yonaskolb / yonaskolb/XcodeGen

watchOS app embedded in Watch/ instead of PlugIns/ — fails on Xcode 26

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Dominant language
Swift
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Description

Summary

When a watchOS app target is declared as a dependency with embed: true, XcodeGen generates a "Embed Watch Content" copy phase using dstSubfolderSpec = 16 and dstPath = "$(CONTENTS_FOLDER_PATH)/Watch".

Starting with Xcode 26, this causes an install failure because watchOS apps must be embedded in the parent app's PlugIns/ directory (dstSubfolderSpec = 13, empty dstPath), the same as foundation extensions.

Error

MyWatchApp.app is a Foundation extension and must be embedded in the parent app bundle's
PlugIns directory, but is embedded in the parent app bundle's Watch directory.

project.yml

targets:
  MyApp:
    type: application
    platform: iOS
    dependencies:
      - target: MyWatch Watch App
        embed: true

  MyWatch Watch App:
    type: application
    platform: watchOS

Expected

The generated copy phase should use:

dstPath = "";
dstSubfolderSpec = 13;

Actual

The generated copy phase uses:

dstPath = "$(CONTENTS_FOLDER_PATH)/Watch";
dstSubfolderSpec = 16;

Workaround

Post-gen sed patch in project.yml:

options:
  postGenCommand: sed -i '' -e 's|dstPath = "$(CONTENTS_FOLDER_PATH)/Watch";|dstPath = "";|' -e 's|dstSubfolderSpec = 16;|dstSubfolderSpec = 13;|' MyApp.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj

Environment

  • XcodeGen 2.45.3
  • Xcode 26.4 (17E192)
  • macOS 26.3.1

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the dependency embedding logic that handles a watchOS application declared with embed: true, using the project.yml example and generated MyApp.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj as the reproduction. Verify that the generated copy phase uses an empty dstPath and dstSubfolderSpec = 13, then confirm the project installs successfully with Xcode 26.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
build-system, tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
64/100

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