Install xcbeautify with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xcbeautify

Project history

The GitHub release history shows xcbeautify releases from 0.3.6 in December 2018 to the 3.x series in 2026. The project has remained focused on parsing and presenting Apple's verbose build and test output while tracking changes in Xcode behavior.

The README emphasizes being written in Swift and compiling to a static binary, reducing Ruby dependence in development and CI environments compared with xcpretty. Later features include JUnit report generation and dedicated renderers for GitHub Actions, TeamCity, and Azure DevOps Pipeline.

Adoption history

xcbeautify's adoption is most visible in the iOS and macOS CI ecosystem. fastlane's xcodebuild formatter documentation says fastlane 2.201.0 and later can select an xcodebuild_formatter, defaults to xcbeautify when it is installed, and describes xcbeautify as the recommended formatter.

The same fastlane documentation explains the transition context: xcpretty had historically been tightly integrated with fastlane as a RubyGem dependency, while xcbeautify became preferred for new build-system output, parallel testing output, Swift Package Manager formatting, and speed.

How it is used

The basic usage is to pipe xcodebuild output into xcbeautify. The README also recommends `set -o pipefail` in CI so the pipeline preserves xcodebuild's exit status, and shows unbuffered/combined output for parallel or concurrent destination testing.

CI users can select specialized renderers, such as `--renderer github-actions`, so warnings, errors, and test results appear directly in the CI provider interface instead of only in raw logs.

Why package nerds care

xcbeautify is important in Apple-platform packaging because xcodebuild is unavoidable but noisy. It provides a small CLI layer that makes Xcode builds readable in terminal and CI logs without tying the workflow to Ruby.

Its role is also a good example of ecosystem succession: a Swift-native formatter increasingly replacing or supplementing xcpretty in places where Xcode's newer build and parallel-test output needed better handling.

Timeline

• 2018: GitHub release history includes xcbeautify 0.3.6.
• 2022: fastlane 2.201.0 and later document xcodebuild_formatter support and default to xcbeautify when installed.
• 2023: 1.0.1 is published in the release stream.
• 2024: 2.0.1 is published in the release stream.
• 2026: 3.2.1 is released with fixes and additional CLI test coverage.

Related projects

• xcbeautify is directly related to xcodebuild, Swift Package Manager, fastlane scan/gym/snapshot, and xcpretty.

Sources

• https://docs.fastlane.tools/best-practices/xcodebuild-formatters/
• https://github.com/cpisciotta/xcbeautify/releases
• https://github.com/xcpretty/xcpretty
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cpisciotta/xcbeautify/main/README.md