The Codegen CLI


The Codegen CLI provides a command line tool that streamlines the process of running code generation. The CLI can be ran manually from Terminal (or any other shell program) or can be called into from bash scripts.

The Codegen CLI has three primary commands:

For detailed usage documentation of these commands, see the Usage section.

Installation

When Apollo iOS is included as a dependency through Swift Package Manager (SPM) or Cocoapods, the CLI is built and packaged with the dependency automatically. This ensures you always have a valid version of the CLI for the version of Apollo iOS you are using and you never have to worry about installation or updates.

To learn how to run the Codegen CLI with your chosen package manager, open the appropriate section:

SPM with Package.swift
The Apollo iOS SPM package includes the Codegen CLI as an executable target. This ensures you always have a valid CLI version for your Apollo iOS version.To simplify accessing the Codegen CLI, you can run the included apollo-cli-install SPM plugin. This plugin builds the CLI and creates a symbolic link to the executable in your project root.If using a Package.swift file, you can install the CLI by running:
Bash
1swift package --allow-writing-to-package-directory apollo-cli-install
After the plugin installs, it creates a symbolic link to the Codegen CLI (named apollo-ios-cli) in your project root folder. You can now run the CLI from the command line using ./apollo-ios-cli.
Note: Because the apollo-ios-cli in your project root is only a symbolic link, it only works if the compiled CLI executable exists. This is generally located in your Xcode Derived Data or the .build folder. If these are cleared, you can rerun the Install CLI plugin to rebuild the CLI executable.
SPM with Xcode Project
The Apollo iOS SPM package includes the Codegen CLI as an executable target. This ensures you always have a valid CLI version for your Apollo iOS version.To simplify accessing the Codegen CLI, you can run the included InstallCLI SPM plugin.This plugin builds the CLI and creates a symbolic link to the executable in your project root.If you use Swift packages through Xcode, you can right-click on your project in the Xcode file explorer, revealing an Install CLI plugin command. Selecting this command presents a dialog allowing you to grant the plugin "write" access to your project directory.Where to find the SPM plugin commands in XcodeAfter the plugin installs, it creates a symbolic link to the Codegen CLI (named apollo-ios-cli) in your project root folder. You can now run the CLI from the command line with ./apollo-ios-cli.
Note: Because the apollo-ios-cli in your project root is only a symbolic link, it only works if the compiled CLI executable exists. This is generally located in your Xcode Derived Data or the .build folder. If these are cleared, you can rerun the Install CLI plugin to rebuild the CLI executable.
Cocoapods
If you use Cocoapods, Apollo iOS compiles the Codegen CLI into an executable shell application during pod install (located in Pods/Apollo/apollo-ios-cli).After installing the Apollo iOS pod, you can run the Codegen CLI from the directory of your Podfile:
Bash
1./Pods/Apollo/apollo-ios-cli ${Command Name} -${Command Arguments}
Note: If you are using :path in your Podfile to link to a local copy of Apollo iOS, the CLI will not be automatically available. You will need to manually build the Codegen CLI. See the CLI installation guide for directions on how to do that.
Pre-built Binary
Each release of Apollo iOS in GitHub has a pre-built CLI binary attached. This binary can be downloaded and moved to any local directory that is convenient for you.After downloading the binary, you can run the Codegen CLI from the directory where it is located:
Bash
1./apollo-ios-cli ${Command Name} -${Command Arguments}
Build it Yourself
If you are not using SPM or Cocoapods, and do not want to use the pre-built CLI binary, you can compile the CLI manually. Once you've cloned the Apollo iOS git repo, use Terminal to go into that cloned directory and run the following command:
Bash
1make build-cli
This will compile the Codegen CLI which you will find at .build/release/apollo-ios-cli. You can run the CLI from this directory, move it to another location, or add it to your shell's $PATH.
Bash
1./.build/release/apollo-ios-cli ${Command Name} -${Command Arguments}

Usage

The Apollo iOS Codegen CLI is a command like utility for Apollo iOS code generation.

apollo-ios-cli <subcommand>

Options:

OptionDescription
--versionShow the version of the CLI.
-h, --helpShow help information.

