# Using @Snippet in SwiftPM for an iOS target

**URL:** <https://forums.swift.org/t/using-snippet-in-swiftpm-for-an-ios-target/67009>\
**Category:** Swift-DocC\
**Tags:** ios, snippets\
**Created:** [August 29, 2023, 9:18am UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/using-snippet-in-swiftpm-for-an-ios-target/67009 "2023-08-29T09:18:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bonkey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/bonkey/32/17586_2.png) [@bonkey](https://forums.swift.org/u/bonkey)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 9:18am UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/using-snippet-in-swiftpm-for-an-ios-target/67009/1 "2023-08-29T09:18:57Z")

</div>

I'm trying to use @Snippet inside DocC articles in iOS `library` target.

I tried many different things (details below), but just for sanity check, when I clone [GitHub - swiftlang/swift-markdown: A Swift package for parsing, building, editing, and analyzing Markdown documents.](https://github.com/apple/swift-markdown) and run the simplest `swift package --build-system xcode --disable-sandbox preview-documentation --target Markdown --port 8081` with Xcode 14.3.1 – it just works.

```swift
warning: 'swift-markdown': found 1 file(s) which are unhandled; explicitly declare them as resources or exclude from the target
    /Users/dbauke-mac/Projects/swift-markdown/Sources/Markdown/Markdown.docc
Building for debugging...
Build complete! (0.38s)
warning: 'swift-markdown': found 1 file(s) which are unhandled; explicitly declare them as resources or exclude from the target
    /Users/dbauke-mac/Projects/swift-markdown/Sources/Markdown/Markdown.docc
Building for debugging...
Build complete! (0.25s)
Input: /Users/dbauke-mac/Projects/swift-markdown/Sources/Markdown/Markdown.docc
Template: /Applications/Xcode-14.3.1.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/share/docc/render
/Users/dbauke-mac/Projects/swift-markdown/Sources/Markdown/Markdown.docc/Markdown/DoxygenCommands.md:47:3: warning: Topic reference 'DoxygenParam' couldn't be resolved. No local documentation matches this reference.
========================================
Starting Local Preview Server
	 Address: http://localhost:8081/documentation/markdown
========================================
Monitoring /Users/dbauke-mac/Projects/swift-markdown/Sources/Markdown/Markdown.docc for changes...

```

However, for my iOS package it never finds the correct reference, and both Xcode and CLI complain about an unknown path (Xcode 14 and 15 differ with the message, but I think they mean the same):

```swift
.../UIComponents.md:7:1: warning: Topic reference 'LeagueModules/Snippets/Bridge/Example1' couldn't be resolved. No local documentation matches this reference.

```

I tried multiple different combinations with Xcode 14.3.1, all 15 betas, and the latest toolchain snapshots (5.9 and nightly, selected through `Toolchains` in Xcode, but I don't think it worked for CLI, I haven't tried with `xcrun -toolchain` yet). I used different combinations of the following:

- Building documentation from Xcode
- Building via `xcodebuild docbuild -scheme UIComponents -derivedDataPath 'docc-derived-data/' -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' DOCC_HOSTING_BASE_PATH='/'`
- Building via `swift package -v -Xswiftc "-sdk" -Xswiftc "$(xcrun --sdk iphonesimulator --show-sdk-path)" -Xswiftc "-target" -Xswiftc "arm64-apple-ios13.0-simulator" --build-system xcode --disable-sandbox generate-documentation --target UIComponents` with or without `--build-system xcode` (always fails without it), also with or without prefixing it with `/usr/bin/xcrun --sdk macosx`.

In CLI I also sometimes get `<unknown>:0: error: unable to load standard library for target 'arm64-apple-ios13.0-simulator'` or similar, but I think it's irrelevant, probably some mixed-up state or arguments or so.

I'd be happy to use the solution from [DocC Snippets - snippet reference not resolved](https://forums.swift.org/t/docc-snippets-snippet-reference-not-resolved/60542) (use only CLI and `main` branch of `swift-docc-plugin`), but I think I'm stuck with `xcodebuild` or at least `swift package --build-system xcode`, but they doesn't seem like working.

I also never managed to make `--build-snippets` or `--enable-experimental-snippet-support` working, which would be also important to check snippets correctness. I tried it also with `xcrun --toolchain org.swift.59202308241a`, but they both  
reported `error: Unknown option '--XXX'`

I might have clearly overlook something obvious, and I'm willing to start from scratch, but I'd like to just hear that it should work, and that I should use this or that. There are too many moving parts to test it all.

## Files

Here's the DocC article:

```swift
# UI Components

The SDK provides UI components.

Foo

@Snippet(path: "TheModules/Snippets/Bridge/Example1")

Bar

```

I have `Package.swift` with (added the beginning, as it's pretty big and not open-sourced):

```swift
// swift-tools-version:5.8
import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
    name: "TheModules",
    defaultLocalization: "en",
    platforms: [
        .iOS(.v13),
        .macOS(.v11),
    ],
    products: [
// ...

```

`Snippets/Bridge/Example1.swift` is straightforward:

```swift
// Example 1

import Foundation

print("Example 1")

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fumoboy007](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/fumoboy007/32/898_2.png) [@fumoboy007](https://forums.swift.org/u/fumoboy007)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:26am UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/using-snippet-in-swiftpm-for-an-ios-target/67009/2 "2023-12-21T02:26:26Z")

</div>

> [@bonkey](#):
>
> I also never managed to make `--build-snippets` or `--enable-experimental-snippet-support` working, which would be also important to check snippets correctness. I tried it also with `xcrun --toolchain org.swift.59202308241a`, but they both  
> reported `error: Unknown option '--XXX'`

I also ran into this. It looks like these flags are no longer needed. `swift build` builds the snippets by default. (I tested this by adding invalid code to a snippet. `swift build` failed.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fumoboy007](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/fumoboy007/32/898_2.png) [@fumoboy007](https://forums.swift.org/u/fumoboy007)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/using-snippet-in-swiftpm-for-an-ios-target/67009/3 "2023-12-21T02:28:22Z")

</div>

> [@bonkey](#):
>
> ```swift
> .../UIComponents.md:7:1: warning: Topic reference 'LeagueModules/Snippets/Bridge/Example1' couldn't be resolved. No local documentation matches this reference.
> 
> ```

Is the posted code accurate? I didn’t see a `LeagueModules`, which is referenced in the error.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bonkey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/swift/user_avatar/forums.swift.org/bonkey/32/17586_2.png) [@bonkey](https://forums.swift.org/u/bonkey)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://forums.swift.org/t/using-snippet-in-swiftpm-for-an-ios-target/67009/4 "2024-01-11T13:58:59Z")

</div>

> I also ran into this. It looks like these flags are no longer needed. `swift build` builds the snippets by default. (I tested this by adding invalid code to a snippet. `swift build` failed.)

Thanks! It means it's time to check it again.

> Is the posted code accurate? I didn’t see a `LeagueModules`, which is referenced in the error.

I think it was (it was a long time ago, and I haven't touched it since then). I just provided simplified `Package.swift` in the post.