What is Sourcery?

Sourcery scans your source code, applies your personal templates and generates Swift code for you, allowing you to use meta-programming techniques to save time and decrease potential mistakes.

Using it offers many benefits:

• Write less repetitive code and make it easy to adhere to DRY principle.
• It allows you to create better code, one that would be hard to maintain without it, e.g. performing automatic property level difference in tests
• Limits the risk of introducing human error when refactoring.
• Sourcery doesn't use runtime tricks, in fact, it allows you to leverage compiler, even more, creating more safety.
• Immediate feedback: Sourcery features built-in daemon support, enabling you to write your templates in real-time side-by-side with generated code.

Sourcery is so meta that it is used to code-generate its boilerplate code

Table of Contents generated with DocToc

• What is Sourcery?
• Why?
• Examples
• Writing templates
  • Custom Stencil tags and filter
  • Using Source Annotations
    • Rules:
    • Format:
    • Accessing in templates:
  • Inline code generation
  • Per file code generation
• Installing
• Usage
• Contributing
• License
• Attributions
• Other Libraries / Tools

Why?

Swift features very limited runtime and no meta-programming features. Which leads our projects to contain boilerplate code.

Sourcery exists to allow Swift developers to stop doing the same thing over and over again while still maintaining strong typing, preventing bugs and leveraging compiler.

Have you ever?

• Had to write equatable/hashable?
• Had to write NSCoding support?
• Had to implement JSON serialization?
• Wanted to use Lenses?

If you did then you probably found yourself writing repetitive code to deal with those scenarios, does this feel right?

Even worse, if you ever add a new property to a type all of those implementations have to be updated, or you will end up with bugs. In those scenarios usually compiler will not generate the error for you, which leads to error prone code.

Examples

I want to generate `Equatable` implementation

Template used to generate equality for all types that conform to :AutoEquatable, allowing us to avoid writing boilerplate code.

It adds :Equatable conformance to all types, except protocols (because it would require turning them into PAT's). For protocols it's just generating func ==.

Stencil template

Available variable annotations:

• skipEquality allows you to skip variable from being compared.
• arrayEquality mark this to use array comparsion for variables that have array of items that don't implement Equatable but have == operator e.g. Protocols

Example output:

// MARK: - AdNodeViewModel AutoEquatable
extension AdNodeViewModel: Equatable {}

internal func == (lhs: AdNodeViewModel, rhs: AdNodeViewModel) -> Bool {
    guard lhs.remoteAdView == rhs.remoteAdView else { return false }
    guard lhs.hidesDisclaimer == rhs.hidesDisclaimer else { return false }
    guard lhs.type == rhs.type else { return false }
    guard lhs.height == rhs.height else { return false }

    guard lhs.attributedDisclaimer == rhs.attributedDisclaimer else { return false }

    return true
}

I want to generate `Hashable` implementation

Template used to generate hashing for all types that conform to :AutoHashable, allowing us to avoid writing boilerplate code.

It adds :Hashable conformance to all types, except protocols (because it would require turning them into PAT's). For protocols it's just generating var hashValue comparator.

Stencil template

Available variable annotations:

• skipHashing allows you to skip variable from being compared.
• includeInHashing is only applied on enums and allows us to add some computed variable into hashing logic

Example output:

// MARK: - AdNodeViewModel AutoHashable
extension AdNodeViewModel: Hashable {

    internal var hashValue: Int {
        return combineHashes(remoteAdView.hashValue, hidesDisclaimer.hashValue, type.hashValue, height.hashValue, attributedDisclaimer.hashValue, 0)
    }
}

I want to list all cases in an enum

Generate count and allCases for any enumeration that is marked with AutoCases phantom protocol.

Stencil Template

Example output:

extension BetaSettingsGroup {
  static var count: Int { return 8 }

  static var allCases: [BetaSettingsGroup] {
    return [
      .featuresInDevelopment,
      .advertising,
      .analytics,
      .marketing,
      .news,
      .notifications,
      .tech,
      .appInformation
    ]
  }
}

I want to generate test mocks for protocols

Contributed by @marinbenc

For each protocol implementing AutoMockable it will...

Create a class called ProtocolNameMock in which it will...

For each function:

• Implement the function
• Add a functionCalled boolean to check if the function was called
• Add a functionRecievedArguments tuple to check the arguments that were passed to the function
• Add a functionReturnValue variable and return it when the function is called.

