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Enabling the Xcode 27 MCP Server in Claude Code

on Xcode, Claude, MCP

If you're using Claude Code on the command-line or in the Claude app (as opposed to directly within Xcode), you can connect it to the Xcode 27 MCP server as follows:

  1. Enable it in Xcode

    Xcode → Settings → Intelligence → Model Context Protocol, tick "Allow external agents to use Xcode tools."
Allow external agents access to the Xcode tools
  1. Register it with Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport stdio xcode -- xcrun mcpbridge
  1. Verify the connection
claude mcp list

Steps 2 and 3 may trigger a permissions prompt in Xcode.

  1. Use it:

Build & Run

  • Build a project — compile the active scheme, optionally including test targets, and return errors/warnings
  • Run / Stop — build-and-run the current scheme (like Cmd+R), optionally attaching the debugger on launch, then stop it
  • Read build logs — pull full build output to diagnose failures

Testing

  • List tests — enumerate test targets, classes, and methods
  • Run all tests or run a specific subset — target a single class/method for fast iteration

Schemes & Run Destinations

  • List / switch schemes
  • List / switch run destinations — pick the simulator, device, or "My Mac"

Debugging & Console

  • Read console output from a running app
  • Send LLDB commands — runs in the same debug session as Xcode's console, so the assistant and the Xcode UI share debugging state
    (bt, po, breakpoints, stepping, etc.)
  • Run a code snippet in a file's context — executes Swift with access to that source file's declarations (including fileprivate) and
    returns its print output

File & Project Editing (Xcode-aware)

  • Read / write / update files in the project
  • Glob / grep / list to search by pattern or content
  • Move / delete / make directories
  • List Issue Navigator issues — read the errors, warnings, and package/workspace problems Xcode currently shows, filterable by path or
    severity

Build Settings & Configuration

  • Get / update target build settings (via the tools, not by editing project.pbxproj directly)
  • Get / update per-file compiler flags
  • Add entitlements — only for code-signing–gated capabilities (App Groups, iCloud, Push, etc.)
  • Add / update Info.plist keys — privacy usage descriptions, orientations, URL schemes, background modes, and other metadata

SwiftUI Previews

  • Render a preview to an image — pick which #Preview/PreviewProvider in the file, and override localization, preview
    variants    , and canvas controls like a widget / Live Activity timeline index or toggle state

Localization

  • Insert String Catalog (.xcstrings) translations per locale, with plural and substitution support (gated behind a translation
    skill/workflow)
  • Localization planning — prepare the project to add a new language

Crash & Field Performance Insights (from Apple's reporting service — App Store & TestFlight)

  • Top crash signatures — last 14 days, ranked by number of affected devices; filter by version, platform, and release channel — plus the
    crash logs for a given signature
  • Top field performance issues across four diagnostic types: launches, hangs, disk writes, energy — plus their detailed logs

Simulator / Device UI Automation

  • Start an interaction session, install and run a build, synthesize input (tap, swipe, type, hardware buttons, orientation
    changes) using coordinates from the live UI hierarchy dump, capture screenshots + hierarchy, then end the session

Documentation

  • Search Apple Developer documentation by semantic query, optionally scoped to specific frameworks