Subcommands:

CommandDescription
initInitialize a new configuration with defaults.
generateGenerate Swift source code based on a code generation configuration.
fetch-schemaDownload a GraphQL schema from the Apollo Registry or GraphQL introspection.

See apollo-ios-cli help <subcommand> for detailed help.

Initialize

Creates an apollo-codegen-configuration.json file with default values. The Codegen CLI reads this file to configure how the CLI generates code .

The default configuration will:

  • Find all GraphQL schema files ending with the file extension .graphqls within your project directory.

  • Find all GraphQL operation and fragment definition files ending with the file extension .graphql within your project directory.

  • Create a Swift Package for your generated schema with the schema-name provided.

  • Generate operation and fragment models relative to the .graphql files that define them.

For more information on configuring code generation, see the configuration documentation .

Command:

apollo-ios-cli init --schema-namespace <namespace> --module-type <type> [--target-name <target name>]

Options:

OptionDescription
--schema-namespace[Required] The name you would like to be used as the namespace for your generated schema files.
--module-type[Required] How to package the schema types for dependency management. Possible types are embeddedInTarget, swiftPackageManager, other.
--target-nameName of the target in which the schema types files will be manually embedded.

Note: This is required for the "embeddedInTarget" module type and will be ignored for all other module types.
-p, --path <path>Write the configuration to a file at the path. (default: ./apollo-codegen-config.json)
-w, --overwriteOverwrite any file at --path. If init is called without --overwrite and a config file already exists at --path, the command will fail.
-s, --printPrint the configuration to stdout.
--versionShow the version of the CLI.
-h, --helpShow help information.

Fetch Schema

Downloads a GraphQL schema from the Apollo Registry or GraphQL introspection and writes it to a file. The schema is required in order to run code generation.

For more information on schema fetching, see Downloading a schema .

Command:

apollo-ios-cli fetch-schema [--path <path>] [--string <string>]

Options:

OptionDescription
-p, --path <path>Read the configuration from a file at the path. --string overrides this option if used together. (default: ./apollo-codegen-config.json)
-s, --string <string>Provide the configuration string in JSON format. This option overrides --path.
-v, --verbose Increase verbosity to include debug output.
--versionShow the version of the CLI.
-h, --helpShow help information.

Generate

Runs the code generation engine to generate Swift source code using the configuration in your apollo-codegen-configuration.json file.

For more information on configuring code generation, see the configuration documentation .

Command:

apollo-ios-cli generate [--path <path>] [--string <string>]

Options:

OptionDescription
-p, --path <path>Read the configuration from a file at the path. --string overrides this option if used together. (default: ./apollo-codegen-config.json)
-s, --string <string>Provide the configuration string in JSON format. This option overrides --path.
-v, --verbose Increase verbosity to include debug output.
-f, --fetch-schemaFetch the GraphQL schema before Swift code generation. This runs the fetch-schema command.
--ignore-version-mismatchIgnores version mismatches between the apollo-ios-cli and the version of the Apollo sdk being used.
--versionShow the version of the CLI.
-h, --helpShow help information.

Generate Operation Manifest

Generates the operation manifest for persisted queries using the configuration in your apollo-codegen-configuration.json file.

For more information on configuring code generation, see the configuration documentation .

Command:

apollo-ios-cli generate-operation-manifest [--path <path>] [--string <string>]

Options:

OptionDescription
-p, --path <path>Read the configuration from a file at the path. --string overrides this option if used together. (default: ./apollo-codegen-config.json)
-s, --string <string>Provide the configuration string in JSON format. This option overrides --path.
-v, --verbose Increase verbosity to include debug output.
--ignore-version-mismatchIgnores version mismatches between the apollo-ios-cli and the version of the Apollo sdk being used.
--versionShow the version of the CLI.
-h, --helpShow help information.