Xcode 27 System Prompts & Documentation

August 24, 2026 · View on GitHub

This repository contains system prompts and documentation from Xcode 27 beta 6, 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

Tool-Assisted Prompts

Agent Prompts

Coding Tool Templates

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.py
  • adopt-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 conditions
  • app-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 factoring
  • app-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 AppIntentsTesting
  • building-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 skill
  • swiftui-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 list
  • swiftui-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 alternatives

Additional Documentation

Comprehensive guides for iOS 26 features and framework updates:

Foundation & Core Frameworks

UI & Design Frameworks

Intelligence & Accessibility

Platform-Specific Features

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

2. Platform-Aware Suggestions

  • 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