.XCWORKSPACE File Format

Introduction

An .xcworkspace gathers several Xcode projects and other files so that Xcode opens and builds them together. Finder shows it as one file, but it is a folder. Every .xcodeproj also has an implicit one inside it, at project.xcworkspace.

A workspace’s contents.xcworkspacedata dropped on this site opens in the explorer, and an .xcworkspace folder dropped whole is named as a workspace with the projects it lists.

Structure

The folder holds contents.xcworkspacedata, an XML file whose Workspace root lists what the workspace contains:

A location is a kind, a colon and a path. group: is relative to the enclosing group, container: is relative to the folder holding the workspace, self: is the workspace itself, and absolute: is a full path.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Workspace version = "1.0">
   <FileRef location = "group:App/App.xcodeproj"></FileRef>
   <FileRef location = "group:Kit/Kit.xcodeproj"></FileRef>
</Workspace>

Beside it, xcshareddata holds settings and shared schemes, and xcuserdata holds each person’s own state, which is usually left out of version control.

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