Command Line Tool using Swift Package Manager and Utility package

Recently I had to build a Command Line Tool second time in one month, so I decided to document the setup I use.

The simplest way to create a Command Line Tool is to use Xcode template. But it lacks a crucial part — argument parsing. Swift Package Manager contains Utility package that has exactly what we need.

Without further do, here are the steps:

1. Create and navigate to a directory for the command line tool

mkdir commandlinetool
cd commandlinetool

By default, the name of the directory will be the name of Xcode target and the tool.

2. Create Swift package with type executable

swift package init --type executable

This will create initial files and folders including hidden .gitignore and .build/.

3. Add dependencies in Package.swift

open Package.swift

We need to add "https://github.com/apple/swift-package-manager.git" to the package dependencies and "Utility" to the target.

The latest release can be found here: https://github.com/apple/swift-package-manager/releases/latest

4. Generate Xcode project

swift package generate-xcodeproj

Xcode project is generated and excluded from git by default.

You can also use your xcconfig file.

swift package generate-xcodeproj --xcconfig-overrides Config.xcconfig

Here is an example with the latest macOS deployment target and Swift version.

Enjoy

That’s pretty much it. Now you can start adding code in main.swift

I did not found official documentation for ArgumentParser. But it is open source and not hard to start using it.

Hope you find this useful. If you like the article, please follow me and share.

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And hope to see you next time 😊