Quick Start (Claude Code)

Install in two commands from inside Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add e-palmisano/macos-dev

/plugin install macos-dev

Then /reload-plugins. Ask any macOS dev question to confirm the skill triggers — for example:

"Adopt Liquid Glass in my SwiftUI Mac app"

Install on Pi

This repository is also a Pi package. Install it with the pi CLI:

From GitHub (recommended)

pi install git:github.com/e-palmisano/macos-dev

From npm

If you publish the package to npm with the pi-package keyword:

pi install npm:macos-dev-code

Enable the skill

After installation, verify the skill is enabled:

pi config

The macos-development skill auto-triggers on macOS / SwiftUI / AppKit / Liquid Glass keywords, or invoke it manually with:

/skill:macos-development

Tip: Pi loads skills from ~/.pi/agent/skills/ (global) or .pi/skills/ (project-local). Installing via pi install places the package under ~/.pi/agent/git/ and automatically makes the skill available to every session.

What It Gives You

Liquid Glass coverage — the 2025/2026 macOS design system postdates most model training cutoffs. This plugin carries the exact API names (glassEffect(_:in:), GlassEffectContainer, glassEffectID(_:in:), NSGlassEffectView) so Claude doesn't invent them from memory.

SwiftUI-first guidance — app/scene structure, views, state, controls, layout, animation, interaction, accessibility. Standard SwiftUI components pick up Liquid Glass automatically on the latest SDK.

AppKit when you need it — deep TextKit 2, NSView drawing, precise window/panel control, mature table/outline behavior, menus, and appearance.

Interop without the footguns — clear direction on which bridge to use: NSHostingController/NSHostingView for SwiftUI inside AppKit, NSViewRepresentable/NSViewControllerRepresentable for AppKit inside SwiftUI.

Auto-triggers — the skill activates automatically on any of these keywords:

build a macOS app · SwiftUI for macOS · AppKit · Liquid Glass · glassEffect · GlassEffectContainer · NavigationSplitView · NSToolbar · NSViewRepresentable · NSHostingView · MenuBarExtra · WindowGroup · NSSplitViewController · TextKit · Icon Composer · and more.

Reference Topics

The skills/macos-development/references/ directory contains topic-organized Apple docs. Claude loads only what's relevant to the current step and uses grep before full reads on large files.

| Topic | File | |---|---| | Liquid Glass, glass APIs, background extension, Icon Composer | references/liquid-glass.md | | App protocol, scenes, windows, documents, Settings, menu-bar | references/swiftui-app-and-scenes.md | | View protocol, modifier index, view styles, data flow / state | references/swiftui-views-and-state.md | | Controls, text input/output, images, glass button styles | references/swiftui-controls-and-text.md | | Layout, custom Layout, lists, tables, scroll, shapes, drawing | references/swiftui-layout-lists-and-drawing.md | | Gestures, focus, drag-and-drop, accessibility | references/swiftui-interaction-and-accessibility.md | | NavigationStack/SplitView, toolbars, inspectors, NSToolbar | references/navigation-and-toolbars.md | | AppKit: app env, NSView, windows, appearance, animation, menus | references/appkit-essentials.md | | NSButton, NSTextField, TextKit, fonts, drawing, color, printing | references/appkit-controls-text-graphics.md | | NSHostingView/Controller/Menu, NSViewRepresentable, bridging | references/interop-appkit-swiftui.md | | Xcode previews, performance, UIDesignRequiresCompatibility | references/tooling-and-performance.md | | End-to-end Apple sample-app walkthroughs | references/sample-apps.md |

Install Locally (without GitHub)

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/macos-dev

Useful for testing changes before pushing.

Structure

macos-dev/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   ├── plugin.json          # Claude Code plugin manifest
│   └── marketplace.json     # Claude Code marketplace entry
├── docs/
│   └── logo.png
├── skills/
│   └── macos-development/
│       ├── SKILL.md         # Skill definition and trigger keywords
│       └── references/      # Curated Apple Developer docs (2026-05-30)
└── package.json             # Pi package manifest (keywords: pi-package)

The package.json at the repository root makes this a dual-platform plugin: it works as a Claude Code plugin (via .claude-plugin/) and as a Pi package (via package.json → pi.skills).

Scope

This plugin targets macOS only. The UI* pages in the references exist for cross-framework comparison, not as iOS guidance. The documentation is a 2026-05-30 snapshot — refresh after major OS releases.

License

MIT © Enzo Pio Palmisano