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Xcode Pilot MCP

Your First iOS Project

This guide walks you through the full lifecycle of creating, building, and running an iOS app using Xcode Pilot MCP — entirely through natural language prompts.

What You’ll Do

Section titled “What You’ll Do”
  1. Create a new SwiftUI project
  2. Build the project
  3. Create and boot a simulator
  4. Install and launch the app
  5. Take a screenshot

The Workflow

Section titled “The Workflow”

  1. Create the project

    “Create a new SwiftUI iOS project called WeatherApp in ~/Projects”

    This uses project_create to generate a complete Swift Package with source files, tests, and assets.

    Created project WeatherApp at /Users/dev/Projects/WeatherApp
    ├── Package.swift
    ├── Sources/WeatherApp/
    │   ├── WeatherAppApp.swift
    │   └── ContentView.swift
    └── Tests/WeatherAppTests/

  2. Check available schemes

    “List the schemes in ~/Projects/WeatherApp”

    This uses xcode_list to discover what’s available.

    Schemes:
      WeatherApp

  3. Build for simulator

    “Build WeatherApp for iPhone 16 simulator”

    This uses xcode_build with the correct scheme and destination.

    {
      "scheme": "WeatherApp",
      "projectPath": "/Users/dev/Projects/WeatherApp",
      "destination": "platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 16,OS=latest"
    }
    ** BUILD SUCCEEDED **

  4. Find or create a simulator

    “List my booted simulators”

    If none are running:

    “Boot the iPhone 16 simulator”

    This uses simulator_list and simulator_boot.

  5. Open the Simulator app

    “Open the Simulator app for my iPhone 16”

    Uses simulator_open to bring up the visual simulator window.

  6. Install the app

    “Install the built WeatherApp on the iPhone 16 simulator”

    Uses app_install with the .app path from the build output in DerivedData.

    App installed successfully on F3A1B2C3-D4E5-6789-ABCD-EF0123456789

  7. Launch the app

    “Launch com.example.WeatherApp on the iPhone 16 simulator”

    Uses app_launch to start the app.

    App launched: com.example.WeatherApp (PID: 12345)

  8. Take a screenshot

    “Take a screenshot of the iPhone 16 simulator”

    Uses screenshot to capture the current screen state.

    Screenshot saved to /tmp/screenshot-20250223-143052.png

The One-Shot Version

Section titled “The One-Shot Version”

Experienced users can combine multiple steps in a single prompt:

“Create a new SwiftUI iOS project called WeatherApp in ~/Projects, build it for iPhone 16 simulator, boot the simulator, install the app, launch it, and take a screenshot”

The AI assistant will execute all 6+ tool calls in sequence, handling paths and device IDs automatically.

Common Variations

Section titled “Common Variations”

“Create a new UIKit iOS project called WeatherApp in ~/Projects”

{
  "name": "WeatherApp",
  "template": "uikit",
  "platform": "ios",
  "outputPath": "/Users/dev/Projects"
}

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”