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Working on an Xcode project with Cursor/VSCode
A few tips for questions people keep asking me
If you’re not living under a rock, you might be aware that it’s possible to have a good workflow for working with an Xcode project without Xcode now. You can also improve your efficiency and throughput with an AI-assisted code editor like Cursor or VSCode with Copilot. You don’t have to wait for Swift Assist anymore!
1. When I add files in Cursor they’re not added in Xcode
I have good and bad news for you. Xcode manages its own files and project structure within the .xcodeproj file. Usually, when you add a file within the Xcode UI, Xcode will create the file, but this is not sufficient. Xcode will also edit the .xcodeproj to add the file to the correct group, which will correctly link it to your target and show it in the UI.
Thankfully there are a few workarounds that:
1. You should switch to buildable folders. What are they? Wel,l basically… just folder, like any regular editor, Xcode will now simply read the folder from your drive and list and compile all the files within this folder.
I wrote about it already, there is all you need to know in this story for you to switch and use those folders.
2. If you’re working with a legacy project or can’t switch to buildable folders, you should work with Swift Packages. Swift Package by design work just like buildable folders. Swift simply build everything in their source directory. So you have no problem and you don’t need Xcode when editing the file structure in an external editor.
