A skill is a small package of instructions, usually organised around a SKILL.md file, with supporting references or scripts where needed. It gives an agent practical guidance on a particular task: which approach to take, which APIs to consider, and which pitfalls to watch for.
Think of it as a useful reference your assistant can open when it needs a little Apple expertise.
Some skills come with Xcode and can be exported for other workflows. Apple also publishes a separate collection for game developers (woo!). Here’s what they cover, along with prompts you can adapt to your own projects.
⚠️ The collection changes between Xcode releases, so names and availability may vary. This guide covers the skills identified in the Xcode 27 releases and resources reviewed for this article. Apple’s introduction to the specialists and plugins in Xcode 27.
A helping hand with SwiftUI
swiftui-specialist
swiftui-specialist provides guidance on writing and reviewing SwiftUI code. It covers state, data flow, animations, localisation, list identity, and performance.
It’s a useful starting point when you’d like a second look at an existing view.
Use
swiftui-specialistto review this screen. Check state ownership, list identifiers, and calculations performed during rendering. Suggest focused improvements and explain why they would help.
swiftui-whats-new-27
swiftui-whats-new-27 focuses on newer SwiftUI APIs and migration issues. Its guidance includes reordering content, swipe actions, toolbars, image loading, and changes involving @State.
Use
swiftui-whats-new-27to add drag-to-reorder support to this grid. Check API availability and provide suitable behaviour for the older OS versions this project supports.
Apple introduces both skills in its What’s new in SwiftUI session.
building-document-based-swiftui-applications
building-document-based-swiftui-applications helps with apps that open, edit, save, and export documents. It also covers undo support and migration to the newer document APIs.
If your app handles files, this guide brings together several details that are easy to overlook individually.
Use
building-document-based-swiftui-applicationsto review our document editor. Check opening, autosave, export, and undo support, then suggest a migration plan for the new document APIs.
Making room for different window sizes
app-resizability
app-resizability helps an app adapt when its window changes size. It covers fixed-layout assumptions, screen-dependent code, safe areas, scene lifecycle, and multiple windows.
It’s particularly relevant when a comfortable full-screen layout starts feeling cramped in a smaller window.
Use
app-resizabilityto review this UIKit app on iPad. Identify fixed dimensions and screen-size assumptions, then help the form remain usable in both narrow and wide windows.
Apple explains the broader approach in Modernize your UIKit app.
Connecting app features to the system
app-intents-specialist
app-intents-specialist guides the design of App Intents: the actions and information an app makes available to system experiences such as Shortcuts.
It covers parameters, entities, queries, errors, localisation, and identifier stability. That last detail matters when people have already saved shortcuts using your app.
Use
app-intents-specialistto expose an “Add expense” action in Shortcuts. Include an amount, a category, and an optional note, with clear, localised error messages.
app-intents-whats-new-27
app-intents-whats-new-27 complements that foundation with recent App Intents features, including execution modes, interactive snippets, Spotlight integration, Visual Intelligence, and longer-running operations.
The APIs it covers have different availability requirements, so checking the deployment target is part of the work.
Use
app-intents-whats-new-27to review our Spotlight integration. Identify relevant new APIs, explain their minimum OS requirements, and suggest a gradual adoption plan.
Checking the work
modernize-tests
modernize-tests helps migrate eligible XCTest tests to Swift Testing and improve suites that already use it. It covers assertions, setup, asynchronous tests, parameterised tests, and execution behaviour.
Some tests need to stay with XCTest, including UI tests and certain performance tests. Apple discusses incremental migration in Migrate to Swift Testing.
Use
modernize-teststo migrate this module’s unit tests to Swift Testing. Preserve their behaviour, turn repeated cases into parameterised tests, and identify tests that should remain in XCTest.
device-interaction
device-interaction provides a workflow for checking an app on a device or simulator. It combines screenshots, interface hierarchy inspection, and interactions such as tapping, typing, and scrolling.
The agent also needs access to the relevant device tools to carry out those steps.
Use
device-interactionto check the sign-up flow in the iPhone simulator. Complete the form, submit it, and verify the resulting screen. Include screenshots of any functional or visual issues.
Looking after the project’s foundations
audit-xcode-security-settings
audit-xcode-security-settings reviews security-related build settings, including compiler warnings, static analysis, and available hardening features.
Its focus is the project’s build configuration. The output should help you understand proposed changes and how to validate them.
