swiftui-observable-viewmodel-boilerplate

SwiftUI @Observable ViewModel Boilerplate

RULES — Follow these with no exceptions

1. Use @Observable (Swift Observation, iOS 17+). Never @ObservableObject / @Published / @StateObject / @ObservedObject. This rule is enforced by hook H-W-6.
2. Every ViewModel is @MainActor @Observable final class. @MainActor because views read it on the main thread; final because subclassing an Observable breaks tracking.
3. Views hold ViewModels via @State, not @StateObject or @ObservedObject. @State is the correct property wrapper for @Observable reference types since iOS 17.
4. One ViewModel per screen. A view doesn't share a ViewModel with its parent — if it needs parent data, pass values in the initializer.
5. Public mutable properties; no @Published. The macro tracks every stored property automatically. Add explicit @ObservationIgnored only on caches or other internal state that shouldn't trigger re-renders.
6. Async methods do the network work. The View calls .task { await viewModel.load() }, not onAppear { viewModel.load() }.
7. Loading / data / error state is explicit. Three state properties: isLoading: Bool, the data (items: [T]), and errorMessage: String?. No nil-as-sentinel loading states.

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When to invoke

• Creating a new file under ViewModels/.
• Converting a pre-iOS-17 @ObservableObject ViewModel to @Observable.
• Debugging "view doesn't re-render when I mutate the ViewModel" bugs.

The canonical shape

import SwiftUI

@MainActor
@Observable
final class FeedViewModel {
    var posts: [Post] = []
    var isLoading = false
    var errorMessage: String?

    func load() async {
        isLoading = true
        errorMessage = nil
        do {
            let response: PaginatedResponse<Post> = try await APIClient.shared.get(path: "/feed")
            posts = response.data
        } catch {
            errorMessage = "Couldn't load feed. Pull to refresh."
        }
        isLoading = false
    }

    func toggleLike(_ post: Post) {
        // Optimistic mutation — see swiftui-optimistic-ui-pattern
        guard let idx = posts.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == post.id }) else { return }
        posts[idx].likedByCurrentUser.toggle()
        Task {
            _ = try? await APIClient.shared.post(path: "/posts/\(post.id)/like") as EmptyResponse
        }
    }
}

The canonical View shape

struct FeedView: View {
    @State private var viewModel = FeedViewModel()

    var body: some View {
        List(viewModel.posts) { post in
            FeedCardView(post: post)
        }
        .overlay {
            if viewModel.isLoading && viewModel.posts.isEmpty {
                ProgressView()
            }
        }
        .task {
            await viewModel.load()
        }
    }
}

Why @State for an @Observable class

Before iOS 17, classes used @StateObject because @State required Equatable value semantics. The Observation framework removed that requirement: @State now correctly owns the reference, participates in SwiftUI's identity system, and re-renders on any tracked property change.

Using @StateObject with @Observable compiles but is wrong — you get a warning and observation won't trigger.

Common pitfalls

Mixing @Published and @Observable

Anti-pattern (enforced by hook H-W-6):

// ❌ NEVER
@Observable
final class BadViewModel {
    @Published var items: [Item] = []   // @Published has no effect here
}

Fix: Remove @Published. The @Observable macro auto-tracks every stored property.

Using @ObservedObject in the View

// ❌
struct FeedView: View {
    @ObservedObject var viewModel: FeedViewModel  // doesn't own the lifetime
}

Fix: @State private var viewModel = FeedViewModel() if the view owns it, or plain let viewModel: FeedViewModel if the parent injects it.

Not annotating @MainActor

Symptom: "Property access must be on main actor" crash when a network callback mutates posts.

Fix: @MainActor on the class declaration. All methods now run on main; network work happens inside async methods and the await hops off and back on.

onAppear instead of .task

// ❌
.onAppear { Task { await viewModel.load() } }

Fix: .task { await viewModel.load() }. .task is cancelled when the view disappears; onAppear leaks.

Observation silently broken

If re-renders don't happen:

1. Check the class has @Observable — not @ObservableObject.
2. Check the view uses @State — not @StateObject.
3. Check the property is stored (not computed). Observation doesn't track computed properties unless they read other tracked properties during evaluation.
4. Check deploymentTarget.iOS is 17+ in project.yml.

Template reference

There's no dedicated template — @Observable ViewModels are pure boilerplate. See ios-feature-scaffold for the generator that produces Model + ViewModel + View in one pass.

Related skills

• swiftui-optimistic-ui-pattern — for mutation methods.
• swiftui-equatable-hashable-for-diffing — so your model types trigger re-renders correctly.
• ios-api-client-foundation — for the networking layer called from async methods.