# Birdwatch: see which Swift builds, tests and agents are stuck, and why

**URL:** <https://forums.swift.org/t/birdwatch-see-which-swift-builds-tests-and-agents-are-stuck-and-why/90410>\
**Category:** Community Showcase\
**Created:** [November 3, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/birdwatch-see-which-swift-builds-tests-and-agents-are-stuck-and-why/90410 "2026-11-03T13:58:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![coenttb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/coenttb/32/44217_2.png) [@coenttb](https://forums.swift.org/u/coenttb)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/birdwatch-see-which-swift-builds-tests-and-agents-are-stuck-and-why/90410/1 "2026-11-03T13:58:20Z")

</div>

Hi all,

I build [swift-institute](https://github.com/swift-institute), about 400 Swift packages, and these days agents write all of the code. With several of them building and testing at once, I couldn't see what was running where, or which run had quietly got stuck. Yesterday a `swift test` sat silent for 12 minutes before I noticed.

So I built Birdwatch, a menu bar app that shows just that:

- Swift and Xcode work only, grouped by project
- What's stuck, and why
- What has been running a long time
- Which agent started what (optional)

 ![Birdwatch's menu bar panel flags a stuck Swift test run and names the test it waits in, at Monitor Tests.swift:362](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/swift/original/3X/f/5/f5aeebcef325d4ba29e812521c87fe9cdc4e649c.jpeg)

Rules in code do most of the work, and Apple's on-device model helps where rules fall short. One click quits what's stuck.

The hard part was naming the test that hangs. Birdwatch samples the stuck process and reads its stacks, which sounds easier than it is: Swift Testing names hide no-break spaces, and XCTest stacks go very deep. Apple's model summed one up as "a deep stack of core XCTest framework calls". True, and no help. Now it gives you the test and the line.

€19 once, 14 days free, no account. macOS 27.2+, Apple silicon.

> **[Birdwatch](https://coenttb.com/birdwatch/?ref=swift-forums)**
>
> Birdwatch: finds stuck Swift and Xcode processes on your Mac

Full disclosure: I made it, and it's paid. I'd like to hear what it misses, what it should leave out, and whether the price feels right.
