install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install sourcekitten

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install SourceKitten

MacPorts ports tree · devel/SourceKitten/Portfile · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Framework and command-line tool for interacting with SourceKit

Project links

Commands and aliases

sourcekitten

history

Project history and usage

SourceKitten is a Swift framework and command-line tool for interacting with Apple's SourceKit service, exposing source structure, syntax, completion, indexing, module information, and documentation extraction as JSON-friendly CLI subcommands.

Project history

The GitHub repository was created in August 2014. The README describes SourceKitten as a framework and CLI that links to `sourcekitd.framework` to parse Swift ASTs, extract comment docs for Swift or Objective-C projects, get Swift syntax data, and issue raw SourceKit requests.

The changelog shows continuous tracking of Swift and Xcode evolution: Swift 3-era API changes, Swift 4 and Swift 5 requirements, SwiftPM and Xcode documentation support, Bazel support, and syntax/declaration kind updates through Swift 6.

Adoption history

The README lists many projects built with SourceKitten, including SwiftLint, Jazzy, Sourcery, SourceKittenDaemon, SourceDocs, Cuckoo, IBAnalyzer, and Taylor. That list makes SourceKitten infrastructure for a broad slice of Swift developer tooling.

How it is used

The `sourcekitten` CLI provides subcommands including `complete`, `doc`, `format`, `index`, `module-info`, `request`, `structure`, `syntax`, and `version`. It can be installed with Homebrew, Swift Package Manager, Bazel, Make, or a release package.

Why package nerds care

Package nerds care because SourceKitten turns a platform-private compiler service into a packageable Unix-style CLI and library. It is the substrate behind linters, documentation generators, mock generators, editor completion bridges, and other Swift ecosystem tools.

Timeline

2014: SourceKitten repository created.
2015: 0.3.0-era public releases were being published.
2016: 0.15.0 adapted APIs for Swift 3 and Xcode 8.
2019: 0.30.0 required Swift 5.1 or higher.
2022: 0.33.0 added Bazel build support and Xcode 14 documentation support.
2025: 0.37.0 added Swift 6 compiler and syntax/declaration support.
2026: 0.37.3 continued dependency maintenance.

Related projects

SwiftLint, Jazzy, Sourcery, SourceDocs, Cuckoo, IBAnalyzer, Taylor, and SourceKittenDaemon are listed by the README as projects built with SourceKitten.
SourceKit and `sourcekitd.framework` are the Apple tooling components SourceKitten communicates with.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`sourcekitten`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08

manager version0.37.3

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://github.com/jpsim/SourceKitten

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/jpsim/SourceKittennone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:sourcekitten
Version	0.37.3
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sourcekitten
Homepage	https://github.com/jpsim/SourceKitten
Repository	https://github.com/jpsim/SourceKitten
Upstream docs	https://github.com/jpsim/SourceKitten#readme
License	MIT
Source archive	https://github.com/jpsim/SourceKitten.git
Uses from macOS	swift
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	sourcekitten
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Head Version	HEAD
Requirements	xcode
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	head stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

MacPorts95%

SourceKitten

sudo port install SourceKitten

normalized package name match
Matched by: Sourcekitten

MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: devel/SourceKitten/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/sourcekitten.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install sourcekitten with Homebrew, MacPorts