A developer-friendly command-line interface layer on top of Swift Package Manager with better output and imperative package management.
Ice is a command-line package manager for Swift that provides a developer-friendly interface on top of the official Swift Package Manager (SPM). It solves the problem of SPM's verbosity and lack of features like imperative package management, beautiful output, and watch mode, while remaining fully compatible with SPM.
Swift developers who use Swift Package Manager and want a more intuitive, feature-rich command-line experience without leaving the SPM ecosystem.
Developers choose Ice because it enhances SPM with practical features like short commands, imperative dependency management, and a watch mode, all while ensuring seamless interoperability with existing SPM workflows.
❄️ A developer friendly package manager for Swift; 100% compatible with Swift Package Manager
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Provides beautiful, information-dense output during builds and tests, as demonstrated in the animated GIFs in the README, making it easier to parse compilation results.
Allows direct manipulation of Package.swift via commands like `ice add RxSwift`, simplifying dependency management compared to manual editing and reducing errors.
Includes a centralized registry of popular Swift packages, enabling quick reference and addition without full URLs, with support for custom entries via `ice registry add`.
Automatically rebuilds and restarts applications on source changes using the `-w` flag, streamlining iterative development without manual restarts.
Ice is designed as a proving ground for features that might be integrated into SPM, so its long-term relevance could diminish if SPM adopts similar improvements, risking abandonment.
The built-in registry only includes the most-starred Swift repositories, requiring manual configuration for less popular or private packages, which adds overhead.
Requires installation via Mint or manual compilation, adding an extra step compared to using SPM commands that are bundled with Swift, potentially complicating setup.