iOS native apps

How to build an iOS app with codemagic.yaml

This guide will illustrate all of the necessary steps to successfully build and publish a native iOS app with Codemagic. It will cover the basic steps such as build versioning, code signing and publishing.

You can find a complete project showcasing these steps in our Sample projects repository.

Adding the app to Codemagic

The apps you have available on Codemagic are listed on the Applications page. Click Add application to add a new app.

1. If you have more than one team configured in Codemagic, select the team you wish to add the app to.
2. Connect the repository where the source code is hosted. Detailed instructions that cover some advanced options are available here.
3. Select the repository from the list of available repositories. Select the appropriate project type.
4. Click Finish: Add application

Creating codemagic.yaml

In order to use codemagic.yaml for build configuration on Codemagic, it has to be committed to your repository. The name of the file must be codemagic.yaml and it must be located in the root directory of the repository. Detailed explanation can be found here.

If you prefer to write your codemagic.yaml file from scratch, you can start with this minimal configuration.

workflows:
    sample-workflow:
        name: Codemagic Sample Workflow
        max_build_duration: 120
        instance_type: mac_mini_m2

workflows:
    android-workflow-id:
        name: Android Sample Workflow
        # .......    
        # .......
        # .......  
    ios-workflow-id:
        name: iOS Sample Workflow
        # ......

Scan for the codemagic.yaml file by selecting a branch to scan and clicking the Check for configuration file button at the top of the page. Note that you can have different configuration files in different branches.

Code signing

All applications have to be digitally signed before they are made available to the public to confirm their author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted since it was signed.

It is recommended to create a dedicated App Store Connect API key for Codemagic in App Store Connect. To do so:

1. Log in to App Store Connect and navigate to Users and Access > Integrations » App Store Connect API.
2. Click on the + sign to generate a new API key.
3. Enter the name for the key and select an access level. We recommend choosing App Manager access rights, read more about Apple Developer Program role permissions here.
4. Click Generate.
5. As soon as the key is generated, you can see it added to the list of active keys. Click Download API Key to save the private key for later. Note that the key can only be downloaded once.

Adding the App Store Connect API key to Codemagic

1. Open your Codemagic Team settings, go to Team integrations > Developer Portal > Manage keys.
2. Click the Add key button.
3. Enter the App Store Connect API key name. This is a human readable name for the key that will be used to refer to the key later in application settings.
4. Enter the Issuer ID and Key ID values.
5. Click on Choose a .p8 file or drag the file to upload the App Store Connect API key downloaded earlier.
6. Click Save.

Adding the code signing certificate

Codemagic lets you upload code signing certificates as PKCS#12 archives containing both the certificate and the private key which is needed to use it. When uploading, Codemagic will ask you to provide the certificate password (if the certificate is password-protected) along with a unique Reference name, which can then be used in the codemagic.yaml configuration to fetch the specific file.

• Upload certificate
• Generate new certificate
• Fetch from Developer Portal

There is a problem with the request entity - You already have a current Distribution certificate or a pending certificate request.

Adding the provisioning profile

Codemagic allows you to upload a provisioning profile to be used for the application or to fetch a profile from the Apple Developer Portal.

The profile’s type, team, bundle id, and expiration date are displayed for each profile added to Code signing identities. Furthermore, Codemagic will let you know whether a matching code signing certificate is available in Code signing identities (a green checkmark in the Certificate field) or not.

• Upload a profile
• Fetch from Developer Portal

Referencing certificates and profiles in codemagic.yaml

To fetch all uploaded signing files matching a specific distribution type and bundle identifier during the build, define the distribution_type and bundle_identifier fields in your codemagic.yaml configuration. Note that it is necessary to configure both of the fields.

workflows:
  ios-workflow:
    name: iOS Workflow 
    # ....
    environment:
      ios_signing:
        distribution_type: app_store # or: ad_hoc | development | enterprise
        bundle_identifier: com.example.id

When defining the bundle identifier com.example.id, Codemagic will fetch any uploaded certificates and profiles matching the extensions as well (e.g. com.example.id.NotificationService).