For each variable:

• Add a gettable and settable variable with the same name and type

Issues and limitations:

• Overloaded methods will produce compiler erros since the variables above the functions have the same name. Workaround: delete the variables on top of one of the functions, or rename them.
• Handling success/failure cases (for callbacks) is tricky to do automatically, so you have to do that yourself.
• This is not a full replacement for hand-written mocks, but it will get you 90% of the way there. Any more complex logic than changing return types, you will have to implement yourself. This only removes the most boring boilerplate you have to write.

Stencil template

Example output:

class MockableServiceMock: MockableService {
    //MARK: - functionWithArguments
    var functionWithArgumentsCalled = false
    var functionWithArgumentsRecievedArguments: (firstArgument: String, onComplete: (String)-> Void)?

    //MARK: - functionWithCallback
    var functionWithCallbackCalled = false
    var functionWithCallbackRecievedArguments: (firstArgument: String, onComplete: (String)-> Void)?

    func functionWithCallback(_ firstArgument: String, onComplete: @escaping (String)-> Void) {
        functionWithCallbackCalled = true
        functionWithCallbackRecievedArguments = (firstArgument: firstArgument, onComplete: onComplete)
    }
  ...

I want to generate Lenses for all structs

Contributed by @filip_zawada

What are Lenses? Great explanation by @mbrandonw

This script assumes you follow swift naming convention, e.g. structs start with an upper letter.

Stencil template

Example output:

extension House {

  static let roomsLens = Lens<House, Room>(
    get: { $0.rooms },
    set: { rooms, house in
       House(rooms: rooms, address: house.address, size: house.size)
    }
  )
  static let addressLens = Lens<House, String>(
  get: { $0.address },
  set: { address, house in
     House(rooms: house.rooms, address: address, size: house.size)
    }
  )
  ...

I want to have diffing in tests

Template used to generate much better output when using equality in tests, instead of having to read wall of text it's used to generate precise property level differences. This template uses Sourcery Diffable implementation

from this:

to this:

Stencil Template

Available annotations:

• skipEquality allows you to skip variable from being compared.

I want to generate `LinuxMain.swift` for all my tests

For all test cases generates allTests static variable and passes all of them as XCTestCaseEntry to XCTMain. Run with --args testimports='import MyTests' parameter to import test modules.

Stencil template

Available annotations:

• disableTests allows you to disable the whole test case.

Example output:

import XCTest
//testimports

extension AutoInjectionTests {
  static var allTests = [
    ("testThatItResolvesAutoInjectedDependencies", testThatItResolvesAutoInjectedDependencies),
    ...
  ]
}

extension AutoWiringTests {
  static var allTests = [
    ("testThatItCanResolveWithAutoWiring", testThatItCanResolveWithAutoWiring),
    ...
  ]
}

...

XCTMain([
  testCase(AutoInjectionTests.allTests),
  testCase(AutoWiringTests.allTests),
  ...
])

Writing templates

Sourcery templates are powered by Stencil

Make sure you leverage Sourcery built-in daemon to make writing templates a pleasure: you can open template side-by-side with generated code and see it change live.

There are multiple ways to access your types:

• type.TypeName => access specific type by name
• types.all => all types, excluding protocols
• types.classes
• types.structs
• types.enums
• types.protocols => lists all protocols (that were defined in the project)
• types.inheriting.BaseClass => lists all types inherting from known BaseClass (only those that were defined in source code that Sourcery scanned)
• types.implementing.Protocol => lists all types conforming to given Protocol (only those that were defined in source code that Sourcery scanned)
• types.based.BaseClassOrProtocol => lists all types implementing or inheriting from BaseClassOrProtocol (all type names encountered, even those that Sourcery didn't scan)

All of these properties return Type objects.

**What are _known_ and _unknown_ types**

Currently Sourcery only scans files from a directory that you tell it to scan. This way it can get full information about types defined in these sources. These types are considered known types. For each of known types Sourcery provides Type object. You can get it for example by its name from types collection. Type object contains information about whether type that it describes is a struct, enum, class or a protocol, what are its properties and methods, what protocols it implements and so on. This is done recursively, so if you have a class that inherits from another class (or struct that implements a protocol) and they are both known types you will have information about both of them and you will be able to access parent type's Type object using type.inherits.TypeName (or type.implements.ProtocolName).

Everything defined outside of scanned sources is considered as unknown types. For such types Sourcery doesn't provide Type object. For that reason variables (and other "typed" types, like method parameters etc.) of such types will only contain typeName property, but their type property will be nil.

