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This guide will walk you through setting up Loop for local development on macOS.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:
  • A Mac running macOS
  • Xcode installed
  • An Apple Developer account (free account works fine)
  • Git installed

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Setup Steps

1

Fork the repository

Forking creates a personal copy of the Loop repository under your GitHub account. This allows you to make changes without affecting the original project.
  1. Go to the Loop repository on GitHub
  2. Click the “Fork” button at the top right of the screen
  3. You should see Loop forked from MrKai77/Loop on your forked repository page
2

Clone your fork

Clone your forked repository to your local machine:
cd ~/Downloads  # Or your preferred directory
git clone https://github.com/{your-username}/Loop.git
cd Loop
open Loop.xcodeproj
Replace {your-username} with your actual GitHub username. The project will automatically open in Xcode.
3

Set up your Apple Developer account

If you already have an Apple Developer account configured in Xcode, skip this step.
  1. Enroll your account in the Developer Program at developer.apple.com (free account works)
  2. Open Xcode and navigate to Xcode → Preferences in the menu bar
  3. Click the Accounts tab
  4. Add your Apple ID to Xcode
  5. Select your account from the list on the left
  6. Click Manage Certificates... at the bottom
  7. Click the + icon and select Apple Development
  8. When Apple Development Certificates appears in the list, press Done
4

Sign Loop with your developer account

Configure Xcode to sign the Loop app with your developer certificate:
  1. Wait for all dependencies to resolve (this may take a few minutes)
  2. In the file browser on the left, click Loop at the very top (icon with App Store logo)
  3. In the pane on the right, click Signing & Capabilities at the top
  4. Under Signing, change the Team dropdown to your Apple ID
  5. Under Signing → macOS, change the Signing Certificate to Development
5

Build and run Loop

Test that everything is set up correctly:
  1. Press ⌘ + R to build and run Loop
  2. If successful, you’ll see an alert that Loop requires Accessibility permissions
  3. For simple code changes, you don’t need to enable these permissions
  4. For changes to Loop’s movement or core functionality, you’ll need to grant Accessibility access
6

Install SwiftFormat

SwiftFormat is required for all contributions to ensure consistent code formatting.Install SwiftFormat using Homebrew:
brew install swiftformat
Before submitting any PR, format your code:
swiftformat .
PRs with incorrect formatting will be automatically rejected by our CI checks.

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Next Steps

Now that your environment is set up, learn about:

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