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I've been using agents to develop Mac and iOS apps for over a year now and I would say this post is bad advice, particularly because the excellent Xcode MCP req
by searls 2mo ago
I've been using agents to develop Mac and iOS apps for over a year now and I would say this post is bad advice, particularly because the excellent Xcode MCP requires Xcode to be running. The MCP tool gives you faster, better access to a number of functions for which xcodebuild is much slower and much chattier and a number of others (like the #Preview generation and rendering) that aren't possible at all while Xcode is closed. Also, in Xcode 27, the MCP & built-in agents are able to drive simulators with DeviceHub extremely well. (If you haven't been following, DeviceHub replaces Simulator.app and as far as I can tell, it's actually scrutable by agents without relying on hacking at the accessibility APIs with tools like axe.)
Xcode MCP is not perfect, by any stretch (stupidly, it issues a permission prompt on every single agent launch—something I defeated with a Keyboard Maestro hack to auto-accept it), but Xcode 27 is such a huge leap forward in the ergonomics of vibe coding with Xcode that I've actually stopped dealing with the MCP and (after an afternoon of futzing) have started using the app's own agent UI for driving Codex because that harness better steers the model to take advantage of the tools available.
All of this redounds to two things: faster feedback and more robust verification. The two things that matter most.
- dostick 2mo agoThere’s Xcode-mcp-proxy that proxies Xcode’s mcp and adds clicking dialog and reconnects. How do you deal with macOS app testing? Do you use Peekaboo or plain screenshotting automation?
- sunnybeetroot 2mo agoCan you link it? Quick google search didn’t reveal it
- dostick 2mo agoGave the wrong name, this is it- https://github.com/lynnswap/XcodeMCPKit https://github.com/lynnswap/XcodeMCPKit
- sunnybeetroot 2mo agoLegend thanks a lot!
- leo150 2mo agoI would suggest trying out xcode mcp by Sentry, it’s much more comprehensive and doesn’t need running Xcode