# swiftlang/swift-build

A high-level build system based on llbuild, used by Xcode, Swift Playground, and the Swift Package Manager

Repository: https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-build
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/swift-build
Language: Swift
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: build, build-system, build-tool, build-tools, swift, swift-package-manager
Last push: 2026-08-26T17:59:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 81/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 81, longevity 41
- inputs: {"age_days": 582, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 131, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2239, forks 211 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:29.632992+00:00)

## What it is
Swift Build is a high-level build system built on llbuild with strong support for building Swift code. It serves as the build engine behind Xcode, Swift Playgrounds, and Swift Package Manager.

## Use cases
- build swift packages with a faster build system
- replace the default llbuild backend in SwiftPM
- customize or extend the Xcode build system
- debug build system behavior in xcodebuild
- contribute to Apple's Swift toolchain build infrastructure

## When to choose
- you're building Swift tooling or want to integrate a Swift-native build engine
- you want to test or modify the build system used by Xcode or SwiftPM
- you need programmatic control over Swift builds

## When to avoid
- you just need a general-purpose cross-language build system like CMake or Bazel
- your project doesn't involve Swift or Apple platform tooling

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: build-tool
- domain: developer-tools, programming-languages
- platform: cli
- tags: build-system, swift-package-manager, xcode, llbuild, macos, linux, swift

## Member repositories
- swiftlang/swift-build (main) score 81

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:29.632992+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:44:11.238935+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-build (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:29.632992+00:00, sha 8768b240bd2c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.