Xcode 26 Beta 7
Apple (downloads, releases, MacRumors, Hacker News):
Claude in Xcode is now available in the Intelligence settings panel, allowing users to seamlessly add their existing paid Claude account to Xcode and start using Claude Sonnet 4.
When using ChatGPT in Xcode, users can now start a new conversation with either GPT-4.1 or GPT-5, with GPT-5 set as the default.
ChatGPT in Xcode provides two model choices. “GPT-5” is optimized for quick, high-quality results, and should work well for most coding tasks. For difficult tasks, choose “GPT-5 (Reasoning)”, which spends more time thinking before responding, and can provide more accurate results for complex coding tasks.
Previously:
- What Xcode 26’s AI Chat Integration Is Missing
- Xcode 26 Beta 6
- Claude Code Experience
- Swift Assist, Part Deux
- Xcode + Claude
Update (2025-09-02): Steven Woolgar:
I don’t often have the use the Settings window in Xcode, but when I do I cry because of how it is now just as awful as the system settings app.
Xcode beta 7 has signed in to Claud with the claude account, that is not API key. is this the exclusive gateway for Apple? I don’t see api for that.
Xcode 26 release is imminent. in the meantime, it fails to compile Metal
The animations and design of Xcode have never been better, a testament to Apple’s polish. Yet, interacting with the new intelligence features felt… different. This wasn’t just a tool; it felt like a ghostly Apple spirit nudging every decision.
[…]
Xcode 26’s intelligence features are powered by a structured planner-executor agent designed for deep integration within the Apple development ecosystem. Analysis of its internal prompts and service reflections reveals a system that prioritizes deterministic behavior, adherence to Apple’s technology stack, and carefully managed context.
Xcode AI uses 2 planner prompts with one for GPT 5. I cannot invoke search_additional_documentation in GPT 5 but it is so easy in Sonnet 4 🤔
There are so many prompts to go through. It gives a good idea on how Xcode AI works
Xcode still goes 100% CPU and crashes when the context window goes like 30-40K+ tokens in beta 7.
I mentioned this on 9th June when it crashed my MacBook twice just for pasting a 30K token file.
Today’s quality of development for Apple platforms report:
Since Xcode 15 (?) colors and images in assets catalogs are generated as extensions on (UI/NS)Color, (UI/NS)Color and friends, so you don‘t have to load them by string name and fail at runtime but het a compiler error instead. Great!
But:
- the advertised build setting for enabling disabling the setting doesn‘t do anything. Instead you have to explicitly turn ok the extension generation in the asset catalogs file inspector (not the individual asset’s attributes inspector)
- this way also works in Swift packages and since some time Swift packages can contain resources and SwiftPM has an asset catalog compiler. Nice!
- But the generated extensions are all internal and there is no way to make them public. So they get generated and all, but you can‘t use them from outside the package and instead have to explicitly add the extension as a public property manually again. 🤦🏻♂️
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With 9/9 under 2 weeks away, and (at least for me) the breakneck speed of iOS/iPadOS releases, I'm curious.... does everyone consider beta 8 for iOS and beta 7 for Xcode are the RCs? i honestly don't recall OS betas coming 1 week apart, nor Xcode almost the same.
I was "burned" a few years back when iOS & Xcode were released at the same time, but iPadOS was a few weeks (maybe 4?) later. At the time I had a single iPad using the beta but Xcode production couldn't tie in to that device after upgrading the app. Since I was balancing working with a few "universal" apps (iOS & iPad) but was deep into development on an iPadOS-only app, I had to shut down most development of it.
I actually call Apple Support and was told... "iOS is the same as iPadOS'! Except when it isn't. I guess I'll have to wait until 9/9 to find out if the've got things going better. (And this time hope they know how much iOS is NOT iPadOS.)
