Dependencies Installation Guide

Complete guide for installing all dependencies needed for swift.nvim.

Required Dependencies
Swift Toolchain
Code Formatting
Linting
macOS/Xcode
Troubleshooting

Required Dependencies

Neovim

Minimum version: 0.8.0 (0.9.0+ recommended)

Installation:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install neovim

# macOS (MacPorts)
sudo port install neovim

# Linux (apt)
sudo apt install neovim

# Linux (snap)
sudo snap install nvim --classic

# From source
git clone https://github.com/neovim/neovim
cd neovim && make CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
sudo make install

Verify:

nvim --version
# Should show v0.8.0 or higher

nvim-lspconfig

Required for LSP support.

Installation (with lazy.nvim):

{
  "neovim/nvim-lspconfig",
  dependencies = {
    "devswiftzone/swift.nvim",
  },
}

Installation (with packer.nvim):

use 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig'

Swift Toolchain

The Swift toolchain provides the compiler, LSP server (sourcekit-lsp), and other development tools.

Option 1: Using swiftly (Recommended)

swiftly is the official Swift version manager from Apple. It makes managing multiple Swift versions easy.

Install swiftly

# macOS/Linux
curl -L https://swift-server.github.io/swiftly/swiftly-install.sh | bash

Or download from: https://github.com/swiftlang/swiftly

Install Swift with swiftly

# Install latest stable Swift
swiftly install latest

# Install specific version
swiftly install 6.2

# List available versions
swiftly list-available

# List installed versions
swiftly list

# Switch between versions
swiftly use 6.2

Configure project-specific Swift version

Create a .swift-version file in your project root:

# In your project directory
echo "6.2" > .swift-version

swiftly will automatically use this version when you're in that directory.

Verify Installation

# Check Swift version
swift --version
# Should show: Swift version 6.2 (or your installed version)

# Check sourcekit-lsp
which sourcekit-lsp
# Should show: ~/.local/share/swiftly/toolchains/6.2.0/usr/bin/sourcekit-lsp

Option 2: Using Xcode (macOS only)

If you're on macOS and doing iOS/macOS development, Xcode includes the Swift toolchain.

# Install Xcode from App Store
# Then install Command Line Tools:
xcode-select --install

# Verify
swift --version
which sourcekit-lsp

Note: Xcode's Swift version may be different from swiftly's. Choose one approach:

Use swiftly for Swift Package Manager projects
Use Xcode for iOS/macOS projects

Option 3: Download Swift Directly

Download from https://swift.org/download/

# Download and extract
# Add to PATH in your shell config:
export PATH="/path/to/swift/usr/bin:$PATH"

Code Formatting

swift-format (Official - Recommended)

Apple's official Swift formatter.

Installation

With swiftly (Recommended):

# swift-format comes with the Swift toolchain when using swiftly
swiftly install latest

# Verify
which swift-format
swift-format --version

With Homebrew:

brew install swift-format

From source:

git clone https://github.com/apple/swift-format.git
cd swift-format
swift build -c release
# Copy to PATH
cp .build/release/swift-format /usr/local/bin/

Configuration

Create .swift-format in your project root:

{
  "version": 1,
  "lineLength": 100,
  "indentation": {
    "spaces": 2
  },
  "respectsExistingLineBreaks": true,
  "lineBreakBeforeControlFlowKeywords": false,
  "lineBreakBeforeEachArgument": true
}

Generate default config:

swift-format --configuration > .swift-format

swiftformat (Alternative)

Community-maintained Swift formatter with more options.

Installation

# Homebrew
brew install swiftformat

# Mint
mint install nicklockwood/SwiftFormat

# From source
git clone https://github.com/nicklockwood/SwiftFormat
cd SwiftFormat
swift build -c release
cp .build/release/swiftformat /usr/local/bin/

Configuration

Create .swiftformat in your project root:

--indent 2
--maxwidth 100
--wraparguments before-first
--wrapcollections before-first

Generate default config:

swiftformat --inferoptions . --output .swiftformat

Linting

SwiftLint

Code linter for Swift.

Installation

# Homebrew (Recommended)
brew install swiftlint

# Mint
mint install realm/SwiftLint

# CocoaPods
pod 'SwiftLint'

# From source
git clone https://github.com/realm/SwiftLint.git
cd SwiftLint
swift build -c release
cp .build/release/swiftlint /usr/local/bin/

Configuration

Create .swiftlint.yml in your project root:

disabled_rules:
  - trailing_whitespace
  - line_length

opt_in_rules:
  - empty_count
  - missing_docs

included:
  - Sources
  - Tests

excluded:
  - .build
  - .swiftpm
  - Packages

line_length:
  warning: 120
  error: 200

identifier_name:
  min_length:
    warning: 2
  max_length:
    warning: 40
    error: 50

Generate default config:

swiftlint generate-config > .swiftlint.yml

Verify Installation

swiftlint version
swiftlint rules

macOS/Xcode

Xcode Command Line Tools

Required for Xcode project integration and some Swift features on macOS.

# Install
xcode-select --install

# Verify
xcodebuild -version
xcode-select -p

Full Xcode (Optional)

Only needed if you're developing iOS/macOS apps.

Download from Mac App Store
Open Xcode once to complete setup
Accept license: sudo xcodebuild -license accept

Optional: nvim-cmp

For better code completions.

