Building an iOS App Without Xcode’s Build System by Vojta Stavik

A build system, despite its scary-sounding name, is just a regular program, which knows how to build other programs. As an iOS developer, you’re certainly familiar with how to build a project using Xcode. You go to the Product menu and select Build, or you use the ⌘B keyboard shortcut.

You may have also heard about Xcode Command Line Tools. It’s a set of tools which allows you to build Xcode projects directly from the terminal using the xcodebuildcommand. A very convenient thing for automating your processes, for example on your CI.

No matter how you’ve initiated it, the building itself is orchestrated by Xcode’s build system.

Can we replicate the building process and build the app “manually”, without Xcode’s build system?

Is it possible to sign the resulting app? Or even deploy it to an actual iOS device?

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