting started
  • Prerequisites
  • One-line setup with mise
  • Configure MCP clients
  • Enabling UI Automation (beta)
• Demos
  • Autonomously fixing build errors in Cursor
  • Building and running iOS app in Claude Code
• Contributing
• Licence

Overview

This project implements an MCP server that exposes Xcode operations as tools that can be invoked by AI agents via the MCP protocol. It enables programmatic interaction with Xcode projects through a standardised interface, optimised for agent-driven development workflows.

Using Cursor to build, install, and launch an app on the iOS simulator while capturing logs at run-time.

Why?

The XcodeBuild MCP tool exists primarily to streamline and standardise interaction between AI agents and Xcode projects. By providing dedicated tools for common Xcode operations, it removes reliance on manual or potentially incorrect command-line invocations.

This ensures a reliable and efficient development process, allowing agents to seamlessly leverage Xcode's capabilities while reducing the risk of configuration errors.

Critically, this MCP enables AI agents to independently validate code changes by building projects, inspecting errors, and iterating autonomously. In contrast to user-driven tools like Sweetpad, XcodeBuild MCP empowers agents to automate these workflows effectively.

Features

The XcodeBuildMCP server provides the following tool capabilities:

Xcode project management

• Discover Projects: Xcode projects and workspaces discovery
• Build Operations: Platform-specific build tools for macOS, iOS simulator, and iOS device targets
• Project Information: Tools to list schemes and show build settings for Xcode projects and workspaces
• Clean Operations: Clean build products using xcodebuild's native clean action

Simulator management

• Simulator Control: List, boot, and open iOS simulators
• App Deployment: Install and launch apps on iOS simulators
• Log Capture: Capture run-time logs from a simulator
• UI Automation: Interact with simulator UI elements (beta)
• Screenshot: Capture screenshots from a simulator (beta)

App utilities

• Bundle ID Extraction: Extract bundle identifiers from iOS and macOS app bundles
• App Launching: Launch built applications on both simulators and macOS

Getting started

Prerequisites

• macOS 14.5 or later
• Xcode 16.x or later
• mise

One-line setup with mise

To install mise:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install mise

# Other installation methods
# See https://mise.jdx.dev/getting-started.html

For more information about mise, visit the official documentation.

Configure MCP clients

Configure your MCP client (Windsurf, Cursor, Claude Desktop, etc.) to use the XcodeBuildMCP server by adding the following configuration, changing the version number to match the version you wish to use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "XcodeBuildMCP": {
      "command": "mise",
      "args": [
        "x",
        "npm:xcodebuildmcp@1.3.0",
        "--",
        "xcodebuildmcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Note

When using mise avoid using the @latest tag as mise will cache the package and may not update to the latest version automatically, instead prefer an explicit version number.

Important

Please note that XcodeBuildMCP will request xcodebuild to skip macro validation. This is to avoid errors when building projects that use Swift Macros.

Enabling UI Automation (beta)

For UI automation features (tap, swipe, screenshot, etc.), you'll need to install Facebook's idb_companion:

brew tap facebook/fb
brew install idb-companion

Important

Please note that UI automation features are currently in beta so there might be some rough edges. If you encounter any issues, please report them in the issue tracker.

Note

Displaying images in tool responses and embedding them in chat context may not be supported by all MCP Clients; it's currently known to be supported in Cursor.

Demos

Autonomously fixing build errors in Cursor

Utilising the new UI automation and screen capture features

Building and running iOS app in Claude Code

Demo3.mp4

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help improve XcodeBuildMCP.

See our CONTRIBUTING document for more information on how to configure your local environment and contribute to the project.

Licence

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.