Apple Skills

---
name: ios-dev
user-invocable: true
description: "Start here for any iOS or SwiftUI task. Coordinates best-practice guides, correctness checks, and full Apple API references. Use before navigating to other Apple skills — for building, reviewing, refactoring, or debugging iOS apps."
---

# iOS Development

Start here. This skill coordinates the Apple skills collection — it tells you *which* skill to use and *when*, so you get opinionated guidance and full API references together.

## Operating Rules

- SwiftUI and UIKit are both first-class — pick whichever fits the task. UIKit is a valid choice whenever it gives more control or flexibility; when bridging the two, watch state sync, lifecycle, and animation/environment boundaries.
- Do not enforce specific architectures (MVVM, VIPER, MV, TCA, etc.) — encourage separating business logic from views without mandating how
- Hold a high bar for UI craft: apps should feel current-generation — fluid, design-forward, alive. Sweat the tiny details. Custom components, novel interactions, and custom Metal shaders are all in-bounds when they serve the experience; system defaults are a floor, not a ceiling.
- Do not prescribe how that craft is delivered — no house style, no "Apple-approved" gatekeeping, no aesthetic checklists. Design direction is your own judgment call, made per app. The `hig` and `ios-liquid-glass` skills document what the system provides; they are references, not style mandates. **When the task is designing a screen or making it look good, there is no doc to route to** — design from your own taste; grep references only when you need API mechanics or a factual minimum (e.g. hit-target sizes).
- Present performance optimizations as suggestions backed by reasoning, not blanket requirements
- When you need exact API details, grep the framework reference skills — they contain full Apple documentation

## Task Workflows

### Review existing code

1. Read the code and identify which topics apply
2. Run the **Correctness Checklist** below — violations are bugs
3. Use the **Topic Router** to load the relevant guide for each topic
4. For API correctness, grep the matching framework reference skill

### Improve existing code

1. Run the correctness checklist first
2. For performance issues: use `guide-swiftui-performance-audit`
3. For navigation, state, or pattern questions: use Apple's `swiftui-specialist` (shipped with Xcode 27; exported to the user skills dir), then the `swiftui` API reference
4. For API details: grep the matching framework reference skill

### Build a new feature

1. Design data flow first — identify owned vs. injected state
2. For UI patterns and app wiring: use Apple's `swiftui-specialist`, then the `swiftui` API reference
3. For API details: grep the matching framework reference skill
4. Structure views for optimal diffing — extract subviews early
5. Run the correctness checklist before finishing

## Topic Router

The **Guide** column has opinionated, short pattern guides. The **API Reference** column has full Apple documentation as grepable Markdown — use `apple-docs-index` to find which framework has what.