Xcode MCP Integration

Xcode 26.3 ships a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes 20 IDE tools to external AI clients. This skill suite teaches Claude how to set up, connect, and use Xcode's MCP tools effectively — from building and testing to rendering SwiftUI previews programmatically.

When to Use

Use these skills when:

• Setting up xcrun mcpbridge for the first time
• Building, testing, or previewing your project via MCP tools
• Troubleshooting mcpbridge connection or permission issues
• Learning Xcode MCP workflow patterns (BuildFix loop, TestFix loop)
• Looking up specific tool parameters and schemas

Example Prompts

Questions you can ask Claude that will draw from these skills:

• "How do I set up Xcode MCP with Claude Code?"
• "Build my project using MCP tools"
• "My mcpbridge connection keeps failing"
• "What parameters does BuildProject take?"
• "Run just the failing test, not the whole suite"
• "Render the preview for my ContentView"
• "Cursor can't parse Xcode's MCP responses"

What This Skill Provides

• Setup guides for 5 MCP clients (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, VS Code, Gemini CLI)
• Workflow patterns — iterative BuildFix loops, TestFix loops, preview verification
• All 20 tool references — parameters, return schemas, and gotchas
• Window targeting — tab identifier management and multi-Xcode support
• Troubleshooting — permission dialogs, schema compliance, stale connections
• Conflict resolution — when to use MCP tools vs xcodebuild vs standard file tools

Skill Suite

This is a router skill with three specialized sub-skills:

Skill	Type	Purpose
axiom-xcode-mcp	Router	Routes to the right specialized skill
axiom-xcode-mcp-setup	Specialized	Enable, connect, and troubleshoot per client
axiom-xcode-mcp-tools	Discipline	Workflow patterns, gotchas, window targeting
axiom-xcode-mcp-ref	Reference	All 20 tools with params, schemas, examples

The 20 Xcode MCP Tools

Category	Tools
Discovery	XcodeListWindows
File Read	XcodeRead, XcodeGlob, XcodeGrep, XcodeLS
File Write	XcodeWrite, XcodeUpdate, XcodeMakeDir
File Destructive	XcodeRM, XcodeMV
Build	BuildProject, GetBuildLog
Test	RunAllTests, RunSomeTests, GetTestList
Diagnostics	XcodeListNavigatorIssues, XcodeRefreshCodeIssuesInFile
Execution	ExecuteSnippet
Preview	RenderPreview
Search	DocumentationSearch

Requirements

• Xcode 26.3+ with MCP enabled in Settings > Intelligence
• macOS with Xcode installed and running
• At least one project/workspace open in Xcode

Related

• Xcode Debugging — Environment-first diagnostics (Derived Data, zombie processes) — use when the issue is Xcode environment, not MCP
• Apple Documentation Access — Reads Xcode-bundled for-LLM guides — use for bundled docs, while DocumentationSearch MCP tool searches Apple's online corpus
• Build Debugging — Dependency resolution for CocoaPods/SPM — use for traditional build debugging without MCP