Use
audit-xcode-security-settingsto review this project’s targets. Prepare a plan explaining the proposed settings, their benefits, possible compatibility effects, and validation steps.
adopt-c-bounds-safety
adopt-c-bounds-safety supports projects containing C code. It guides adoption of the -fbounds-safety extension, covering pointer annotations, compiler settings, and debugging out-of-bounds accesses.
Use
adopt-c-bounds-safetyto assess this C module. Identify pointer-and-length relationships and suggest an incremental adoption strategy, explaining the annotations involved.
Translations
A word like “Book” might describe something to read or an action to reserve a table. Looking at the interface and source code helps a translation agent choose the right meaning.
Xcode’s localisation workflow includes two complementary resources:
Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Prepares localisation work, gathers the relevant strings, and distributes translation tasks. |
| Translates assigned strings using their context, existing translations, and language-specific guidance. |
These resources work with Xcode’s String Catalog tools. You can provide your own glossary, product terminology, and preferred tone, too.
Translate the app into French for France. Follow TRANSLATION.md preserve product names, check plural forms, and review previews for truncated text.
Their role within Xcode’s localisation workflow differs from the general-purpose guides you can export.
Apple also provides built-in accessibility specialists. Their names and availability depend on the Xcode release, so your installation’s skill menu is the best place to check which ones you can use.
Finding out where the time goes
xctrace
An additional xctrace guide appears in the Xcode 27.2 beta resources reviewed for this article.
It covers Instruments’ command-line interface, including capturing and exploring traces to investigate performance, resource usage, and hangs. As a beta addition, its availability should be checked separately.
Use
xctraceto plan an investigation of this slowdown. Choose an appropriate recording, identify expensive operations, and propose a before-and-after measurement for any changes.
A dedicated collection for game developers
Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit repository contains another collection: 16 technical skills and eight workflow skills.
The technical skills cover the individual pieces involved in bringing a game or engine to Apple platforms. Here’s the complete set, with the jargon kept to a minimum.
Technical skill | What it helps with |
|---|---|
| Mapping concepts from Metal 3, DirectX 12, or Vulkan to Metal 4. |
| Coordinating GPU operations with barriers, fences, and events. |
| Managing buffers, textures, and GPU resource residency. |
| Creating and configuring rendering and compute pipelines. |
| Converting shaders and managing compilation output. |
| Connecting converted shaders and their resource bindings to the engine. |
| Handling image presentation, frame pacing, and display timing. |
| Managing Metal object lifetimes, including in C++ code. |
| Setting up a macOS window, rendering surface, and related input handling. |
| Adapting controller input to Apple’s Game Controller APIs. |
| Integrating MetalFX temporal upscaling. |
| Integrating MetalFX frame interpolation. |
| Enabling and interpreting Metal validation tools. |
| Capturing a GPU trace from a running application. |
| Exploring a GPU trace and inspecting its resources. |
| Investigating blank screens, incorrect colours, and other rendering problems. |
Project’s managment
The eight workflow skills help organise the larger project. They give the porting assistant a process that can continue across sessions.
Workflow skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Defines the overall approach, goals, and working conventions. |
| Examines the codebase and produces a discovery report. |
| Breaks a goal into manageable milestones. |
| Prepares the next milestone and loads the relevant guidance. |
| Implements the work planned for the current milestone. |
| Checks runtime behaviour, rendering, and adherence to recommendations. |
| Records progress and prepares the information needed for the next session. |
| Reports the current state of the port. |
Apple provides installation instructions for several agents. The documented workflow requires an Apple silicon Mac, macOS 27, Xcode 27, and Game Porting Toolkit 4.
Getting the Xcode skills onto your desk
In Xcode’s assistant, type / to browse the available skills. Xcode can also select relevant expertise from an ordinary natural-language request.
To export skills into a folder, use:
xcrun agent skills export --output-dir "$HOME/Downloads/apple-xcode-skills"You’ll need a compatible Xcode installation and its selected command-line tools. You can then place the exported files in the skill directory supported by your chosen agent. Apple describes this export option in its SwiftUI session.
Exporting the guidance doesn’t automatically provide every associated tool. Building an app, running a simulator, or interacting with a device still requires the appropriate setup.
Apple’s skills make its development expertise easier to bring into everyday work with AI agents. Whether you’re polishing an interface, translating an app, or exploring a game port, there’s guidance you can give your assistant alongside the task.
You can start small. Pick one skill, try it on a familiar part of your project, and see how useful its recommendations are. You might find a better approach, catch something you’d overlooked, or simply have a more productive conversation with your coding assistant.
Have fun agentic-coding!
