Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of setting up Sift, let’s understand what makes it a must-have tool for iOS and macOS developers. Sift is a revolutionary, open-source tool designed to maximize the efficiency of XCTest runs on Apple platforms. It offers a seamless way to parallelize your XCTest suites, significantly reducing the time it takes to complete your tests.

• Lightning-Fast Parallelization: Sift dramatically accelerates your XCTest suite by intelligently distributing test cases across multiple simulators and devices, enabling parallel execution.

• Improved Productivity: With Sift, you’ll never have to waste time waiting for lengthy test runs. Get back to coding and building your app with confidence.

• Detailed Reporting: Sift provides detailed test execution reports, making it easy to identify and resolve issues quickly.

• Easy Integration: Setting up Sift is a breeze, and we’ll walk you through the process step by step.

• Open Source and Free: Sift is a gift to the development community, available at no cost. Contribute, improve, and benefit from a thriving community of users.

Now that you’re excited about what Sift can do for your XCTest suite, let’s get down to business and set it up. Follow these steps to supercharge your testing process:

1. Clone the Repository

   Before we dive into Sift, let’s grab its code from GitHub. Open your terminal and use this command:

   git clone https://github.com/engenious-inc/sift-ios

   This will fetch the Sift repository, and you’ll be ready for the next step.

2. Building Sift

   Now that you’ve cloned the repository, navigate to the directory where Sift is located:

   cd sift-ios

   With Sift’s directory as your current location, build the code using this command:

   swift build -c release

   This will compile Sift and generate a release build at the specified path.

   cd .build/arm64-apple-macosx/release

3. Setting Up Sift

   With Sift built, it’s time to configure it. Run the following command to kick off the setup process:

   ./sift setup

   Sift’s setup command will guide you through essential configurations. Here’s what you’ll need to provide:

   • .xctestrun File Path: This file is generated by Xcode when you build for testing. Trigger a test build in your project by pressing Command+Shift+U. The .xctestrun file can typically be found in the DerivedData directory, like this:
   • Test Results Directory: Specify where you want test results to be aggregated and stored.
   • Retry Mechanism: Configure how Sift handles test failures by specifying the number of retries.
   • Tests Bucket: Define how many tests should be bundled together for execution.
   • Test Execution Timeout: Set the maximum duration allowed for a batch of tests to run.
   • Execution Node Configuration: Specify details about the machines on which tests will be executed.
   • Device/Simulator UDID Configuration: Specify which devices or simulators on the execution node should run the tests.
   • Config Storage: Sift will generate a configuration file; specify where you want to store it or just hit Enter to save it in the same directory with Sift.

   If you provide incorrect data or want to change some options, you can open the config.json and manually make any necessary changes.

4. Running Tests with Sift

   With the configuration done, Sift setup will provide you with the exact command to run it. It will look something like this:

   /Users/USERNAME/sift/Sift run — config “/Users/USERNAME/sift/config.json”

   You can use this command to execute your tests with Sift.

By following this guide and harnessing the power of Sift, you'll drastically improve your XCTest execution efficiency on Apple platforms. No more waiting around for hours. It's time to embrace rapid and scalable testing. Happy coding!