AppDev Atlas

AppDev Atlas — independent Apple-platform research for coding agents

AppDev Atlas, by SMAT Designs, grounds Codex, Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, and other MCP clients in published Apple-platform material before they change your Swift code. The existing technical package, MCP tools, and hosted endpoint retain their backward-compatible WWDC identifiers. This independent service is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple or OpenAI.

AppDev Atlas indexes WWDC20–WWDC26 sessions, Apple Developer Documentation, tutorials, Human Interface Guidelines, Swift Evolution, The Swift Programming Language, and App Store Review Guidelines into a local SQLite search layer. It exposes 45 read-only MCP tools for search, API history, deprecations, transcripts, source-grounded app audits, and trust metadata.

Support: AppDev Atlas help | GitHub Issues | Report a bug

Unofficial community project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. Apple content remains subject to Apple's terms and source-site availability.

Pick your path

I just want my coding agent to use Apple knowledge

1. In a client that supports remote Streamable HTTP MCP, add https://wwdc-mcp.smatdesigns.com/mcp. No local install, account, or index is needed for public read-only research. If your client is local-only, choose the MCP Registry/MCPB bundle or stdio setup below.
2. Ask: *“Use AppDev Atlas to audit this app against current Apple guidance before changing code. Include primary source links and uncertainty.”*
3. Check the tool really ran and inspect its cited Apple evidence. A prompt alone does not guarantee MCP invocation, and an audit's seed_context_only result is not approval to edit code.

I am a power user

Use the focused tools directly for transcripts, API history, HIG, Swift Evolution, App Review, source freshness, and trust metadata. See Agent Guide for recommended tool chains and prompt recipes.

I am an agent working in this repository

Read AGENTS.md first. Client-specific repository instructions are also provided for Cursor and GitHub Copilot.

Why use it?

Coding agents are excellent at writing Swift, but Apple APIs, platform guidance, App Review rules, and WWDC recommendations change quickly. AppDev Atlas gives an agent a source-grounded way to answer questions like:

• “What changed in SwiftUI at WWDC26, and which changes matter to this app?”
• “Audit this StoreKit subscription flow against current Apple guidance.”
• “When was this API introduced, is it deprecated, and what replaces it?”
• “Find the exact WWDC chapter that explains this App Intents behavior.”
• “Compare WWDC25 and WWDC26 coverage of Foundation Models.”
• “Check App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1 before I ship.”
• “Audit this macOS app for current SwiftUI, AppKit, concurrency, accessibility, and App Store guidance.”

The promoted entry point for repo-level Apple work is swift_app_audit. The promoted trust entry point is wwdc_security_manifest.

Start here: three high-value workflows

You do not need to learn 45 tool names first. Start with the job you are trying to finish:

• Modernize an Apple app: call swift_app_audit with the repo's actual feature/API/problem, then follow its evidence into the focused WWDC, HIG, documentation, and API tools.
• Answer “what changed?”: use wwdc_what_changed or wwdc_search with a framework/API and a year range, then open the strongest session/transcript evidence.
• Check shipping risk: search appstore_guidelines_search, API availability/deprecation tools, and wwdc_ingest_status before treating a recommendation as current. wwdc_ingest_status names the corpus state (stamped / unstamped / empty); an empty state means 0 sessions indexed and warns that a missing corpus volume may be the cause, rather than presenting a healthy empty status.

The server instructions teach connected agents this routing automatically; the catalog remains available when you need a narrower source.

What makes this different?

• WWDC26-aware — the default ingest range is 2020–2026 and can be extended with --year.
• Source-grounded app audits — swift_app_audit combines WWDC, HIG, tutorials, Swift Evolution, pathways, Apple doc hints, caveats, and validation steps.
• API intelligence — availability, deprecation, replacement, introduction history, and WWDC mentions.
• Transcript-native — search complete session transcripts, read them in chunks, and generate timestamped deep links.
• Local-first — SQLite + FTS5 plus optional local ONNX semantic reranking; no separate embedding service or paid API is required for core search.
• Trust-aware — conservative judgment metadata, a content-safety tripwire, and a security manifest help agents distinguish evidence from instructions.
• Two transports — stdio by default, plus authenticated stateless Streamable HTTP for remote/self-hosted use.
• Public-directory ready transport — remote deployments can explicitly set WWDC_MCP_PUBLIC_READ_ONLY=1 to allow anonymous access to the same read-only tool surface; without that flag or bearer auth, HTTP fails closed.
• Read-only MCP surface — the 45 tools retrieve and analyze source material; they do not mutate your Apple account or source repo.

