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swiftlang/swift-package-manager

★ 10,146SwiftAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

Apple's official Swift dependency manager and build system, bundled with Xcode and the Swift toolchain, that downloads, compiles, and links Swift packages from GitHub into iOS, macOS, or Linux Swift projects.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((swift-package-manager))
    What it does
      Dependency resolution
      Build system
      Version management
    Platforms
      macOS
      iOS iPad watchOS
      Linux
    Integration
      Xcode built-in
      Command line
    Audience
      Swift developers
      Apple platform devs
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Add a Swift open-source library to an iOS or Mac app by pointing Swift Package Manager at its GitHub URL.

USE CASE 2

Build and test a Swift command-line tool or server-side Swift project on Linux using the included build system.

USE CASE 3

Detect and resolve conflicting version requirements between dependencies before they cause silent runtime bugs.

Tech stack

Swift

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Already bundled with Xcode and the Swift toolchain, no separate installation needed on Mac.

Apache 2.0 with a runtime library exception, free to use in commercial and proprietary projects without requiring you to open-source your own app.

In plain English

Swift Package Manager is the official tool for sharing and reusing code written in Swift, Apple's programming language. When you build an app or library in Swift and you want to use someone else's code, or share your own, Swift Package Manager handles the logistics: downloading the right version of a dependency, compiling it, and linking everything together so your project can use it. The tool comes built into the Swift toolchain and is included in Xcode, Apple's development environment for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch apps. If you have Swift installed, you already have it. You can verify by running a single command in the terminal. Packages are typically shared through services like GitHub, and pointing your project at a package URL is enough to pull it in. Beyond just fetching code, the tool includes a build system that compiles projects on macOS and Linux. It understands version constraints, so if your project needs version 2.x of a library and a dependency needs version 3.x, it can detect the conflict rather than silently using the wrong version. This repository is the source code for the tool itself, maintained by Apple and the Swift open-source community. Most Swift developers interact with it through Xcode or the command line rather than ever looking at this repository. It is open sourced under the Apache 2.0 license with a runtime library exception, which means it can be freely used in commercial and proprietary projects. Contributions and bug reports go through the Swift Forums and the GitHub issue tracker.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I want to add a Swift package from GitHub to my Xcode project using Swift Package Manager. Walk me through the steps in Xcode and in the terminal.
Prompt 2
How do I create a new Swift package from scratch using swift package init and structure it so others can use it as a dependency?
Prompt 3
My Swift project has a dependency conflict where two packages require different versions of the same library. How does Swift Package Manager detect and report this?
Prompt 4
Show me how to add a dependency to a Package.swift manifest file and specify a version range constraint.
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