Issue with private framework in Tuist dependency chain: compiler does not see code

Troubleshooting & how to
1

Hello everyone,
Using the latest Tuist version. I have a private repository with framework A created via Tuist. Framework B and the app are also built using Tuist. Framework B depends on A, and the app depends on B. After running tuist install --update , all dependencies are fetched. Importing frameworkA in the app works without errors, but inside framework B, importing frameworkA causes a compiler error — code from A is not visible. To fix this, I had to make repository A public. Is there a way to keep repository A private and avoid the compilation error?
Thanks in advance for your help!

2

Hey @Alexandr-Ivantsov :wave:

How is FrameworkB integrating FrameworkA? Using SwiftPM? Would you mind expanding a bit how the dependencies between different targets are declared?

3

Hi! Thanks for the follow-up. The integration of dependencies is done via Swift Package Manager. For example, in App’s Package.swift, I declare a dependency on Bframework like this:

// swift-tools-version: 6.0
import PackageDescription

#if TUIST
import struct ProjectDescription.PackageSettings

let packageSettings = PackageSettings(
    productTypes: [
        "Bframework": .framework
    ]
)
#endif

let package = Package(
    name: "App",
    products: [
        .library(name: "App", targets: ["App"])
    ],
    dependencies: [
        .package(url: "https://github.com/Alexandr-Ivantsov/Bframework.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "1.0.0"))
    ],
    targets: [
        .target(name: "App", dependencies: [
            "Bframework"
        ])
    ]
)

In Project.swift, I add Bframework using .external(name: "Bframework").

Similarly, Bframework depends on Aframework declared like this in Bframework’s Package.swift:

// swift-tools-version: 6.0
import PackageDescription

#if TUIST
import struct ProjectDescription.PackageSettings

let packageSettings = PackageSettings(
    productTypes: [
        "Aframework": .framework
    ]
)
#endif

let package = Package(
    name: "Bframework",
    products: [
        .library(name: "Bframework", targets: ["Bframework"])
    ],
    dependencies: [
        .package(url: "https://github.com/Alexandr-Ivantsov/Aframework.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "1.0.0"))
    ],
    targets: [
        .target(name: "Bframework", dependencies: [
            "Aframework"
        ])
    ]
)

And again, in Project.swift, I add Aframework via .external(name: "Aframework").

The Aframework package itself looks like this:

// swift-tools-version: 6.0
import PackageDescription

#if TUIST
import struct ProjectDescription.PackageSettings

let packageSettings = PackageSettings(
    productTypes: [:]
)
#endif

let package = Package(
    name: "Aframework",
    products: [
        .library(name: "Aframework", targets: ["Aframework"])
    ],
    dependencies: [],
    targets: [
        .target(name: "Aframework", dependencies: [])
    ]
)

Just to clarify, App, Bframework, and Aframework are placeholder names to illustrate the setup — the actual libraries and app in my project have different names. The core of the issue remains the same with my private repositories: I can import the framework at the app level, but inside the intermediate framework it fails unless the dependency is made public.

4

When you say public, do you mean making the repository public? That should have no effect on the build – after you run tuist install, all the packages you depend on should be locally resolved and during tuist generate, we only look up packages in the Tuist/.build directory.

I’d double check you end up resolving the right packages. Otherwise, if you can create a reproducible sample, that would enable us to look into this further.

5

Thank you very much for your help! I managed to solve the issue with the private repository by adding my main.swift and AppDelegate.swift files, which I had overlooked earlier. I believe that was the cause of the problem. Appreciate your guidance!