Create a new project

The most straightforward way to start a new project with Tuist is to use the tuist init command. This command generates a new project with a default structure and configuration.

Initializing an application project

To start, you'll need to create a directory where the project will be created:

mkdir MyApp
cd MyApp

Once the directory is created and you're inside it, run the following command:

iOS project

tuist init --platform ios

macOS project

tuist init --platform macos

The command will initialize the project in the current directory. You can then edit the project running tuist edit, and Xcode will open a project where you can edit the project. One of the files that are generated is the Project.swift, which contains the definition of your project. If you are familiar with the Swift Package Manager, think of it as the Package.swift but with the lingo of Xcode projects.

Project.swift

import ProjectDescription

let project = Project(
    name: "MyApp",
    targets: [
        .target(
            name: "MyApp",
            destinations: .iOS,
            product: .app,
            bundleId: "io.tuist.MyApp",
            infoPlist: .extendingDefault(
                with: [
                    "UILaunchScreen": [
                        "UIColorName": "",
                        "UIImageName": "",
                    ],
                ]
            ),
            sources: ["MyApp/Sources/**"],
            resources: ["MyApp/Resources/**"],
            dependencies: []
        ),
        .target(
            name: "MyAppTests",
            destinations: .iOS,
            product: .unitTests,
            bundleId: "io.tuist.MyAppTests",
            infoPlist: .default,
            sources: ["MyApp/Tests/**"],
            resources: [],
            dependencies: [.target(name: "MyApp")]
        ),
    ]
)

NOTE

We intentionally keep the list of available templates short to minimize maintenance overhead. If you want to create a project that doesn't represent an application, for example a framework, you can use tuist init as a starting point and then modify the generated project to suit your needs.

Manually creating a project

Alternatively, you can create the project manually. We recommend doing this only if you're already familiar with Tuist and its concepts. The first thing that you'll need to do is to create additional directories for the project structure:

mkdir MyFramework
cd MyFramework

Then create a Tuist.swift file, which will configure Tuist and is used by Tuist to determine the root directory of the project, and a Project.swift, where your project will be declared:

Project.swift

import ProjectDescription

let project = Project(
    name: "MyFramework",
    targets: [
        .target(
            name: "MyFramework",
            destinations: .macOS,
            product: .framework,
            bundleId: "io.tuist.MyFramework",
            sources: ["MyFramework/Sources/**"],
            dependencies: []
        )
    ]
)

Tuist.swift

import ProjectDescription

let tuist = Tuist()

IMPORTANT

Tuist uses the Tuist/ directory to determine the root of your project, and from there it looks for other manifest files globbing the directories. We recommend creating those files with your editor of choice, and from that point on, you can use tuist edit to edit the project with Xcode.