In the first part of this series, we covered the basics of building a CLI application in Swift using the Swift Package Manager. We learned about creating commands, handling arguments, and outputting results to the terminal. Now, in this part, we’ll explore how to take a more complex CLI application, such as AssetOrganizer, and prepare it for distribution and publishing, including adding GitHub Actions support for CI/CD workflows.

Key Topics in This Part:

1. Refining the CLI App for Real-World Use

2. Publishing the Application

Bonus. Integrating GitHub Actions for CI/CD

Asset Organizer

A command-line tool for analyzing and managing unused assets in iOS/macOS projects. This tool helps you identify and clean up unused assets in your Xcode projects, reducing app size and maintaining a cleaner codebase.

Features

• 🔍 Analyze asset usage in your project
• 📊 Generate detailed reports in multiple formats (Markdown, JSON, Console)
• 🎨 Support for various asset types:
• Images (.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .pdf, .svg)
• Colors (.colorset)
• Data Sets (.dataset)
• 🗑 Clean up unused assets
• 💡 Smart asset detection and usage analysis
• 🛡 Safe deletion with confirmation prompts
• 📝 Detailed usage reporting showing where assets are used
• 🔄 Sort assets by name, size, or usage count
• ⚡️ Fast and efficient file scanning
• 🎯 Filter assets by type or minimum size

You should access repository on: AssetOrganizer Github

Refining the CLI App for Real-World Use

Adding Flexible Configuration

Allow users to customize their analysis by adding support for flags:

$ asset-organizer analyze \
 project-path MyXcodeProject \
 report-format json \
 sort-by usage \
 min-size 500

Using Swift Argument Parser can simplify the implementation.

Publishing the Application

GitHub Releases Tagging a release in your repository allows users to download and install your tool:

1. Create a new tag for the release:

git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release 1.0.0"
git push origin v1.0.0

2. Draft a release in the GitHub “Releases” section.

Attach prebuilt binaries for macOS/Linux to simplify user installation.

Bonus: Integrating AssetOrganizer to your GitHub Actions Workflow

You can use AssetOrganizer as part of your CI workflows:

- name: AssetOrganizer
 uses: mkemalgokce/AssetOrganizer-action@1.0.0
 with:
 project-path: RookBook # Default is '.'

This generates results that appear directly in the GitHub Actions summary.

Wrapping Up

In Part 1, we explored the fundamentals of building a CLI application in Swift. We learned how to create commands, handle arguments, and produce output, laying a solid foundation for any command-line tool. By mastering these basics, we established a workflow for quickly developing functional and user-friendly CLI tools.

In Part 2, we delved into publishing a CLI application and used AssetOrganizer as an example. We discussed refining the application for real-world usage, publishing it via GitHub Releases, and as a bonus, demonstrated how to integrate AssetOrganizer into a GitHub Actions workflow to automate its use within CI/CD pipelines.

By combining these techniques, you now have the knowledge to build, refine, and distribute CLI tools effectively. AssetOrganizer serves as an example of how powerful and accessible Swift-based CLI applications can be when designed with care.

Happy coding!