Xcode Select Version

Points a macOS runner at a specific Xcode installation, so every later step in the job compiles against the version you named instead of the image default.

This is a StepSecurity maintained action: a secure drop-in replacement for mobiledevops/xcode-select-version-action, with the same inputs and the same behaviour.

Usage

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: macos-15
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7

      - uses: step-security/xcode-select-version-action@v1
        with:
          xcode-select-version: "16.4"

      - run: xcodebuild -version

Inputs

Name	Required	Description
xcode-select-version	yes	Version of an Xcode already installed on the image

There are no outputs. The action changes the runner's active developer directory, which subsequent steps pick up automatically.

Choosing a version

Only versions already present on the runner image can be selected; this action installs nothing. The version you pass has to match the image's own naming exactly, because it resolves to /Applications/Xcode_<version>.app. That means 16.4 and 16.4.0 are different bundles, and only one of them exists.

Quote the value in YAML. Unquoted, 16.40 and 16.4 are both parsed as the number 16.4, and a trailing zero you meant to keep disappears.

The available versions change as images are updated, so check the runner images documentation for the image you target rather than relying on a list here. The xcodebuild -version step in the example above records what the job actually used.

Failure modes

The step fails if the requested version is not installed, reporting Xcode <version> not installed. It also fails if xcode-select itself refuses the switch, in which case its own error is passed through.

Licence

MIT. See LICENSE.