Xcode 27 System Prompts & Documentation
This repository contains system prompts and documentation from Xcode, providing insights into Apple’s approach to AI-assisted coding and comprehensive guides for iOS 26/27 features and frameworks. You can also find them at Xcode.app/Contents/PlugIns/IDEIntelligenceChat.framework/Versions/A/Resources.
Repository Structure
System Prompt Templates (.idechatprompttemplate)
Core prompts that power Xcode’s AI coding assistant in different modes and contexts:
Basic Coding Assistant Prompts
Specialized Workflow Prompts
Context Provider Prompts
Agent Prompts
Specialized Generation Prompts
Support & Utility Prompts
Agent Skills (new in Xcode 27 beta 1)
On-demand skills that pair a system prompt with bundled *-ref-*.md.packaged reference docs (and helper scripts), loaded only when the task matches:
audit-xcode-security-settings.idechatprompttemplate - Audits and progressively enables security build settings: compiler warnings, static analyzer checkers, Enhanced Security, Pointer Authentication, hardware memory tagging, typed allocators, stack zero-init, etc. Reworked in beta 3 into a phased plan-and-approve workflow (editable plan file, XcodeUpdate edits, per-target task tracking) with a new universal-binaries-for-libraries reference. In beta 5 the single “Basic Clang safety warnings” item was split into three separately checkable groups — Compiler warnings (fire on every build), Static analyzer warnings and Clang-tidy warnings (both Build and analyze only) — plan parents became non-checkable group headings, and the approval step now answers questions and expands the plan before applying. Ships with audit-xcode-security-settings-script-filter_build_settings.pyadopt-c-bounds-safety.idechatprompttemplate - Guide for adopting, reviewing, and debugging the C -fbounds-safety language extension (pointer annotations, build settings, runtime trap debugging). Renamed from c-bounds-safety in beta 3 with expanded trigger conditionsapp-intents-specialist.idechatprompttemplate - New in beta 5. Evergreen App Intents best practices and correctness review: perform() execution model (Sendable, not @MainActor, retriable), entity/query design and id stability, EntityPropertyQuery, AppEnum raw-value stability, parameters and parameter summaries, @Dependency placement, localized errors, donation, App Shortcut phrases, URL representation, configuration intents, and intent factoringapp-intents-whats-new-27.idechatprompttemplate - New in beta 5. New App Intents APIs from the iOS 26 (2025) and iOS 27 (2026) releases, each tagged with its @available floor: supportedModes/IntentModes (and the openAppWhenRun deprecation), LongRunningIntent, interactive SnippetIntent, requestChoice, Visual Intelligence (IntentValueQuery + SemanticContentDescriptor), onscreen entities, Spotlight indexing and IndexedEntityQuery, @ComputedProperty/@DeferredProperty, Apple Intelligence schema adoption, RelevantEntities, SyncableEntity/EntityOwnership, SystemShortcut, EntityCollection, AppUnionValue, and unit testing with AppIntentsTestingbuilding-document-based-swiftui-applications.idechatprompttemplate - New in beta 5. Dedicated skill for the new SwiftUI Document protocol (ReadableDocument/WritableDocument): DocumentGroup setup, DocumentReader/DocumentWriter, FileWrapper convenience, package documents and incremental writes, direct file-URL access, Subprogress reporting, the undo registration that autosave depends on, custom UTType declaration, read-only viewers, and migration from FileDocument/ReferenceFileDocument. Split out of the swiftui-whats-new-27 skillswiftui-specialist.idechatprompttemplate - SwiftUI best practices and idiomatic patterns: view structure, data flow, environment, modifiers, localization, animations, ForEach identity, soft-deprecated APIs. Beta 5 rewrote the trigger description, added guidance on preferring AnyShapeStyle over an if/else @ViewBuilder branch when ternary styles don’t unify (and on not assuming a style ternary fails to compile), warned against subscript-based argument-less @Observable projections, and folded the visionOS statusBarHidden deprecation note into the soft-deprecated listswiftui-whats-new-27.idechatprompttemplate - New SwiftUI APIs/behaviors for the 2027 OS releases: @State macro migration, reorderable(), AsyncImage caching, toolbar overflow, item-binding alerts/dialogs, swipe actions, @ContentBuilder. In beta 5 the description was condensed and the document-based-apps and deprecations references were dropped from the skill (documents moved to their own skill, deprecations to swiftui-specialist)uikit-app-modernization.idechatprompttemplate - Modernizes UIKit apps for multi-window environments by replacing legacy shared-state APIs (UIScreen.main, interfaceOrientation, asymmetric safe areas) with scene-aware alternativesxctrace.idechatprompttemplate - New in 27.2 beta 3. Guide to xctrace, the Instruments CLI, for profiling and performance work: capturing traces, reading .trace/.atrc files, the toc → list tracks → show exploration flow, call trees, symbolication, and hang triage via xctrace triage --style hangs (busy vs. blocked hangs, severity tiers). Ships with xctrace-overview and xctrace-hangs-triage references
Additional Documentation
Comprehensive guides for iOS 26 features and framework updates:
Foundation & Core Frameworks
UI & Design Frameworks
Intelligence & Accessibility
App Store & Commerce
Supporting Files
Core Apple Prompting Principles
Based on analysis of the system prompts, Apple follows these key principles for AI coding assistance:
1. Apple-First Development Philosophy
- Always favor Apple programming languages: Swift, Objective-C, C, C++
- Prefer Apple frameworks and APIs available on Apple devices
- Use official platform names: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS
- Avoid recommending third-party packages unless already in use
- Detect platform context from code clues
- Avoid suggesting iOS-only APIs for macOS projects
- Respect platform-specific design patterns and conventions
3. Modern Swift Preferences
- Swift Concurrency (async/await, actors) over Dispatch/Combine
- Swift Testing framework with
@Test and #expect macros
- #Preview macro instead of PreviewProvider protocol
- Stay current with latest language features
4. Code Editing Philosophy
- Complete File Replacement: Never partial edits - always return entire file content
- Precise Instructions: Unambiguous, self-contained editing instructions
- Preserve Existing Style: Maintain formatting, indentation, and conventions
- Syntactic Validity: Ensure all edits maintain correct syntax
5. Context-Aware Assistance
- Use project search tools extensively for understanding codebase
- Distinguish between explanation vs. code modification requests
- Provide concrete examples with code snippets
- Break complex tasks into sequential steps
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