If you have an extension of unknown type defined in scanned sources Sourcery will create Type for it (it's kind property will be extension). But this object will contain only declarations defined in this extension. Several extensions of unknown type will be merged into one Type object the same way as extensions of known types.

See #87 for details.

Available types:

**Type**. Properties:

• name <- name
• kind <- convience accessor that will contain one of enum, class, struct, protocol, it will also provide extension for types that are unknown to us(e.g. 3rd party or objc), but had extension in the project
• isGeneric <- info whether the type is generic
• localName <- name within parent scope
• variables <- list of all variables defined in this type, excluding variables from protocols or inheritance
  • if you want to access all available variables, including those from inherited / protocol, then use allVariables
  • if you want to accces computed, stored, instance, or static variables, you can do so using our custom filters on both variables and allVariables
• methods <- list of all methods defined in this type, excluding those from protocols or inheritance
• allMethods <- same principles as in allVariables
• initializers <- list of all initializers
• inherits.BaseClass => if type is a class and it inherits from a known class named BaseClass this property returns Type object for BaseClass, otherwise returns nil
• implements.Protocol => if type implements a known protocol named Protocol this property returns Type object for Protocol, otherwise returns nil
• based.BaseClassOrProtocol => if type either implements a protocol or inherits from a class named BaseClassOrProtocol this property returns BaseClassOrProtocol itself, otherwise returns nil. All type names encountered, even those that Sourcery didn't scan
• containedTypes <- list of types contained within this type
• parentName <- list of parent type (for contained ones)
• attributes <- type attributes, i.e. type.attributes.objc
• annotations <- dictionary with configured annotations

**Enum**. Built on top of `Type` and provides some additional properties:

• rawType <- enum raw type
• cases <- list of Enum.Case
• hasAssociatedValues <- true if any of cases has associated values

**EnumCase**. Properties:

• name <- name
• rawValue <- raw value
• associatedValues <- list of AssociatedValue
• annotations <- dictionary with configured annotations

**AssociatedValue**. Properties:

• localName <- name to use to construct value, i.e. value in Foo.foo(value: ...)
• externalName <- name to use when binding value, i.e. value or other in enum Foo { case foo(value: ..., other: ... )}. Will use index as a fallback
• typeName <- name of type of associated value (TypeName)
• actualTypeName <- returns typeName.actualTypeName or if it's nil returns typeName
• unwrappedTypeName <- shorthand for typeName.unwrappedTypeName
• isOptional <- shorthand for typeName.isOptional
• isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional <- shorthand for typeName. isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional
• isTuple <- shorthand for typeName.isTuple
• isClosure <- shorthand for typeName.isClosure
• isArray <- shorthand for typeName.isArray

**Variable**. Properties:

• name <- Name
• type <- type of the variable, if known
• typeName <- returns name of the type (TypeName)
• actualTypeName <- returns typeName.actualTypeName or if it's nil returns typeName
• unwrappedTypeName <- shorthand for typeName.unwrappedTypeName
• isOptional <- shorthand for typeName.isOptional
• isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional <- shorthand for typeName. isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional
• isComputed <- whether is computed
• isStatic <- whether is static variable
• isTuple <- shorthand for typeName.isTuple
• isClosure <- shorthand for typeName.isClosure
• isArray <- shorthand for typeName.isArray
• readAccess <- what is the protection access for reading?
• writeAccess <- what is the protection access for writing?
• attributes <- variable attributes, i.e. var.attributes.NSManaged
• annotations <- dictionary with configured annotations

**Method**. Properties:

• name <- full name of the method including generic constraints, i.e. func foo(bar: Bar) or foo<T>(bar: T)
• selectorName <- selector name of the method, i.e for func foo(bar: Bar) -> Bar it is foo(bar:), for func foo<T>(bar: T) it is foo(bar:)
• shortName <- short method name, i.e. for func foo(bar: Bar) -> Bar it is foo, for func foo<T>(bar: T) it is foo<T>
• parameters <- list of all method parameters
• returnType <- return type, if known, for initializers - containing type
• returnTypeName <- return type name (TypeName). Will be Void for methods without return value or empty string for initializers. For generic methods can include generic constraints specified with where, i.e. func foo<T>(bar: T) -> T where T: Equatable it is T where T: Equatable
• actualReturnTypeName <- returns returnTypeName.actualTypeName or if it's nil returns returnTypeName
• unwrappedReturnTypeName <- shorthand for returnTypeName.unwrappedTypeName
• isOptionalReturnType <- shorthand for returnTypeName.isOptional
• isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptionalReturnType <- shorthand for returnTypeName. isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional
• accessLevel <- method access level
• isStatic <- whether method is static
• isClass <- whether method is class (can be overriden by subclasses)
• isInitializer <- whether method is an initializer
• isFailableInitializer <- whether method is failable initializer
• attributes <- method attributes, i.e. method.attributes.discardableResult
• annotations <- dictionary with configured annotations

