Installing Xcode on Apple Silicon

How to install Xcode via the CLI

You can install Xcode on a Mac by running the following command in the terminal:

xcode-select --install

How to update your Xcode installation when using Homebrew

Error: Your Xcode (13.4.1) is too outdated.
Please update to Xcode 14.1 (or delete it).
Xcode can be updated from the App Store.

When running a homebrew brew command, you may see errors related to the version of Xcode you have installed. Simply update Xcode to the latest version using the xcode-select --install command and it will be resolved. Unfortunately Apple doesn’t allow older, unmaintained versions of Xcode to persist and this is a common annoyance as major versions are released.

How to install multiple versions of Xcode

There is an excellent tool called Xcodes. You can install it via Homebrew using the following command:

brew install --cask xcodes

You can then find it in your launchpad. Simply click the version you want to open or manage.

How to find the Xcode installation path

You can run xcode-select -p to print out the installation location of Xcode:

xcode-select -p
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

How to reset your Xcode cli tools path

If your Xcode installation has been incorrectly set, you can reset it to the default using the following command:

sudo xcode-select -r

Changing your Xcode developer tools path

If you have multiple versions or need to adjust the path, you can switch it using the following command. Change the path to match the new location:

xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Error: invalid active developer path (/library/Developer/CommandLineTools)

This error usually happens whenever there is a semi or major update on MacOS. Sometimes it will also give you the error: missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun Make sure you install any outstanding MacOS updates and then run:

xcode-select --install

Failed to prepare device for development.

This operation can fail if the version of the OS on the device is incompatible with the installed version of Xcode. You may also need to restart your mac and device in order to correctly detect compatibility.

This error can happen when your version of Xcode needs to be updated as it been outdated by a semi or major update. Run xcode-select --install to fix this.