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mobile-dev-setup

Deployment & operations

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Updated 10-16 03:14

About this skill

Mobile Dev Setup

Installs the mobile toolchains — the disk-hungry, license-gated, env-var fussy part of Mac setup. Asks iOS, Android, or both first and touches only the selected track.

When NOT to use

  • Xcode Command Line Tools only → macos-system-prep
  • Swift/Kotlin/Flutter code errors, UI bugs → project work
  • App Store / Play publishing, fastlane CI → release engineering, not setup
  • Backend containers → docker-on-mac; generic JDK for servers → language-runtimes

Safety rails

  • Disk check first: full Xcode needs ~40–50 GB free (app + simulator runtimes); Android Studio + SDK + AVDs another ~15 GB. df -h / before starting; warn, don't surprise.
  • sudo xcodebuild -license accept and xcode-select -s are privileged — consent first.
  • Nothing outside the selected track gets installed.

Workflow — iOS track

  1. Install full Xcode (pick one):

    • App Store (simplest; needs Apple Account sign-in — manual).
    • xcodes for versions/automation: brew install xcodesorg/made/xcodes && xcodes install --latest (Apple ID sign-in; brew install aria2 speeds downloads). Check first that the latest Xcode supports this macOS (sw_vers; new Xcodes require recent macOS point releases) and that the project doesn't pin an older Xcode.
    • There is no xcode cask. Install to /Applications, never ~/Applications.

  2. Point the toolchain at it — installing Xcode does NOT do this:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -license accept
sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch          # installs required components
xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS         # simulator runtime (~7-8 GB)

  1. Verify: xcodebuild -version; xcrun simctl list devices | head; boot a simulator (open -a Simulator).

  2. Apple Developer account (manual): free tier = run on your own devices with 7-day provisioning, 3 devices; $99/yr = TestFlight + App Store distribution. Sign-in happens in Xcode → Settings → Accounts.

The recurring iOS breaker: "xcodebuild requires Xcode, but active developer directory is a command line tools instance" — after macOS upgrades and new Xcode installs the pointer resets to the CLT. Fix is the xcode-select -s line above; it's a 5-second fix that masquerades as a broken CocoaPods/Flutter/RN install.

Workflow — Android track

  1. Android Studio + first-run wizard:
brew install --cask android-studio
open -a "Android Studio"    # wizard downloads the SDK to ~/Library/Android/sdk - let it finish
  1. Environment — PERSIST into ~/.zshrc (grep-guarded; plain export in the session dies with it). If an SDK already exists at a custom path, point ANDROID_HOME there instead of reinstalling. ANDROID_HOME is current; ANDROID_SDK_ROOT is deprecated:
grep -q 'ANDROID_HOME' ~/.zshrc || cat >> ~/.zshrc <<'EOF'
export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk"
export PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator:$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin:$PATH"
EOF
source ~/.zshrc 2>/dev/null || export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk"

(cmdline-tools missing? SDK Manager → SDK Tools → "Android SDK Command-line Tools (latest)".)

  1. Licenses: run sdkmanager --licenses interactively and let the user read and answer the prompts — accepting Google's SDK licenses is the user's legal act, not something to pipe yes through.

  2. JDK: Android Studio bundles its JetBrains Runtime and uses it for Gradle by default — usually nothing to install. Command-line Gradle builds need JDK 17+ (AGP minimum): check first (/usr/libexec/java_home -V — an existing 17+ JDK or a language-runtimes manager already covers it); only when none exists, brew install --cask temurin@21.

  3. Emulator: create an AVD with an arm64-v8a system image (x86_64 images crawl on Apple Silicon); acceleration is automatic via Hypervisor.framework. Verify: adb --version, emulator -list-avds, boot it once.

Cross-platform frameworks (on request)

  • React Native: official default is Expo (framework); the manual env needs Node ≥ 22 (→ language-runtimes), brew install watchman, the iOS track (plus CocoaPods where the project uses it: brew install cocoapods — maintenance mode, still required by many RN projects), and the Android track. Doctor: npx @react-native-community/cli doctor.
  • Flutter: SDK via VS Code extension or manual download (brew install --cask flutter exists but isn't the documented path); needs both tracks for both targets; no Rosetta needed on current Flutter; flutter doctor drives the remaining checklist.

Facts that age (Xcode/AGP versions, CocoaPods timeline): references/mobile-facts.md.

Verify

sh "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/check.sh"

Output spec

Done means: selected tracks only; iOS — xcodebuild -version works, license accepted, a simulator boots; Android — adb on PATH, ANDROID_HOME set, licenses accepted, an arm64 AVD exists; frameworks — their doctor commands pass or remaining failures are reported honestly with owners (e.g. "needs Apple ID sign-in — manual").

Gotchas

  • Xcode downloads are huge and the App Store shows no useful progress — xcodes shows real progress and resumes.
  • After every macOS major upgrade: re-check xcode-select -p and expect a new license/-runFirstLaunch prompt.
  • sdkmanager: command not found = cmdline-tools not installed or PATH line missing — it lives under cmdline-tools/latest/bin.
  • Stale Google docs still export PATH for removed tools/ dirs — the three dirs in step 2 are the current set.
  • CocoaPods trunk goes read-only Dec 2026; existing pods keep resolving. New native iOS work: SPM. RN ships precompiled frameworks but hasn't dropped pods yet — install cocoapods when the project has a Podfile.
  • Simulators eat disk over time: xcrun simctl list devices unavailable to see what's orphaned, then — with consent, it deletes those simulators and their app data irreversibly — xcrun simctl delete unavailable.