Using provisioning profiles

To apply the profiles to your project during the build, add the following script before your build scripts:

  scripts:
    # ... your dependencies installation
    
    - name: Set up code signing settings on Xcode project
      script: xcode-project use-profiles
    
    # ... your build commands

To distribute signed iOS applications solely to internal testers without the need for Apple’s beta review (TestFlight Internal Testing Only):

  
  scripts:  
    # ... your dependencies installation  
    - name: Set up code signing settings on Xcode project  
      script: xcode-project use-profiles   
                --custom-export-options='{"testFlightInternalTestingOnly": true}'  
    # ... your build commands  

Configure scripts to build the app

Add the following scripts to your codemagic.yaml file in order to prepare the build environment and start the actual build process. In this step you can also define the build artifacts you are interested in. These files will be available for download when the build finishes. For more information about artifacts, see here.

ios-native:
  environment:
    vars:
      BUNDLE_ID: "io.codemagic.sample.iosnative"
      XCODE_WORKSPACE: "CodemagicSample.xcworkspace" # <-- Name of your Xcode workspace
      XCODE_SCHEME: "CodemagicSample" # <-- Name of your Xcode scheme
scripts:
  # ...
  - name: Build ipa for distribution
    script: | 
      xcode-project build-ipa \
        --workspace "$CM_BUILD_DIR/$XCODE_WORKSPACE" \
        --scheme "$XCODE_SCHEME"
artifacts:
  - build/ios/ipa/*.ipa
  - /tmp/xcodebuild_logs/*.log
  - $HOME/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/**/Build/**/*.app
  - $HOME/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/**/Build/**/*.dSYM

Build versioning

If you are going to publish your app to App Store, each uploaded artifact must have a new version. Codemagic allows you to easily automate this process and increment the version numbers for each build. For more information and details, see here.

In order to get the latest build number from App Store or TestFlight, you will need the App Store credentials as well as the Application Apple ID. This is an automatically generated ID assigned to your app and it can be found under General > App Information > Apple ID under your application in App Store Connect.

1. Add the Application Apple ID to the codemagic.yaml as a variable
2. Add the script to get the latest build number using app-store-connect and configure the new build number using agvtool.
3. Your codemagic.yaml will look like this:

   workflows:
     ios-workflow:
       name: iOS Workflow
       integrations:
         app_store_connect: <App Store Connect API key name>
       environment:
         vars:
           APP_STORE_APPLE_ID: 1555555551
       scripts:
         - name: Increment build number
           script: | 
             #!/bin/sh
             cd $CM_BUILD_DIR
             LATEST_BUILD_NUMBER=$(app-store-connect get-latest-app-store-build-number "$APP_STORE_APPLE_ID")
             agvtool new-version -all $(($LATEST_BUILD_NUMBER + 1))
         - name: Build ipa for distribution
         script: | 
           # build command

Publishing

Codemagic offers a wide array of options for app publishing and the list of partners and integrations is continuously growing. For the most up-to-date information, check the guides in the Configuration > Publishing section of these docs. To get more details on the publishing options presented in this guide, please check the Email publishing and the App Store Connect publishing docs.

Email publishing

If the build finishes successfully, release notes (if passed), and the generated artifacts will be published to the provided email address(es). If the build fails, an email with a link to build logs will be sent.

If you don’t want to receive an email notification on build success or failure, you can set success to false or failure to false accordingly.

workflows:
  sample-workflow-id:
    environment: 
      # ...
    scripts: 
      # ...
    publishing: 
      email:
        recipients:
          - user_1@example.com
          - user_2@example.com
        notify:
          success: true
          failure: false

Publishing to App Store

Codemagic enables you to automatically publish your iOS or macOS app to App Store Connect for beta testing with TestFlight or distributing the app to users via App Store. Codemagic uses the App Store Connect API key for authenticating communication with Apple’s services. You can read more about generating an API key from Apple’s documentation page.

Please note that:

1. for App Store Connect publishing, the provided key needs to have App Manager permission,
2. and in order to submit your iOS application to App Store Connect, it must be code signed with a distribution certificate.

The following snippet demonstrates how to authenticate with and upload the IPA to App Store Connect, submit the build to beta tester groups in TestFlight and configure releasing the app to App Store. See additional configuration options for App Store Connect publishing here.

# Integration section is required to make use of the keys stored in 
# Codemagic UI under Apple Developer Portal integration.
integrations:
  app_store_connect: <App Store Connect API key name>

publishing:
  app_store_connect:
    # Use referenced App Store Connect API key to authenticate binary upload
    auth: integration 

    # Configuration related to TestFlight (optional)

    # Optional boolean, defaults to false. Whether or not to submit the uploaded
    # build to TestFlight beta review. Required for distributing to beta groups.
    # Note: This action is performed during post-processing.
    submit_to_testflight: true 

    # Optional boolean, defaults to false. Set to true to automatically expire 
    # previous build in review or waiting for review in Testflight before
    # submitting a new build to beta review. Expired builds will no longer be available for testers.
    # Note: This action is performed during post-processing.
    expire_build_submitted_for_review: true

