Transferable & Content Sharing Reference

Comprehensive reference for the CoreTransferable framework and SwiftUI sharing surfaces — drag and drop, copy/paste, and ShareLink. Covers making custom types transferable, choosing the right TransferRepresentation, declaring UTTypes, and bridging with UIKit.

When to Use This Reference

Use this reference when:

• Making a custom model type draggable or shareable
• Implementing drag and drop with .draggable / .dropDestination
• Adding copy/paste support with .copyable / .pasteDestination
• Sharing content via ShareLink
• Choosing between CodableRepresentation, DataRepresentation, FileRepresentation, and ProxyRepresentation
• Declaring custom UTTypes for app-specific formats
• Bridging Transferable types with UIKit's NSItemProvider

Example Prompts

Questions you can ask Claude that will draw from this reference:

• "How do I make my model draggable in SwiftUI?"
• "What's the difference between DataRepresentation and FileRepresentation?"
• "How do I add ShareLink with a custom preview?"
• "My drag and drop works in-app but not across apps"
• "How do I declare a custom UTType?"
• "How do I accept dropped files in my view?"
• "How do I add copy/paste support for my custom type?"

What's Covered

• TransferRepresentation decision tree — Which representation to use for your data type
• CodableRepresentation — For Codable models with optional custom encoders
• DataRepresentation — For custom binary formats with import/export closures
• FileRepresentation — For large on-disk files with sandbox lifecycle management
• ProxyRepresentation — For fallback representations; declaration order matters
• ShareLink + SharePreview — SwiftUI sharing with customizable previews
• Drag and drop — .draggable, .dropDestination, custom previews
• Clipboard — .copyable, .pasteDestination, .cuttable, PasteButton
• UTType declarations — System types, custom types, Info.plist entries
• UIKit bridging — NSItemProvider.loadTransferable, UIActivityViewController

Key Patterns

Making a type shareable and draggable

extension UTType {
    static var recipe: UTType = UTType(exportedAs: "com.myapp.recipe")
}

struct Recipe: Codable, Transferable {
    var title: String
    var ingredients: [String]

    static var transferRepresentation: some TransferRepresentation {
        CodableRepresentation(contentType: .recipe)
        ProxyRepresentation(exporting: \.title)  // Fallback: plain text
    }
}

ShareLink with preview

ShareLink(
    item: recipe,
    preview: SharePreview(recipe.title, image: recipe.heroImage)
)

Drag and drop

Text(recipe.title)
    .draggable(recipe)

Color.clear
    .frame(width: 200, height: 200)
    .dropDestination(for: Recipe.self) { recipes, location in
        guard let recipe = recipes.first else { return false }
        self.droppedRecipe = recipe
        return true
    }

Documentation Scope

This page documents the axiom-transferable-ref skill. It covers the CoreTransferable framework and all SwiftUI surfaces that consume Transferable types (iOS 16+).

• For photo-specific picking and library access, see photo-library-ref
• For gesture handling (tap, drag gesture state, composition), see SwiftUI Gestures
• For App Intents entity sharing with Transferable, see app-intents-ref

Related

• photo-library-ref — PhotosPicker uses Transferable for image loading
• app-intents-ref — AppEntity + Transferable intersection for system sharing
• codable — Codable patterns that feed into CodableRepresentation
• swiftui-26-ref — iOS 26 drag and drop enhancements