-- lazy.nvim
{
  "hrsh7th/nvim-cmp",
  dependencies = {
    "hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp",
  },
}

Recommended Setup

For Swift Package Manager Projects

# 1. Install swiftly
curl -L https://swift-server.github.io/swiftly/swiftly-install.sh | bash

# 2. Install Swift
swiftly install latest

# 3. Install formatters (choose one or both)
brew install swift-format
brew install swiftformat

# 4. Install linter
brew install swiftlint

# 5. Verify everything
swift --version
sourcekit-lsp --version
swift-format --version
swiftformat --version
swiftlint version

For iOS/macOS Development

# 1. Install Xcode from App Store

# 2. Install Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install

# 3. Install formatters
brew install swift-format
brew install swiftformat

# 4. Install linter
brew install swiftlint

# 5. Optional: Install swiftly for SPM projects
curl -L https://swift-server.github.io/swiftly/swiftly-install.sh | bash
swiftly install latest

# 6. Verify
swift --version
xcodebuild -version
sourcekit-lsp --version
swift-format --version
swiftlint version

Troubleshooting

Swift version mismatch with .swift-version file

Error:

The swift version file .swift-version uses toolchain version 6.2,
but it doesn't match any of the installed toolchains.

Solution:

# Install the required version with swiftly
swiftly install 6.2

# Or remove .swift-version if not needed
rm .swift-version

# Or update .swift-version to match installed version
swiftly list  # See installed versions
echo "6.2" > .swift-version

sourcekit-lsp not found

Solution:

# If using swiftly
swiftly install latest

# If using Xcode
xcode-select --install

# Check which sourcekit-lsp is being used
which sourcekit-lsp

# If multiple versions exist, ensure the right one is in PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/swiftly/toolchains/latest/usr/bin:$PATH"

swift-format not found

Solution:

# Install with Homebrew
brew install swift-format

# Or use the one from Swift toolchain
ls ~/.local/share/swiftly/toolchains/*/usr/bin/swift-format

# Add to PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/swiftly/toolchains/latest/usr/bin:$PATH"

SwiftLint not working

Solution:

# Reinstall
brew reinstall swiftlint

# Check if .swiftlint.yml is valid
swiftlint lint --config .swiftlint.yml

# Try without config
swiftlint lint

Xcode Command Line Tools not found

Solution:

# Remove old installation
sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

# Reinstall
xcode-select --install

# Reset path
sudo xcode-select --reset

Multiple Swift versions conflicting

Solution:

# See which Swift is being used
which swift
swift --version

# If using swiftly, switch versions
swiftly use 6.2

# If using Xcode, switch toolchain
sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app

# For SPM projects, use .swift-version file
echo "6.2" > .swift-version

Checking Your Setup

Run these commands to verify your setup:

# Neovim
nvim --version | head -1

# Swift
swift --version

# LSP
sourcekit-lsp --version 2>&1 | head -1

# Formatters
swift-format --version 2>&1 | head -1
swiftformat --version

# Linter
swiftlint version

# Xcode (macOS)
xcodebuild -version | head -1

# swiftly
swiftly --version

Or use swift.nvim's health check:

:checkhealth swift

Quick Reference

Tool	Purpose	Install Command	Config File
swiftly	Swift version manager	`curl -L https://swift-server.github.io/swiftly/swiftly-install.sh \| bash`	`.swift-version`
swift	Compiler & dev tools	`swiftly install latest`	-
sourcekit-lsp	LSP server	Included with Swift	-
swift-format	Official formatter	`brew install swift-format`	`.swift-format`
swiftformat	Alternative formatter	`brew install swiftformat`	`.swiftformat`
swiftlint	Linter	`brew install swiftlint`	`.swiftlint.yml`
xcodebuild	Xcode build tool	`xcode-select --install`	-

Additional Resources

swiftly: https://github.com/swiftlang/swiftly
Swift.org: https://swift.org/download/
sourcekit-lsp: https://github.com/apple/sourcekit-lsp
swift-format: https://github.com/apple/swift-format
swiftformat: https://github.com/nicklockwood/SwiftFormat
SwiftLint: https://github.com/realm/SwiftLint
Xcode: https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

Support

If you're still having issues:

Run :checkhealth swift in Neovim
Check :messages for errors
Open an issue: https://github.com/devswiftzone/swift.nvim/issues

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Dependencies Installation Guide

Table of Contents

Required Dependencies

Neovim

nvim-lspconfig

Swift Toolchain

Option 1: Using swiftly (Recommended)

Install swiftly

Install Swift with swiftly

Configure project-specific Swift version

Verify Installation

Option 2: Using Xcode (macOS only)

Option 3: Download Swift Directly

Code Formatting

swift-format (Official - Recommended)

Installation

Configuration

swiftformat (Alternative)

Installation

Configuration

Linting

SwiftLint

Installation

Configuration

Verify Installation

macOS/Xcode

Xcode Command Line Tools

Full Xcode (Optional)

Optional: nvim-cmp

Recommended Setup

For Swift Package Manager Projects

For iOS/macOS Development

Troubleshooting

Swift version mismatch with .swift-version file

sourcekit-lsp not found

swift-format not found

SwiftLint not working

Xcode Command Line Tools not found

Multiple Swift versions conflicting

Checking Your Setup

Quick Reference

Additional Resources

Support