**MethodParameter**. Properties:

• name <- parameter name
• argumentLabel <- argument label (external name), if not set will be eqal to name
• type <- type of parameter, if known
• typeName <- parameter type name (TypeName)
• actualTypeName <- returns typeName.actualTypeName or if it's nil returns typeName
• unwrappedTypeName <- shorthand for typeName.unwrappedTypeName
• isOptional <- shorthand for typeName.isOptional
• isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional <- shorthand for typeName. isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional
• isTuple <- shorthand for typeName.isTuple
• isClosure <- shorthand for typeName.isClosure
• isArray <- shorthand for typeName.isArray
• typeAttributes <- parameter's type attributes, shorthand for typeName.attributes, i.e. param.typeAttributes.escaping

**TypeName**. Properties:

• name <- type name
• actualTypeName <- if given type is a typealias or contained type name will contain actual fully qualified type name
• unwrappedTypeName <- returns name of the type, unwrapping the optional e.g. for variable with type Int? this would return Int, removing attributes and generic constraints
• isOptional <- whether is optional
• isImplicitlyUnwrappedOptional <- whether is implicitly unwrapped optional
• isVoid <- whether type is Void (Void or ())
• isTuple <- whether given type is a tuple
• tuple <- returns information about tuple type (TupleType) based on actualTypeName.unwrappedTypeName
• isClosure <- shorthand for typeName.isClosure
• isArray <- shorthand for typeName.isArray
• attributes <- type attributes, i.e. typeName.attributes.escaping

**TupleType**. Properties:

• name <- type name
• elements <- returns tuple elements information (TupleElement)

**TupleElement**. Properties:

• name <- element name
• type <- type of element, if known
• typeName <- element type name (TypeName)
• unwrappedTypeName <- shorthand for typeName.unwrappedTypeName
• isOptional <- shorthand for typeName.isOptional
• isTuple <- shorthand for typeName.isTuple
• isClosure <- shorthand for typeName.isClosure

**ArrayType**. Properties:

• name <- type name
• elementType <- array element type, if known
• elementTypeName <- array element type name (TypeName)

Custom Stencil tags and filter

• {{ name|upperFirst }} - makes first letter in name uppercase
• {{ name|replace:"substring","replacement" }} - replaces occurances of substring with replacement in name (case sensitive)
• {% if name|contains:"Foo" %} - check if name contains arbitrary substring, can be negated with ! prefix.
• {% if name|hasPrefix:"Foo" %}- check if name starts with arbitrary substring, can be negated with ! prefix.
• {% if name|hasSuffix:"Foo" %}- check if name ends with arbitrary substring, can be negated with ! prefix.
• static, instance, computed, stored, tuple - can be used on Variable[s] as filter e.g. {% for var in variables|instance %}, can be negated with ! prefix.
• static, instance, class, initializer - can be used on Method[s] as filter e.g. {% for method in allMethods|instance %}, can be negated with ! prefix.
• enum, class, struct, protocol - can be used for Type[s] as filter, can be negated with ! prefix.
• based, implements, inherits - can be used for Type[s], Variable[s], Associated value[s], can be negated with ! prefix.
• count - can be used to get count of filtered array
• annotated - can be used on Type[s], Variable[s], Method[s] and Enum Case[s] to filter by annotation, e.g. {% for var in variable|annotated: \"skipDescription\"%}, can be negated with ! prefix.

