XcodeMCPSwiftApp — Xcode MCP Tools Explorer

A macOS app that connects to Xcode 26.3's MCP (Model Context Protocol) bridge to discover and execute the native MCP tools Xcode exposes — similar to how Cursor or Codex connect to Xcode's agentic coding capabilities.

Architecture

┌──────────────┐  App Protocol  ┌──────────────┐  MCP JSON-RPC   ┌────────────┐  XPC   ┌───────┐
│XcodeMCPSwift │ ◄────────────► │ MCPBridgeCLI │ ◄─────────────► │ mcpbridge  │ ◄────► │ Xcode │
│  App(SwiftUI)│   stdin/stdout │ (MCP Client) │   stdin/stdout  │ (Apple)    │        │ (IDE) │
└──────────────┘                └──────────────┘                 └────────────┘        └───────┘

XcodeMCPSwiftApp — macOS SwiftUI app built with The Composable Architecture (TCA). Uses the XcodeMCPBridge Swift Package (via SPM) which provides the MCPBridgeFeature reducer, MCPBridgeClient dependency, and the companion mcpbridge-cli binary. The app provides a UI to connect/disconnect, browse available tools, fill parameters, and execute them.

mcpbridge-cli — Companion CLI binary shipped with the XcodeMCPBridge package. Acts as an MCP client, communicating with Apple's xcrun mcpbridge via JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio.

Dependencies

This app depends on the XcodeMCPBridge Swift Package (resolved automatically via SPM when you open the project in Xcode or run xcodegen generate).

Prerequisites

• macOS 14.0+

• Xcode 26.3 (with MCP enabled in Settings → Intelligence → "Enable Model Context Protocol")

• A project must be open in Xcode for the bridge to work

• Swift 5.9+

• XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen)

Note: Xcode MCP Tools must be enabled under the Intelligence settings in Xcode for the app to work correctly.

Building

cd XcodeMCPSwiftApp

# Generate Xcode project (requires xcodegen: brew install xcodegen)
xcodegen generate

# Or build from command line
xcodebuild -project XcodeMCPSwiftApp.xcodeproj -scheme XcodeMCPSwiftApp -destination 'platform=macOS' build

To run the app, open XcodeMCPSwiftApp.xcodeproj in Xcode, select the XcodeMCPSwiftApp scheme, and Run (⌘R).

Usage

1. Open XcodeMCPSwiftApp.xcodeproj in Xcode and run the XcodeMCPSwiftApp scheme

2. On first launch, the app installs the mcpbridge-cli binary from the XcodeMCPBridge package. This requires administrator privileges:

   

3. Make sure Xcode 26.3 is running with a project open and MCP is enabled

4. Click Connect — the app will launch the CLI, which connects to Xcode's MCP bridge

5. Apple will prompt you to allow the CLI to access Xcode — click Allow:

   

6. Switch to the Tools tab to see all available Xcode MCP tools

7. Select a tool, fill in parameters, and click Execute Tool

Project Structure

project.yml                             # XcodeGen spec → XcodeMCPSwiftApp.xcodeproj
XcodeMCPSwiftApp.xcodeproj/             # Generated Xcode project (macOS app)
Sources/
└── XcodeMCPSwiftApp/                   # macOS SwiftUI app (TCA)
    ├── XcodeMCPSwiftApp.swift          # @main App entry
    ├── Features/
    │   ├── AppFeature.swift            # Root TCA reducer
    │   ├── ToolListFeature.swift       # Tool discovery & listing
    │   └── ToolCallFeature.swift       # Tool execution with parameters
    ├── Views/
    │   ├── AppView.swift               # Main window, sidebar, settings
    │   ├── AboutView.swift             # About screen
    │   ├── ToolListView.swift          # Tool list with search
    │   └── ToolCallView.swift          # Dynamic parameter form + results
    └── Services/
        └── BridgeClient.swift          # TCA dependency (Process management)

Environment Variables

The CLI respects these environment variables (can be set before connecting):

• MCP_XCODE_PID — Target a specific Xcode instance when multiple are running
• MCP_XCODE_SESSION_ID — Optional UUID identifying the tool session

Available Xcode MCP Tools

Xcode 26.3 ships with ~20 native MCP tools including:

• BuildProject — Build an Xcode project
• RunAllTests / RunSomeTests — Run test suites
• DocumentationSearch — Search Apple developer documentation
• RenderPreview — Render SwiftUI previews
• GetProjectStructure — Explore project file hierarchy
• GetSchemes — List available build schemes
• And more (file management, snippets, etc.)

---

"Built by a developer, for developers — because the best tools are the ones you'd want to use yourself." ❤️

— Anton Gregorn · @renderplace

License

MIT License

Copyright © 2026 Anton Gregorn. All rights reserved.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.