Apple is bringing agentic coding to Xcode, marking a major shift in how developers can use artificial intelligence inside the company’s official app development tool. The company made the announcement in a blog post on Tuesday.
With the release of Xcode 26.3, developers will be able to work with autonomous coding agents such as Anthropic’s Claude Agent and OpenAI’s Codex directly inside the IDE, allowing AI to take on complex, multi-step tasks rather than simply offering code suggestions.
This update builds on the intelligence features Apple introduced with Xcode 26 last year, which added support for ChatGPT and Claude as in-editor coding assistants. Xcode 26.3 takes that foundation further by giving agents access to more of Xcode’s native tools. As a result, these agents can search Apple’s documentation, explore file structures, update project settings, run builds, and fix errors, all within the same environment developers already use every day.
In the blog post the company released, Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, said, “At Apple, our goal is to make tools that put industry-leading technologies directly in developers’ hands so they can build the very best apps. Agentic coding supercharges productivity and creativity, streamlining the development workflow so developers can focus on innovation.”
The introduction of this further lowers the bar of entry for coders a bit, alllowing users to describe what they want in natural language and let an agent handle much of the heavy lifting. For example, a developer could ask Xcode to add a new feature using one of Apple’s frameworks, specify how it should look and behave, and then watch as the agent plans the steps, writes the code, tests it, and highlights changes along the way.
Apple notes that “Agents can search documentation, explore file structures, update project settings, and verify their work visually by capturing Xcode Previews and iterating through builds and fixes.”
Apple is also keeping things flexible. Xcode 26.3 uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that allows developers to connect other compatible agents beyond Claude and Codex. Developers can choose which model to use, sign in with their AI provider account, or add an API key directly from Xcode’s settings.
The move comes as agentic coding gains traction across the industry, with startups and major players alike pushing tools that promise faster software development through autonomous AI. Xcode 26.3 is currently available as a beta or release candidate for registered Apple developers and is expected to roll out more broadly on the App Store in the coming weeks.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