Using Source Annotations

Sourcery supports annotating your classes and variables with special annotations, similar how attributes work in Rust / Java

/// sourcery: skipPersistence
/// Some documentation comment
/// sourcery: anotherAnnotation = 232, yetAnotherAnnotation = "value"
/// Documentation
var precomputedHash: Int

If you want to attribute multiple items with same attributes, you can use section annotations:

/// sourcery:begin: skipEquality, skipPersistence
  var firstVariable: Int
  var secondVariable: Int
/// sourcery:end

Rules:

• Multiple annotations can occur on the same line
• You can add multiline annotations
• You can interleave annotations with documentation
• Sourcery scans all sourcery: annotations in the given comment block above the source until first non-comment/doc line

Format:

• simple entry, e.g. sourcery: skipPersistence
• key = number, e.g. sourcery: another = 123
• key = string, e.g. sourcery: jsonKey = "json_key"

Accessing in templates:

{% ifnot variable.annotations.skipPersistence %}
  var local{{ variable.name|capitalize }} = json["{{ variable.annotations.jsonKey }}"] as? {{ variable.typeName }}
{% endif %}

Checking for existance of at least one annotation:

Sometimes it is desirable to only generate code if there's at least one field annotated.

{% if type.variables|annotated:"jsonKey" %}{% for var in type.variables|instance|annotated:"jsonKey" %}
  var local{{ var.name|capitalize }} = json["{{ var.annotations.jsonKey }}"] as? {{ var.typeName }}
{% endfor %}{% endif %}

Inline code generation

Sourcery supports inline code generation, you just need to put same markup in your code and template, e.g.

// in template:

{% for type in types.all %}
// sourcery:inline:{{ type.name }}.TemplateName
// sourcery:end
{% endfor %}

// in source code:

class MyType {

// sourcery:inline:MyType.TemplateName
// sourcery:end

}

Sourcery will generate the template code and then perform replacement in your source file. Inlined generated code is not parsed to avoid chicken-egg problem.

Per file code generation

Sourcery supports generating code in a separate file per type, you just need to put file annotation in a template, e.g.

{% for type in types.all %}
// sourcery:file:Generated/{{ type.name}}+TemplateName
// sourcery:end
{% endfor %}

Sourcery will generate the template code and then write its annotated parts to corresponding files. In example above it will create Generated/<type name>+TemplateName.generated.swift file for each of scanned types.

Installing

Binary form

The easiest way to download the tool right now is to just grab a newest `.zip` distribution from [releases tab](https://github.com/krzysztofzablocki/Sourcery/releases).

Via CocoaPods

If you're using CocoaPods, you can simply add pod 'Sourcery' to your Podfile.

This will download the Sourcery binaries and dependencies in Pods/. You just need to add $PODS_ROOT/Sourcery/bin/sourcery {source} {templates} {output} in your Script Build Phases.

Via Swift Package Manager

If you're using SwiftPM, you can simply add 'Sourcery' to your manifest.

Sourcery is placed in Packages. After your first swift build, you can run .build/debug/sourcery {source} {templates} {output}.

From Source

You can clone it from the repo and just run `Sourcery.xcworkspace`.

Usage

Sourcery is a command line tool sourcery:

$ ./sourcery <source> <templates> <output> [--args arg1=value,arg2]

Arguments:

• source - Path to a source swift files.
• templates - Path to templates. File or Directory.
• output - Path to output. File or Directory.
• args - Additional arguments to pass to templates. Each argument can have explicit value or will have implicit true value. Arguments should be separated with , without spaces. Arguments are accessible in templates via argument.name

Options:

• --watch [default: false] - Watch both code and template folders for changes and regenerate automatically.
• --verbose [default: false] - Turn on verbose logging for ignored entities

Contributing

Contributions to Sourcery are welcomed and encouraged!

It is easy to get involved. Please see the Contributing guide for more details.

A list of contributors is available through GitHub.

To give clarity of what is expected of our community, Sourcery has adopted the code of conduct defined by the Contributor Covenant. This document is used across many open source communities, and I think it articulates my values well. For more, see the Code of Conduct.

License

Sourcery is available under the MIT license. See LICENSE for more information.

Attributions

This tool is powered by

• SourceKitten by JP Simard
• Stencil and few other libs by Kyle Fuller

Thank you! for:

• Mariusz Ostrowski for creating the logo.
• Artsy Eidolon team, because we use their codebase as a stub data for performance testing the parser.
• Olivier Halligon for showing me his setup scripts for CLI tools which are powering our rakefile.

Other Libraries / Tools

If you want to generate code for asset related data like .xib, .storyboards etc. use SwiftGen. SwiftGen and Sourcery are complementary tools.

Make sure to check my other libraries and tools, especially:

• KZPlayground - Powerful playgrounds for Swift and Objective-C
• KZFileWatchers - Daemon for observing local and remote file changes, used for building other developer tools (Sourcery uses it)

You can follow me on twitter for news/updates about other projects I am creating.