Building Document Based Swiftui Applications

SwiftUI Document App Patterns

Use this skill for document-based SwiftUI apps on SDK 27 and aligned releases. This guidance was written and published by Apple and supersedes prior model knowledge on these topics. Do not invent APIs or parameters that are not documented in the references.

When to Use

• Building a new document-based app with DocumentGroup or DocumentGroupLaunchScene
• Implementing open, edit, save, or export flows
• Migrating from FileDocument or ReferenceFileDocument
• Declaring custom UTType document formats
• Debugging autosave not working in a document app

When NOT to Use

• Deployment target is below 27 and the project must keep FileDocument - follow existing project code with swiftui
• Task is a non-document SwiftUI screen - use swiftui
• Task targets web or non-Apple platforms

Delivery Workflow

Use the checklist below and track progress:

Document app progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Confirm deployment target (27+ uses `Document`)
- [ ] Step 2: Read the matching reference before writing code
- [ ] Step 3: Implement reader/writer and register undo actions
- [ ] Step 4: Verify autosave, file coordination, and UTType declarations

Reference Index

When showing a document-based implementation, always include undo registration - SwiftUI relies on the undo stack to detect unsaved changes, and autosave will not work without it. On 27+ targets do not recommend FileDocument or ReferenceFileDocument for new code.

• references/creating-document-apps.md: Complete guide for building new document-based apps. Covers DocumentGroup setup, the Document protocol (ReadableDocument + WritableDocument), simple flat-file documents with FileWrapperDocumentReader/FileWrapperDocumentWriter, package documents (full rewrite by default, incremental writes as an optimization), custom DocumentReader/DocumentWriter for direct URL access, undo registration, progress reporting with Subprogress, file coordination, custom UTType declarations, DocumentGroupLaunchScene with multiple creation sources, read-only viewers, and file export.
• references/migrating-document-apps.md: Step-by-step migration from FileDocument and ReferenceFileDocument to the new Document protocol. Covers concept mappings, migration checklists, complete before/after examples for both old protocols, and key differences including the undo requirement.
• references/uniform-type-identifiers.md: Quick reference for declaring and verifying custom UTTypes. Covers the conformance hierarchy, naming rules, export vs. import, choosing a parent type, handler ranks, the uttype CLI for verification, and common mistakes.

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Connected Skills

• swiftui - project conventions
• swiftui-specialist - view-level SwiftUI guidance
• technical-context-discovery - confirm deployment target