xcpretty is a fast and flexible formatter for xcodebuild.
It does one thing, and it should do it well.

Installation

$ gem install xcpretty

Usage

$ xcodebuild [flags] | xcpretty -c

xcpretty is designed to be piped with xcodebuild and thus keeping 100% compatibility with it. It's even a bit faster than xcodebuild only, since it saves your terminal some prints.

Important: If you're running xcpretty on a CI like Travis or Jenkins, you may want to exit with same status code as xcodebuild. CI uses the status code to determine if build has failed.

$ set -o pipefail && xcodebuild [flags] | xcpretty -c
#
# OR
#
$ xcodebuild [flags] | xcpretty -c && exit ${PIPESTATUS[0]}

Formats

• --color, -c (you can add it to --simple or --test format)

• --no-utf (use only ASCII characters in output)

• --simple, -s (default)

• --test, -t (RSpec style)

• --tap (Test Anything Protocol-compatible output)

• --knock, -k (a simplified version of the Test Anything Protocol)

Reporters

• --report junit, -r junit: Creates a JUnit-style XML report at build/reports/junit.xml, compatible with Jenkins and TeamCity CI.

• --report html, -r html: Creates a simple HTML report at build/reports/tests.html.

• --report json-compilation-database, -r json-compilation-database: Creates a JSON compilation database at build/reports/compilation.json. This is a format to replay single compilations independently of the build system.

Writing a report to a custom path can be specified using --output PATH.

Did you just clone xctool?

Unlike xctool, xcpretty isn't a build tool. It relies on xcodebuild to do the build process, and it formats the output.

By the time when xctool was made, xcodebuild wasn't aware of the test command, thus running tests in general via CLI was a pain. At this point xcodebuild has been improved significantly, and is ready to be used directly.

Benchmark

A smaller project (ObjectiveSugar) with a fast suite

xcpretty

$ time xcodebuild -workspace ObjectiveSugar.xcworkspace -scheme ObjectiveSugar -sdk iphonesimulator test | xcpretty -tc
....................................................................................

Executed 84 tests, with 0 failures (0 unexpected) in 0.070 (0.094) seconds
        4.08 real         5.82 user         2.08 sys

xcodebuild

$ time xcodebuild -workspace ObjectiveSugar.xcworkspace -scheme ObjectiveSugar -sdk iphonesimulator test
... ommitted output ...
Executed 84 tests, with 0 failures (0 unexpected) in 0.103 (0.129) seconds
** TEST SUCCEEDED **

        4.35 real         6.07 user         2.21 sys

xctool

$ time xctool -workspace ObjectiveSugar.xcworkspace -scheme ObjectiveSugar -sdk iphonesimulator test
... ommitted output ...
** TEST SUCCEEDED: 84 passed, 0 failed, 0 errored, 84 total ** (26964 ms)

28.05 real         6.59 user         2.24 sys

A bit bigger project, without CocoaPods (ReactiveCocoa)

xcpretty

$ time xcodebuild -project ReactiveCocoa.xcodeproj -scheme ReactiveCocoa test | xcpretty -tc
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Executed 922 tests, with 0 failures (0 unexpected) in 6.437 (6.761) seconds
        8.72 real         5.73 user         0.81 sys

xcodebuild

$ time xcodebuild -project ReactiveCocoa.xcodeproj -scheme ReactiveCocoa test
... ommitted output ...
Executed 922 tests, with 0 failures (0 unexpected) in 6.542 (6.913) seconds
** TEST SUCCEEDED **

        8.82 real         5.65 user         0.75 sys

xctool

$ time xctool -project ReactiveCocoa.xcodeproj -scheme ReactiveCocoa test
... ommitted output ...
** TEST SUCCEEDED: 922 passed, 0 failed, 0 errored, 922 total ** (9584 ms)

       10.80 real         6.72 user         0.76 sys

Thanks

• Delisa Mason - for being a part of this
• Fred Potter for making xctool and inspiring us