    # Specify the names of beta tester groups that will get access to the build 
    # once it has passed beta review.
    beta_groups: 
      - group name 1
      - group name 2
    
    # Configuration related to App Store (optional)

    # Optional boolean, defaults to false. Whether or not to submit the uploaded
    # build to App Store review. Note: This action is performed during post-processing.
    submit_to_app_store: true

    # Optional boolean, defaults to false. Set to true to cancel the previous 
    # submission (if applicable) when submitting a new build to App Store review.
    # This allows automatically submitting a new build for review if a previous submission exists.
    # Note: This action is performed during post-processing.
    cancel_previous_submissions: true
    
    # Optional, defaults to MANUAL. Supported values: MANUAL, AFTER_APPROVAL or SCHEDULED
    release_type: SCHEDULED

    # Optional. Timezone-aware ISO8601 timestamp with hour precision when scheduling
    # the release. This can be only used when release type is set to SCHEDULED.
    # It cannot be set to a date in the past.
    earliest_release_date: 2021-12-01T14:00:00+00:00 
    
    # Optional. The name of the person or entity that owns the exclusive rights
    # to your app, preceded by the year the rights were obtained.
    copyright: 2021 Nevercode Ltd
  
    # Optional boolean. Whether or not to release an App Store version update in phases.
    # With this option turned on, your version update will be released over a 7-day period
    # to a percentage of your users (selected at random by their Apple ID) with automatic
    # updates turned on. Learn more from 
    # https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/update-your-app/release-a-version-update-in-phases.
    # If not specified, then App Store version default phased release configuration is reused.
    phased_release: true

Conclusion

Having followed all of the above steps, you now have a working codemagic.yaml file that allows you to build, code sign, automatically version and publish your project using Codemagic CI/CD. Save your work, commit the changes to the repository, open the app in the Codemagic UI and start the build to see it in action.

Your final codemagic.yaml file should look something like this:

workflows:
  ios-native-workflow:
    name: iOS Native
    max_build_duration: 120
    instance_type: mac_mini_m2
    integrations:
      app_store_connect: codemagic
    environment:
      ios_signing:
        distribution_type: app_store
        bundle_identifier: io.codemagic.sample.iosnative
      vars:
        BUNDLE_ID: "io.codemagic.sample.iosnative"
        XCODE_WORKSPACE: "CodemagicSample.xcworkspace" # <-- Put the name of your Xcode workspace here
        XCODE_SCHEME: "CodemagicSample" # <-- Put the name of your Xcode scheme here
        APP_STORE_APPLE_ID: 1555555551
      xcode: latest
      cocoapods: default
    scripts:
      - name: Install CocoaPods dependencies
        script: | 
          pod install
      - name: Set up provisioning profiles settings on Xcode project
        script: xcode-project use-profiles
      - name: Increment build number
        script: | 
          cd $CM_BUILD_DIR
          LATEST_BUILD_NUMBER=$(app-store-connect get-latest-app-store-build-number "$APP_STORE_APPLE_ID")
          agvtool new-version -all $(($LATEST_BUILD_NUMBER + 1))
      - name: Build ipa for distribution
        script: | 
          xcode-project build-ipa \
            --workspace "$CM_BUILD_DIR/$XCODE_WORKSPACE" \
            --scheme "$XCODE_SCHEME"
    artifacts:
      - build/ios/ipa/*.ipa
      - /tmp/xcodebuild_logs/*.log
      - $HOME/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/**/Build/**/*.app
      - $HOME/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/**/Build/**/*.dSYM
    publishing:
      email:
        recipients:
          - user_1@example.com
          - user_2@example.com
        notify:
          success: true
          failure: false
      app_store_connect:
        auth: integration

        # Configuration related to TestFlight (optional)
        # Note: This action is performed during post-processing.
        submit_to_testflight: true
        beta_groups: # Specify the names of beta tester groups that will get access to the build once it has passed beta review.
          - group name 1
          - group name 2

        # Configuration related to App Store (optional)
        # Note: This action is performed during post-processing.
        submit_to_app_store: false

Next steps

While this basic workflow configuration is incredibly useful, it is certainly not the end of the road and there are numerous advanced actions that Codemagic can help you with.

We encourage you to investigate Running tests with Codemagic to get you started with testing, as well as additional guides such as the one on running tests on Firebase Test Lab or Registering iOS test devices.

Documentation on using codemagic.yaml teaches you to configure additional options such as changing the instance type on which to build, or configuring builds to be automatically triggered on repository events.