Prerequisites

Set these up once; the tutorial assumes all of them from here on.

The platform

A Mac running a current macOS. One practical warning up front: if your Desktop/Documents are iCloud-synced, don’t keep build output inside a synced project folder — Finder extended attributes on a build/ directory can break codesign later. We’ll keep build products in Xcode’s DerivedData (~/Library), and the tutorial’s scripts do so explicitly.
Xcode (from the App Store or developer.apple.com), opened once so it installs its components, plus the command line tools:
Terminal window
```
xcode-select --install
```

Version control

Git — comes with the Xcode command line tools; check with git --version.
A GitHub account and the gh CLI (cli.github.com), authenticated:
Terminal window
```
brew install gh
gh auth login
```
We use GitHub for the app repo and — later — for your own skills repo. gh’s credentials also give Speccify access to private skill sources.

The agent: Claude Code

Install Claude Code and make sure claude runs in a terminal. Any agent that reads project instruction files works with this workflow; the tutorial’s transcripts use Claude Code.

The cockpit: the Speccify app

Install the Speccify app (macOS or Windows). It renders the project’s board, plans, skills, and actions — everything the agent maintains as files under .agent/ — and runs the project’s actions itself. No account, no server; it reads your repository. It also bundles the local MCP servers (exec, discovery) for sandboxed third-party clients — nothing else to install.

The skill manager: the Speccify CLI

Install the Speccify CLI. It manages skill sources, expands skills into projects, and checks tool implementations against their contracts. Verify it answers:

speccify --help

Project generation: xcodegen

We don’t click Xcode projects together; the project file is generated from a declarative project.yml, which keeps it diffable and lets the agent maintain it:

brew install xcodegen

Shipping tools (needed from the shipping chapters on)

fastlane, via Bundler so the version is pinned in the repo:
Terminal window
```
brew install ruby   # or use system ruby ≥ 3
gem install bundler
```
The project’s Gemfile will pin fastlane; bundle install does the rest when we get there.
An Apple Developer Program membership (developer.apple.com/programs, 99 USD/year) — required for signing, TestFlight, and the App Store. Registration can take a day; start it early so it’s ready by the time the shipping chapters need it.

Checklist

✓ Xcode + command line tools     ✓ git + gh (authenticated)
✓ Claude Code (`claude`)         ✓ Speccify app
✓ Speccify CLI (`speccify --help`) ✓ xcodegen
✓ ruby + bundler (for fastlane)  ✓ Apple Developer Program (pending is ok)

All green? Create the project.