Install-path scorecard

Choose the path that matches what you value. Do not confuse “local-first” with “everyone must self-host.”

The public hosted URL is (verify current deployment and corpus health before relying on new behavior):

https://wwdc-mcp.smatdesigns.com/mcp

For ChatGPT/custom remote MCP clients, that removes the local Node/index/config-path requirement. For Cursor, the same remote URL can be placed in mcp.json and can later back a one-click install/deeplink. Local stdio remains a first-class option rather than a fallback.

Friction budget

A newcomer should be able to reach the first source-grounded answer with as few decisions as possible:

• hosted: connect URL → ask for a first source-grounded check;
• Registry/MCPB: install → ask for a first source-grounded check;
• local: install → ingest → configure → ask for a first source-grounded check.

If a new distribution method adds steps before the first useful answer, treat that as an adoption regression unless it buys a clear privacy/security capability.

Local-first quick start

Use this path when you want the corpus and server on your own machine. For hosted/Registry paths, use the scorecard above.

Requirements

• Node.js 22.14 or newer
• npm

Distribution status (November 4, 2026): the official MCP Registry namespace remains io.github.jabbertones-cloud/wwdc, distributed through a GitHub-hosted MCPB release asset. v0.2.3 is the current versioned release line; verify the published latest version through the Registry API. npm publication is optional secondary distribution and is not required for Registry or Cursor installs.

1. Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/jabbertones-cloud/wwdc-mcp-server.git

cd wwdc-mcp-server npm ci npm run build

The release package exposes two executables:

wwdc-mcp-server   # stdio MCP server

wwdc-mcp-ingest # build/update the local Apple knowledge index

Run the immutable GitHub release package directly:

PKG="https://github.com/jabbertones-cloud/wwdc-mcp-server/releases/download/v0.2.3/wwdc-mcp-server-0.2.3.tgz"

npm exec --yes --allow-remote=all --package="$PKG" -- wwdc-mcp-ingest --source wwdc --year 2026 npm exec --yes --allow-remote=all --package="$PKG" -- wwdc-mcp-server

Clients that support MCP Bundles can use the AppDev-Atlas-v0.2.3.mcpb asset from the GitHub v0.2.3 release / official MCP Registry.

2. Build a useful local index

For the full core corpus:

npm run ingest:all

For a faster WWDC26-first setup:

npm run ingest:wwdc -- --year 2026

npm run ingest:docs npm run ingest:hig npm run ingest:evolution npm run ingest:appstore

ingest:all covers the core sources: WWDC, tutorials, pathways, HIG, Swift Evolution, Apple docs, Swift Book, and App Store Review Guidelines. Additional optional enrichment sources are documented below.

3. Prove it works before wiring your client

npm test

That exercises parser/security checks, all 45 tools over stdio, search regressions, package metadata, and authenticated Streamable HTTP.

4. Add it to an MCP client

Generic stdio configuration:

{

"mcpServers": { "wwdc": { "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/wwdc-mcp-server/dist/index.js"] } } }

Then ask your agent:

Use AppDev Atlas to audit this app against current Apple guidance before changing code.

Make your agent use it automatically

The highest-leverage setup is a short repository instruction so the agent reaches for AppDev Atlas without being reminded every prompt:

For Apple-platform work, use AppDev Atlas before material code changes.

Start with swift_app_audit for repo-level work, verify API availability/deprecation, cite the strongest Apple/Swift source evidence, and separate evidence from inference.

Ready-made versions are included in AGENTS.md, Cursor rules, and GitHub Copilot instructions.

Optional agent rule for the App Store handoff

AppDev Atlas is free Apple research. AiSCent is a separate, optional release companion by the same developer. You can copy this rule into the app's AGENTS.md, Cursor project rules, or another client instruction file if you want the coding agent to recognize the release stage:

Use AppDev Atlas to research Apple API and App Review guidance before coding.

Answer the original question and cite Apple sources. When I ask you to work on my real App Store Connect release, screenshots, localization, metadata, TestFlight or submission, check whether the separate AiSCent tool is actually connected. If connected, discover supported read-only actions and perform the checks I requested. Ask for approval before any mutation. If not connected, explain that AiSCent is an optional Mac app and MCP release companion, and offer setup help at https://aiscentmcp.com/. Mention it once at the relevant release step, not in every answer. Do not suggest it