[Bug]: build_sim fails with CocoaPods projects - xcfilelist path resolution error

[nebooz]

Description

Building a CocoaPods-based iOS project via build_sim (or build_run_sim) fails with xcfilelist path errors, even though the same project builds successfully with native xcodebuild.

Environment

• XcodeBuildMCP version: 1.15.1
• Xcode version: 26.2 (Build 17C52)
• macOS: Darwin 25.2.0 (arm64, Apple M4 Max)
• Node.js: v22.17.0

Setup

We configured session defaults:

workspacePath: /Users/.../neat-photo/NeatApp.xcworkspace
scheme: NeatPhoto-Local
simulatorId: A7121CCC-2EC1-40E0-B235-349FCE43A5CC
useLatestOS: true

Error

When running build_run_sim or build_sim, we get errors like:

error: Unable to load contents of file list: '/Target Support Files/FirebaseAnalytics/FirebaseAnalytics-xcframeworks-input-files.xcfilelist' (in target 'FirebaseAnalytics' from project 'Pods')

Note the path starts with /Target Support Files/... instead of the full path. The files exist at:

/Users/.../neat-photo/Pods/Target Support Files/FirebaseAnalytics/FirebaseAnalytics-xcframeworks-input-files.xcfilelist

Native xcodebuild works

Running the same build directly from the terminal succeeds:

cd /Users/.../neat-photo
xcodebuild -workspace NeatApp.xcworkspace -scheme NeatPhoto-Local \
  -destination 'platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 16 Pro,OS=18.5' build
# ** BUILD SUCCEEDED **

Suspected Cause

After reviewing the source code, it appears xcodebuild may not be invoked with cwd set to the project directory. In src/utils/build-utils.ts, projectDir is extracted from the workspace path but only used for xcodemake operations, not passed to the command executor for xcodebuild.

In src/utils/command.ts, the spawn options use cwd: opts?.cwd which defaults to undefined (inheriting the MCP server's working directory rather than the project directory).

Possible Fix

Pass the project directory as cwd when executing xcodebuild:

await executor(command, platformOptions.logPrefix, true, { ...execOpts, cwd: projectDir })

Questions

1. Are we missing a configuration option to set the working directory?
2. Is there a workaround for CocoaPods projects?
3. Is this a known limitation?

Thanks for the great tool! The UI automation and simulator management features work wonderfully - we just can't get the build step working for our CocoaPods project.

[coderabbitai]

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⚠️ Possible Duplicate Issue

• [Bug]: Unable to run app in subfolder #32

🔗 Related PRs

#96 - refactor(architecture): separate server, test, and pure utils to fix CI errors [merged]
#118 - fix: handle iOS 26.0 simulators missing from list_sims output [merged]
#121 - feat(simulator): migrate build_run_sim to session defaults [merged]
#122 - Migrate simulator test tools to session defaults [merged]
#132 - feat: migrate macOS tools to session-aware defaults [merged]

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[cameroncooke]

@cursor please fix

[cursor]

View PR

Summary

I've successfully fixed the CocoaPods build path resolution issue! Here's what I did:

The Problem

CocoaPods projects failed to build because xcodebuild wasn't being executed from the project directory, causing relative paths in .xcfilelist files to fail with errors like:

error: Unable to load contents of file list: '/Target Support Files/FirebaseAnalytics/...'

The Fix

Modified src/utils/build-utils.ts:

• Added cwd: projectDir to the executor options when calling xcodebuild
• This ensures xcodebuild runs in the correct directory, allowing CocoaPods' relative paths to resolve properly

Enhanced testing infrastructure:

• Updated createMockExecutor to support an onExecute callback for test verification
• Added 3 new tests to verify cwd is correctly passed for workspace/project builds
• Updated 6 existing tests that needed to expect the new behavior

Verification

✅ All 1098 tests pass
✅ Linting passes
✅ Type checking passes
✅ Build succeeds

The fix is backward compatible and doesn't affect non-CocoaPods projects. CocoaPods-based iOS projects should now build successfully via build_sim and build_run_sim.

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[cameroncooke]

@nebooz can you verify this is fixed. You can temporarily update your client's MCP configuration to point to npx -y https://pkg.pr.new/cameroncooke/XcodeBuildMCP/xcodebuildmcp@167.

[nebooz]

Hi @cameroncooke - we tried to test with the pkg.pr.new URL but it's still serving version 1.15.1 (the current release) instead of the PR build. Running npm pack on that URL shows 1.15.1.

Is the preview package available yet, or should we wait for the PR to be merged?

[cameroncooke]

The preview package will likely have the same version number as the current latest release as it's not a release candidate it's just an ad-hoc release that's generated with the PR. The versioning of the packages happens when I run a specific release workflow.

[github-actions]

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