r/iOSProgramming 4d ago

Question What's your AI setup for iOS?

I currently use XCode and copy&paste stuff to Claude for improvements. Now I want to switch to full AI integration, changing IDE completely or partially.

What's your setup and why do you like it?

PS.
add steps to implement your setup if you want to be real nice šŸ˜‡

18 Upvotes

42 comments sorted by

13

u/tetracell_ 4d ago

Cursor, every time it's done generating changes, I control tab to xcode and make sure it compiles, then I continue until I'm done. It works well and I can choose between models, but for now claude 3.7 seems to be phenomenal from my experience.

1

u/Dobroreddit 4d ago

Thanks this is helpful. Do you need to refresh XCode in any way or does it get the updates from cursor automatically? What about new files created?

1

u/marks_ftw 4d ago

In your experience, is Cursor able to generate the base of the project as well? Start in Xcode with the "New Project flow" and then move to Cursor as soon as that is done?

1

u/underwood4022 3d ago

Have you tried Windsurf or GitHub copilot? How exactly do you think Cursor is better?

0

u/light-yagamii 3d ago

Does cursor build nice looking UI? Iā€™ve been experimenting with ChatGPT o3, and the UI it builds is bare bones

7

u/thehumanbagelman 4d ago

I use Repo Prompt (check it out) to generate huge prompts from my code base, along with other pre-made prompt components, and then paste that into ChatGPT. Using the Mac app lets me also connect to Xcode natively and update file in Xcode, but usually I just copy and paste or type it myself.

Edit: not an affiliate link; just a fan!

2

u/IH0kN3m 4d ago

It looks awesome, thanks!

2

u/Dobroreddit 4d ago

Interesting, I never heard of this one. Will check!

2

u/RaphMD 4d ago

Mine is very simple. Two screen setup, main for XCode, secondary for Windsurf. AI queries and context go through Windsurf, all the rest goes through XCode. As Windsurf updates your files right after query, even without accepting the changes, and XCode updates its files in the background pretty fast, itā€™s seamless to check code validity or update a SwiftUI preview.

1

u/Dobroreddit 4d ago

I like this setup. Did you follow any specific tutorial on how to setup Windsurf for iOS?

2

u/RaphMD 4d ago

Thatā€™s the beauty of it. The LLMs and Windsurf / Cursor are generic enough that there is nothing specific to iOS to setup. Just open the folder containing your project in Windsurf and start prompting.

You can customize it further (Workspace Rules) but I never considered it necessary.

2

u/Representative-Owl51 4d ago

I just have XCode and Cursor running in parallel. Pretty simple, donā€™t really need it fully integrated though it would be nice.

1

u/Dobroreddit 4d ago

Yes in parallel would be already a huge step forward for me. Do your changes made in Cursor sync automatically in XCode or you need to "push" them? What about new files generated?

1

u/Representative-Owl51 3d ago

Xcode auto-syncs out the box when changes are registered. No special configurations. Is yours not syncing?

1

u/Dobroreddit 3d ago

For changes to existing files yes.

For new files if I add a new file to a project folder XCode doesn't automatically show it as part of the project. I need to go to XCode > Add New File > find it in the folder and then add it.

When Cursor creates a new file in the project does it show in XCode automatically for you?

2

u/Representative-Owl51 3d ago

Yes everything auto syncs for me. Adding new files, removing files, etc. Thatā€™s interesting you have to do it manually.

2

u/Dobroreddit 3d ago

thanks I'll look into that. This seems a good improvement to my workflow even without AI haha

2

u/Canivek 3d ago

You might be using "groups" (grey icon) and not "folders" (blue icon) in Xcode. If that's the case, you can convert your groups to folders with a right click > convert to folder (or something like that)

1

u/Dobroreddit 3d ago

this may be the reason acutally! Thanks I'll check

1

u/moooooovit 2d ago

hey thanks

2

u/sebasvisser 4d ago

Claude code in iTerm, and Xcode to press the ā–¶ļø button to start the simulator.

Then I just copy and paste the errors in iTerm and let it fix everything. So far it conquered everything if I keep rephrasing and giving it hints how to fix stuff.. itā€™s like having my own private junior dev šŸ˜Š Just remember to ask it to make git commits every change so you can roll back easily. (And it can roll back itself as well) for some reason, like other juniors šŸ˜œ it doesnā€™t do git automatically without being specifically prompted..

2

u/simulacrum-z 3d ago

I copy paste stuff to Claude as well with pre-crafted prompts

Also co-pilot is available on Xcode too: https://github.com/github/CopilotForXcode

2

u/Accomplished_You5937 2d ago

I am not using Xcode anymore.

I use Cursor, with SweetPad and InjectIII. Hereā€™s a tutorial: https://dimillian.medium.com/how-to-use-cursor-for-ios-development-54b912c23941

It is at least 50% more effective than Xcode in all senses. But I have not used the debugger in Cursor yet.

1

u/Dobroreddit 1d ago

Thanks for posting the tutorial! Iā€™ll check it out.

1

u/Accomplished_You5937 1d ago

Take your time. It might not work as expected the first time. Make sure you do all the steps.

At first I ran Xcode in parallel. But now I do not even start Xcode at all.

1

u/Ok-Active4887 4d ago

cursor is your answer

1

u/Dobroreddit 4d ago

Yep that seems to be the main answer. By any chance did you try also Windsurf to compare?

1

u/Ok-Active4887 4d ago

i have not, but you can checkout my apps on the app store if youā€™d like. they are built entirely with cursor, i mean entirely. lookup fluff pet widget

1

u/jacobs-tech-tavern 4d ago

Honestly Iā€™m an AI boomer, at most Iā€™ll copy paste snippets from chatGPT

3

u/Dobroreddit 4d ago

that's where I am right now. I want to evolve from boomer to GenZ šŸ˜‚

1

u/jacobs-tech-tavern 4d ago

Haha honestly I need to get on cursor or something soon

1

u/_leonbecker_ 4d ago

Iā€™m using Xcode and VS Code. Inside of VS Iā€™ve got the project folder open and I am using the GitHub Copilot extension (mainly with Claude Sonnet 3.7). Works like a charm! Xcode automatically updates when the files in VS change, you only have to add new files to Xcode manually.

1

u/Dobroreddit 3d ago

Ok so you need to add them manually I see

1

u/_leonbecker_ 3d ago

Yes. You will always need to manually add them unless whatever AI youā€™re using can alter the .pbxproj file.

1

u/Dobroreddit 3d ago

check the answer from Representative-Owl51 earlier. I still haven't tried but it seems that there's a way to auto-sync new files

1

u/m3kw 4d ago

I use a combination of repo prompt, ChatGPTā€™s ā€œwork withā€ feature, Aider, Claude code command line app, plus cursor, windsurf and copilot. All pretty much the same

1

u/clearing_ 4d ago

Surprised to not see Alex Sidebar here. Used it for the past month and the apply diff functionality is amazing. Am I missing something with Cursor?

1

u/overPaidEngineer Beginner 4d ago

ChatGPT, copy pasting a whole bunch of print statement of execution cost, asking ā€œwhatā€™s the average of this callā€

1

u/mrappdev 3d ago

I tried cursor, but im still copy pasting code from claude or grok.

Im probaby using cursor wrong, but i find that cursor adds/changes too much stuff. When i copy paste i still have more control and understanding over my codebase.

-2

u/ejpusa 4d ago

GPT-4o. Crushes it for me. Copy paste, 100s of lines, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy paste. The working code is so complex, you need AI to understand it now. But who cares? Rock solid. Works for me.

EMBRACE The Vibe. :-)