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The latest version of Apple's Xcode, a developer toolkit for creating apps across its devices, has added support for Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex.
Both are among the most popular vibe coding tools, or "agentic coding" tools, as Apple puts it. (The definition is a bit loose.) Integrating with Xcode aims to "supercharge productivity and creativity, streamlining the development workflow," says Susan Prescott, Apple's VP of Worldwide Developer Relations.
Xcode 26.3 is now available as a release candidate for all members of the Apple Developer Program, with a release on the App Store "coming soon."
It's also another subtle admission from Apple that its homegrown AI tools are not on par with the rest of the industry, following its decision last month to use Google Gemini to power its future AI strategy—not its own models. Apple teased its own coding assistant for its Swift programming language at WWDC 2024, but developers "grew frustrated" when by March 2025 it was still nowhere to be found, MacDailyNews reports.
Apple never shipped it to developers, and in May 2025, Bloomberg reported that the company had pivoted and teamed up with Anthropic to develop a new AI coding tool within Xcode. That appears to be the version launched this week, along with a Codex option.
Also this week, OpenAI released a Codex app for macOS (a Windows version is in the works). It aims to compete with Anthropic's Claude Code, offering a standalone program for developers outside ChatGPT. In a bid to court developers, OpenAI is offering it for free with the ChatGPT Free and Go plans "for a limited time." It's also doubling the rate limits for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu users.
"The Codex app changes how software gets built and who can build it—from pairing with a single coding agent on targeted edits to supervising coordinated teams of agents across the full lifecycle of designing, building, shipping, and maintaining software," OpenAI says.