xcodes

The best command-line tool to install and switch between multiple versions of Xcode.

If you're looking for an app version of xcodes, try Xcodes.app.

:tada: Announcement

Xcodes is now part of the XcodesOrg - read more here

Installation

Homebrew (Preferred)

brew install xcodesorg/made/xcodes

These are Developer ID-signed and notarized release builds and don't require Xcode to already be installed in order to use.

Other methods:

mint install XcodesOrg/xcodes

git clone https://github.com/XcodesOrg/xcodes
cd xcodes
make install
# Or install into a user-owned directory
make install prefix="$HOME/.local"

make install prefix="$HOME/.local" \
  RELEASEBUILDDIR="$PWD/.build/out/Products/Release/xcodes"
"$HOME/.local/bin/xcodes" version
"$HOME/.local/bin/xcodes" --help

swift build
error: terminated(72): xcrun --sdk macosx --find xctest output:

Usage

Install Xcode :

Install a specific version of Xcode using a command like one of these:

xcodes install 10.2.1
xcodes install 11 Beta 7
xcodes install 11.2 GM seed
xcodes install 9.0 --path ~/Archive/Xcode_9.xip
xcodes install 27.3 Beta --path ~/Archive/Xcode_27.3_beta.aea
xcodes install --latest-prerelease
xcodes install --latest --directory "/Volumes/Bag Of Holding/"
xcodes install --latest --experimental-unxip

Installing an .aea archive requires macOS with archiveutil extractXcodeAEA. If Xcode Releases has an outdated link, try installing with --data-source apple.

You'll then be prompted to enter your Apple ID username and password. You can also provide these with the XCODES_USERNAME and XCODES_PASSWORD environment variables.

After successfully authenticating, xcodes will save your Apple ID password into the keychain and will remember your Apple ID for future use. If you need to use a different Apple ID than the one that's remembered, set the XCODES_USERNAME environment variable.

xcodes will download and install the version you asked for so that it's ready to use.

(1/6) Downloading Xcode 11.2.0: 100%
(2/6) Unarchiving Xcode (This can take a while)
(3/6) Moving Xcode to /Applications/Xcode-11.2.0.app
(4/6) Moving Xcode archive Xcode-11.2.0.xip to the Trash
(5/6) Checking security assessment and code signing
(6/6) Finishing installation
xcodes requires superuser privileges in order to finish installation.
macOS User Password:

Xcode 11.2.0 has been installed to /Applications/Xcode-11.2.0.app

If you have aria2 installed (it's available in Homebrew, brew install aria2), then xcodes will default to use it for downloads. It uses up to 16 connections to download Xcode 3-5x faster than URLSession.

Xcode will be installed to /Applications by default, but you can provide the path to a different directory with the --directory option or the XCODES_DIRECTORY environment variable. All of the xcodes commands support this option, like select and uninstall, so you can manage Xcode versions that aren't in /Applications. xcodes supports having all of your Xcode versions installed in one directory, wherever that may be.

Architectures

The list and runtimes commands show architecture availability when Apple provides it. Universal downloads are labeled [Universal], Apple Silicon-only downloads are labeled [Apple Silicon], and Intel-only downloads are labeled [Intel].

You can filter either list by architecture or variant with --architecture arm64, --architecture x86_64, --architecture appleSilicon, or --architecture universal. These filters are exact: arm64 and appleSilicon show Apple Silicon-only downloads, x86_64 shows Intel-only downloads, and universal shows downloads that support both architectures. The option can be used multiple times.

xcodes list --architecture arm64
xcodes list --architecture universal
xcodes runtimes --architecture arm64 --architecture universal --include-betas

Install Runtimes :

Run this command line to display the available runtimes

xcodes runtimes --include-betas

Install the wanted Runtime (ex. iOS 17.0-beta1)

xcodes runtimes install "iOS 17.0-beta1"

.xcode-version

We recommend the creation of a .xcode-version file to explicitly declare and store the Xcode version to be used by your CI environment as well as your team.

13.4.1

Read the proposal of .xcode-version.

Commands

• download <version>: Download a specific version of Xcode
• install <version>: Download and install a specific version of Xcode
• installed: List the versions of Xcode that are installed
• list: List all versions of Xcode that are available to install
• select: Change the selected Xcode
• uninstall: Uninstall a specific version of Xcode
• update: Update the list of available versions of Xcode
• version: Print the version number of xcodes itself
• signout: Clears the stored username and password

Experimental Unxip - for faster unxipping

Thanks to the amazing work by saagarjhi - Xcodes now includes the ability to unxip up to 70% faster on some systems.

xcodes install --latest --experimental-unxip

Shell Completion Scripts

xcodes can generate completion scripts which allow you to press the tab key on your keyboard to autocomplete commands and arguments when typing an xcodes command. The steps to install a completion script depend on the shell that you use. More information about installation instructions for different shells and the underlying implementation is available in the swift-argument-parser repo.

mkdir ~/.oh-my-zsh/completions
xcodes --generate-completion-script > ~/.oh-my-zsh/completions/_xcodes

Development

You'll need Swift 6.0 or newer (Xcode 16 or later) to build and run xcodes. See Build from source for installation prerequisites and Makefile troubleshooting. The .swift-version file still contains the historical value 5.3; use the tools version declared in Package.swift as the requirement.

There's a Makefile to help build xcodes for distribution. We already do this for you in order to provide Developer ID-signed and notarized release builds via Homebrew (see Installation). The sign, zip, bottle, and notarize targets use a hardcoded maintainer signing identity and require the corresponding certificate and private key. They are not necessary for local development or installation.

# Bump the version number in Version.swift, commit the change, and tag it
vim Sources/XcodesKit/Version.swift
git add Sources/XcodesKit/Version.swift
git commit -m "Bump version to $VERSION"
git tag -asm "$VERSION" "$VERSION"

# Run the release automation
./release.sh --version "$VERSION" --team-id "ABC123"

# Or run the release steps manually:
# Clean first
make clean

# Make a release build of xcodes, sign it, and zip it
make zip
# Create a Homebrew bottle
make bottle VERSION="$VERSION"

# Duplicate the Homebrew bottle for all expected platform filenames
cp "xcodes-$VERSION.mojave.bottle.tar.gz" "xcodes-$VERSION.arm64_mojave.bottle.tar.gz"
cp "xcodes-$VERSION.mojave.bottle.tar.gz" "xcodes-$VERSION.macos.i386.bottle.tar.gz"
cp "xcodes-$VERSION.mojave.bottle.tar.gz" "xcodes-$VERSION.macos.arm64.bottle.tar.gz"

# Notarize the release build
# This can take a while
make notarize \
    TEAMID="ABC123"

# Push the new version bump commit and tag when ready
git push --follow-tags

# Edit the draft release created by Release Drafter to point at the new tag
# Set the release title to the new version
# Add the xcodes.zip and xcodes-$VERSION.*.bottle.tar.gz files to the release
# Publish the release

# Update the Homebrew Bottle: https://github.com/XcodesOrg/homebrew-made/blob/master/Formula/xcodes.rb

Notable design decisions are recorded in DECISIONS.md. The Apple authentication flow is described in Apple.paw, which will allow you to play with the API endpoints that are involved using the Paw app.

xcode-install and fastlane/spaceship both deserve credit for figuring out the hard parts of what makes this possible.

Maintainers

Matt Kiazyk - Twitter