Lookup Documentation

Lookup Documentation

Find documentation for Apple frameworks, Swift APIs, and third-party dependencies.

When to Use

• Need to understand how an Apple API works
• Looking for method signatures and parameters
• Checking availability (iOS version requirements)
• Finding documentation for dependencies

Apple Framework Documentation

Quick Web Lookup

Apple's documentation is well-indexed. Construct URLs directly:

# Pattern: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/{framework}/{symbol}

# Examples:
# SwiftUI View: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swiftui/view
# UIKit UIViewController: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiviewcontroller
# Foundation URL: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/url

Using swift-doc Comments

Check if the codebase has inline documentation:

# Find documented symbols
grep -rn "/// " Sources/ | head -20

# Find symbols with full doc comments
grep -B5 -A10 "/// -" Sources/

Local Xcode Documentation

# Xcode docs location
ls ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DocumentationCache/

# Search local docs (if downloaded)
find ~/Library/Developer -name "*.doccarchive" 2>/dev/null

Dependency Documentation

GitHub README

Most Swift packages have documentation in their README:

# Get repo URL from Package.resolved
cat Package.resolved | jq -r '.pins[] | "\(.identity): \(.location)"'

# Then fetch the README (example with curl)
# curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/owner/repo/main/README.md

Common Documentation Locations

Package	Documentation
Alamofire	https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire
SwiftyJSON	https://github.com/SwiftyJSON/SwiftyJSON
Kingfisher	https://github.com/onevcat/Kingfisher
SnapKit	https://github.com/SnapKit/SnapKit
Vapor	https://docs.vapor.codes

From Package.swift

# Find dependencies and their sources
grep -A2 ".package(" Package.swift

Swift Standard Library

Common Types

# String: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/string
# Array: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/array
# Dictionary: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/dictionary
# Optional: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/optional
# Result: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/result

Protocol Reference

# Codable: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/codable
# Hashable: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/hashable
# Equatable: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/equatable
# Comparable: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/comparable
# Identifiable: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/identifiable

Search Strategies

Find How Something Is Used

# Find usage examples in the codebase
grep -rn "URLSession" Sources/

# Find imports
grep -rn "^import " Sources/ | sort -u

Check Availability

# Find availability annotations
grep -rn "@available" Sources/

# Common pattern
grep -rn "if #available" Sources/

Quick Reference: Common APIs

Async/Await

// Task, async, await - Swift 5.5+
// https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swift/task

Combine

// Publisher, Subscriber, Subject
// https://developer.apple.com/documentation/combine

SwiftUI

// View, @State, @Binding, @ObservedObject
// https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swiftui

Tips

• Apple's documentation URLs are predictable: /documentation/{framework}/{symbol}
• GitHub READMEs are usually the best starting point for dependencies
• Check Package.resolved for exact versions being used
• Search the codebase for usage examples - often more helpful than docs

MCP Fallback

For programmatic access or when web lookup isn't sufficient:

• lookup_apple_api - Fetches structured Apple documentation
• get_dependency_docs - Fetches README from GitHub
• search_symbols - Searches local and Apple symbols together