# Development

Mastering Custom Xcode Templates: A Guide to Creation and Maintenance

Red Rocket TeamJan 14, 20254 min read

When it comes to app development, devs think about what tools and environments to use. These decisions mostly determine how long it will take to create a digital product from scratch and how the process will go overall. Do you have any idea about the time required to develop an average-sized iOS app? Usually, experts spend about 3 months on such projects.

Would you like to save your time and achieve better app optimization? The developer community regularly shares tips, and we want to tell you about Xcode application templates. What is it, and how does it help in creating projects on iOS and macOS? All these questions will be answered in the article below.

Xcode Template – What is It?

Before we get into the topic of templates, let's first discuss Xcode. If beginners read this article, this information will be especially useful for you. Experts often favor Xcode for creating games, 3D models, and machine computing applications. Simply speaking, this is a development environment from Apple where you can easily write code, test it, and analyze existing bugs. This process characterizes iOS mobile app development.

However, creating each new project from scratch is not the best solution. Many IT experts overlook one very interesting feature that is available in this integrated development environment (IDE). Yeah, we're talking about the ability to create ready-made templates. What are their advantages?

Applying standards. You can customize a template once with the necessary parameters that you use each time to develop applications. This will save you from having to do repetitive work.
Speeding up the work process. Obviously, the most important benefit of such templates is saving time for the development team. The template is the beginning of the project, so you don't have to work from scratch every time.

In simple words, templates for Xcode are already customized with some primary files that will be applied to each new project in this development environment.

Types of Xcode Templates Developers Should Know

Templates are a pretty broad concept because they can cover a lot of things. For those who have worked in the Xcode integrated development environment at least once, chances are you've used the default template. Even so, this feature has huge potential because you can customize what you want yourself. There are three types of templates in Xcode today, covering:

Targets. The target templates allow the configuration of new build targets for an existing project, targeting specific platforms or modules. Additionally, they make it very simple to get started with other app components like extensions or frameworks.
Projects. It works as a base on which you can build an entire application by taking the pre-defined settings, files, folder structures, etc. This saves the developers time as it creates a baseline for how this app is going to look for iOS, macOS, or watchOS, respectively.
Files. File templates cut down the work it takes to introduce certain files, for example, Swift classes, interfaces, or resources in your project. They help keep consistency and ease manual setup for regular file types.

That's why you can customize the Xcode template as you need, depending on the project you're working on. It can include startup code, an ARKit scene, and so on.

Creating Custom Xcode Templates: A Step-by-Step Guide

We want to start with the fact that the Xcode integrated development environment automatically offers default templates to users. To be honest, they are unlikely to really help you optimize processes or save time. That's why you should look into the possibility of creating your own templates for your app development projects. We have prepared a guide for you that will help you accomplish this task faster and easier.

1. Find a Default Template

Why create a new template from scratch when there are already default templates in the system? These are the templates we talked about above, and you need to find them now. You may ask where they are located. Use this path to find them:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Templates/Project Templates/iOS

We’ll first want to get started to navigate the path and see what template is closest to your project’s needs. Instead of modifying this file directly, copy this file, rename the copy template, and move it to a new folder called Templates. This ensures we don’t foul up the original templates. Working from an already existing template allows you to save a lot of time and effort, as building a new one from scratch will take a great deal of hard work.

2. Customize the Template for Your Needs

Customizing is truly the main thing when creating an efficient Xcode template. Begin by changing the TemplateInfo.plist file, which describes the structure of the template, the settings, and the documents that will be part of the template. It allows you to add predefined folders. Besides excluding custom code snippets, custom frameworks, etc., you can also add starter files like AppDelegate.swift or SceneDelegate.swift.

For example, if you always use some specific structures for dependency managers like CocoaPods or Swift Package Manager for example, you can automate their installation here. This way, customizing Xcode templates helps you to make new projects align with your workflow to support consistency and efficiency during development.

3. Complete the Template Installation

The final step of getting all the customization done is saving your changes after you are done. Make sure that when you do make changes, they are saved to the right files so you don't lose your work. Test the template by, once saved, creating a new project or file using it in Xcode. Testing is the means for you to verify that all our elements are set up right and working as expected. Having it checked at this stage thoroughly will save you time and also point out areas that are a pain if you get this wrong during development.

Maintaining and Updating Your Xcode Templates

You should know that customizing and saving a finished template is not the end of the whole process. In order for you to always have access to these projects and be able to use them properly, you need to know how to manage, maintain, and update the created templates. Maintaining the template Xcode files up-to-date is crucial to making them work and keeping up to date with evolving tools and project standards.

(01)

Version control and incremental updates. Use version control systems such as Git to track changes to templates and collaboration, as well as the ability to roll back updates. Start with an incremental approach of updates, like adding new features or tweaking existing configurations for a smaller manageable amount.
(02)

Testing and backward compatibility. Whether you modify templates or not, it is always necessary to test them. Test their compatibility with recent and old Xcode versions and ensure they work perfectly in any project. Wherever possible, take backward compatibility to prevent disturbing ongoing workflow.
(03)

Documentation and communication. Keep perfect documentation for your templates, e.g., usage instructions, update logs, and tips for troubleshooting. Organize a means by which team members know when updates were made.

These steps will help you maintain the reliability, efficiency, and ability of your Xcode templates to support your team’s development.

Tips for Debugging and Testing Xcode Templates

We have already mentioned the importance of testing Xcode templates. However, their testing starts much earlier - at the debugging stage. We have some working tips that will help both beginners and experienced developers.

It’s always a good idea to test your templates in a fresh Xcode project to ensure no external configurations are impacting the outcome of the template. Check if all of your file paths, dependencies, and references in your template are correct. New projects can suffer missing build files or incorrect paths that cause build errors and must be set up.

If the template does not load or fails to behave as expected, use Xcode’s error logs to find the cause. Often, these logs give very good clues to missing keys and improperly formatted or config files. Make incremental changes and test them after each change. In this way, we are able to isolate problems, and when replacing new features, we don’t break previous functionality.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes, developers spend too much time to create a ready-made application from scratch. You need to successfully assemble the right technology stack to shorten this time. If you are developing iOS apps, the integrated Xcode environment can help you reduce your development time. All you need to do is create new Xcode application templates by pre-customizing them to your requirements. Now, you can use these templates every time, reducing the time spent on writing common codes and other tasks.

Frequently asked questions

What is Xcode?

In 2003, Apple officially introduced Xcode, an integrated environment for developers. It is a full set of tools, including a code editor, debugging tools, device simulators, and support of Swift and Objective-C programming languages.

Why do I need to create Xcode templates?

Templates are useful to quickly create new projects or files with defined settings and are also used by teams working on repetitive work or similar projects. As a result, it saves developers a lot of time when preparing a project.

What are Xcode project samples?

Xcode is a development environment where professionals create various projects for the Apple ecosystem. For example, this can cover iOS mobile apps, games, macOS command-line tools, and more.