--- title: Creating a Swift package framework: swift-package-manager role: article role_heading: Article path: swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/creatingswiftpackage --- # Creating a Swift package Bundle executable or shareable code into a standalone Swift package. ## Overview Overview A Swift package is a directory that contains sources, dependencies, and has a Package.swift manifest file at its root. Swift packages can provide libraries, executables, tests, plugins, and macros. The package manifest defines what is in the package, which is itself written in Swift. The API reference for PackageDescription defines the types, properties, and functions that go into assembling a package manifest. Creating a Library Package Swift package manager supports creating packages using swift package init. By default, the package manager creates a package structure focused on providing a library. For example, you can create a directory and run the command swift package init to create a package: $ mkdir MyPackage $ cd MyPackage $ swift package init The structure provided follows package manager conventions, and provides a fully operational example. In addition to the package manifest, Swift sources are collected by target name under the Sources directory, and tests collected, also by target name, under the Tests directory: ├── Package.swift ├── Sources │   └── MyPackage │   └── MyPackage.swift └── Tests └── MyPackageTests └── MyPackageTests.swift You can immediately use both of swift build and swift test: $ swift build $ swift test Creating an Executable Package Swift Package Manager can also create a new package with a simplified structure focused on creating executables. For example, create a directory and run the init command with the option --type executable to get a package that provides a “Hello World” executable: $ mkdir MyExecutable $ cd MyExecutable $ swift package init --type executable $ swift run Hello, World! There is an additional option for creating a command-line executable based on the swift-argument-parser, convenient for parsing command line arguments and structuring commands. Use tool for the type option in swift package init. Like the executable template, it is fully operational and also prints “Hello World”. Creating a Macro Package Swift Package Manager can generate boilerplate for custom macros: $ mkdir MyMacro $ cd MyMacro $ swift package init --type macro $ swift build $ swift run The value 42 was produced by the code "a + b" This creates a package with: A .macro type target with its required dependencies on swift-syntax, A library .target containing the macro’s code. An .executableTarget for running the macro. A .testTarget for test the macro implementation. note: A .testTarget cannot depend on another .testTarget. To work around this, create a non-test target for the test target to depend on. A runtime error (sample below) will occur if the “test only” target is added as a dependency on non-test targets. dyld[67034]: Library not loaded: @rpath/libTesting.dylib Referenced from: <30F1D85A-75C7-358C-B169-96E34550501C> /Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/swift-package Reason: tried: '/usr/lib/swift/libTesting.dylib' (no such file, not in dyld cache), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/lib/swift/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/PackageFrameworks/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/PackageFrameworks/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/jappleseed/Library/Developer/Toolchains/swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2026-04-01-a.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/jappleseed/Library/Developer/Toolchains/swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2026-04-01-a.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/usr/lib/swift/libTesting.dylib' (no such file, not in dyld cache), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/lib/swift/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/PackageFrameworks/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/jappleseed/git/swiftlang/swift-package-manager-3/.build/out/Products/Debug/PackageFrameworks/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Users/jappleseed/Library/Developer/Toolchains/swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2026-04-01-a.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/jappleseed/Library/Developer/Toolchains/swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2026-04-01-a.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift-6.2/macosx/libTesting.dylib' (no such file) The sample macro, StringifyMacro, is documented in the Swift Evolution proposal for Expression Macros and the WWDC Write Swift macros video. For further documentation, see macros in The Swift Programming Language book. ## See Also ### Guides - [Setting the Swift tools version](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/settingswifttoolsversion.md) - [Adding dependencies to a Swift package](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/addingdependencies.md) - [Resolving and updating dependencies](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/resolvingpackageversions.md) - [Creating C language targets](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/creatingclanguagetargets.md) - [Using build configurations](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/usingbuildconfigurations.md) - [Packaging based on the version of Swift](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/swiftversionspecificpackaging.md) - [Bundling resources with a Swift package](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/bundlingresources.md) - [Releasing and publishing a Swift package](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/releasingpublishingapackage.md) - [Generating Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/generatingsboms.md) - [Continuous Integration Workflows](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/continuousintegration.md) - [Plugins](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/plugins.md) - [Module Aliasing](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/modulealiasing.md) - [Using a package registry](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/usingswiftpackageregistry.md) - [Package Collections](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/packagecollections.md) - [Using shell completion scripts](swift-package-manager/documentation/packagemanagerdocs/usingshellcompletion.md)