xcrun

Run or locate development tools and properties.

Syntax
      xcrun [--sdk SDK name] --find tool name

      xcrun [--sdk SDK name] tool name ... tool arguments ...

       tool name ... tool arguments ...

Options
   -v, --verbose
      Add verbose information on how the tool lookup is performed.

   -n, --no-cache
      Don't consult the cache when looking up values.
      In effect, causes the cache entry to be refreshed.

   -k, --kill-cache
      Removes the cache. Causes all values to be re-cached.

   --sdk
      Specifies which SDK to search for tools.
      If no --sdk argument is provided, then the SDK used will be taken from the SDKROOT
      environment variable, if present.

      Use xcodebuild -showsdks to list the available SDK names.

    --toolchain
      Specifies which toolchain to use to perform the lookup.
      If no --toolchain argument is provided, then the toolchain to use will be taken from
      the TOOLCHAINS environment variable, if present.

    -l, --log
       Print the full command line that is invoked.

    -f, --find
       Enable "find" mode, in which the resolved tool path is printed instead of the
       tool being executed.

    -r, --run
       Enable "run" mode, in which the resolved tool path is executed with any provided
       additional arguments. This is the default mode.

    --show-sdk-path
       Print the path to the selected SDK.

    --show-sdk-version
       Print the version number of the selected SDK.

    --show-sdk-build-version
       Print the build version number of the selected SDK.

    --show-sdk-platform-path
       Print the path to the platform for the selected SDK.

    --show-sdk-platform-version
       Print the version number of the platform for the selected SDK.

xcrun provides a means to locate or invoke developer tools from the command-line, without requiring users to modify Makefiles or otherwise take inconvenient measures to support multiple Xcode tool chains.

The tool xcode-select(1) is used to set a system default for the active developer directory, and may be overridden by the DEVELOPER_DIR environment variable (see ENVIRONMENT).

The SDK which will be searched defaults to the most recent available SDK, and can be specified by the SDKROOT environment variable or the --sdk option (which takes precedences over SDKROOT).
When used to invoke another tool (as opposed to simply finding it), xcrun will provide the absolute path to the selected SDK in the SDKROOT environment variable. See ENVIRONMENT for more information.

Usage

xcrun supports several different usages, to both look up the paths to tools as well as execute them.

When used with the --find argument, as in xcrun [--sdk SDKname] --find toolName, the absolute path to the tool (in the provided SDK, if given) will be printed.

When used without --find, the name of a tool is required and the tool will be executed with the provided arguments.

When used as the target of a symbolic link, it derives the tool name to use from the name it was invoked under, and then executes that tool.

Environment

CPATH	This environment variable is modified by xcrun to include /usr/local/include when an explicit SDK is not requested via environment variable nor command line argument and neither -nostdinc nor -nostdsysteminc are present.
DEVELOPER_DIR	Overrides the active developer directory. When DEVELOPER_DIR is set, its value will be used instead of the system-wide active developer directory.
LIBRARY_PATH	This environment variable is modified by xcrun to include /usr/local/lib when an explicit SDK is not requested via environment variable nor command line argument and -Z is not being passed to the linker.
SDKROOT	Specifies the default SDK to be used when looking up tools (some tools may have SDK specific versions). This environment variable is also set by xcrun to be the absolute path to the user provided SDK (either via SDKROOT or the --sdk option), when it is used to invoke a normal developer tool (build tools like xcodebuild or make are exempt from this behavior). For example, if xcrun is used to invoke clang via: xcrun --sdk macosx clang test.c Then xcrun will provide the full path to the macosx SDK in the environment variable SDKROOT. That in turn will be used by clang(1) to automatically select that SDK when compiling the test.c file.
Toolchains	Specifies the default toolchain to be used when looking up tools (for tools which are toolchain specific).
xcrun_log	Same as specifying --log.
xcrun_nocache	Same as specifying --no-cache.
xcrun_verbose	Same as specifying --verbose.

Diagnostics

When xcrun is invoked with the name xcrun, the options --log and --verbose are useful debugging aids. The option --no-cache can be used to bypass cache lookup, but often at a significant cost in performance.

When xcrun has taken the place of another tool, the arguments are those of the tool replaced, and the various xcrun options can't be used. In this case, use the specific environment variables instead.

Examples

Find the path to the clang binary in the default SDK:

xcrun --find clang

Find the path to the texturetool binary in the iOS SDK:

xcrun --sdk iphoneos --find texturetool

Print the path to the current Mac OS X SDK:

xcrun --sdk macosx --show-sdk-path

Locate the git command and then executes it with a single argument ("status"):

xcrun git status

“This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper” - T.S. Eliot (The Hollow Men)

Related macOS commands

codesign - Create and manipulate code signatures.
xcodebuild(1) - Build and sign an app.
xcode-select(1) - Set or read the path to the Xcode version (or developer tools).