Pitlane icon

Pitlane

The Xcode replacement for indie devs: every iOS project in one window, up to 600% more simulators on the same Mac.

Download for macOS Unlock Pro $58 $29

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Pitlane screenshot

Features

One Window, Every Project

Four apps on the go means four Xcode windows, four indexers and a Mac too busy to do anything else. Pitlane keeps the projects in a list and calls xcodebuild and simctl itself, so the only thing running is the build.

Pitlane building four iOS projects from one window
Four projects in one window, no editor open.

Up to 600% More Simulators

Pitlane speeds up your simulators by switching off the roughly 170 background services each one boots that your app will never call: Siri, Spotlight, News, photo analysis, iCloud sync. Between a half and a quarter of the processes and memory survive, depending on the run: on an iOS 26.5 device, 217 processes and 23 GB became 67 and 5.8 GB on one boot, 183 and 19 GB became 76 and 7.9 GB on another. Three or four simulators now fit where one used to thrash. The change sticks across reboots, and anything an app declares in its entitlements or Info.plist stays on, worked out per simulator from the apps you point at it.

The sidebar keeps the receipts: every booted simulator with its process count, its real memory footprint, and the total against the Mac's RAM. Old MacBook, 8 GB, a build going: you can finally see what fits.

Your Agents Can Drive It

While Pitlane runs, it serves a small HTTP API on 127.0.0.1, loopback only. A script or an AI agent can list the simulators with their memory, read a project's parsed build errors, and build, run, or stop it: the same actions as the buttons, license gate included. One switch in Settings turns it off.

Errors You Can Click

Output is parsed as it streams, so problems arrive as a list instead of a wall of log. Click one and Xcode opens at that line.

147 build warnings parsed into a clickable list
147 warnings from a real project, each one a click from its line.

Every Device in One List

Simulators and cabled iPhones sit together. Pick one and Pitlane boots it, installs the build and launches with the console attached.

Destination picker showing cabled devices and simulators
No trip to Devices and Simulators.

The Reset Ladder

Clean, then DerivedData, then the package caches, then the stuck processes nobody remembers how to kill. Pitlane works down the rungs and tells you what it cleared.

Pitlane is SwiftUI and TCA under the hood. I consult on SwiftUI and TCA migrations.

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Common questions

Is there an Xcode alternative for building and running iOS apps?
Pitlane replaces the Xcode window for the loop you repeat all day: pick a project, build, run it on a simulator or a cabled iPhone, archive when it's ready. Xcode itself stays installed, because Pitlane calls its xcodebuild and simctl under the hood, but it stays closed while you work. Edit in Cursor, Claude Code or Xcode; Pitlane handles the building and running.
Do I still need Xcode installed?
Yes. Pitlane drives the Xcode you already have, a full install selected with xcode-select on macOS 14 or later, so the compiler, the simulators and the signing are Apple's own. It shares Xcode's DerivedData, so a build here and a Run in Xcode reuse the same cache.
How do I build and run several iOS projects without opening an Xcode window for each?
Add them to Pitlane's sidebar. Each project remembers its own scheme, configuration and destination, builds can run side by side, and Pitlane idles at a few tens of megabytes, so the only thing costing RAM is the build itself. Five open Xcode windows cost gigabytes, since each one runs its own indexer, SourceKit and previews process whether or not you are building in it.
Can Claude Code, Cursor or another AI agent build and run my iOS app?
Yes. While Pitlane runs it serves a small HTTP API on 127.0.0.1, loopback only. An agent can list your projects and simulators with their memory, start a build, read the parsed errors and warnings, launch the app and stop it: the same actions as the buttons, license gate included. curl 127.0.0.1:4747/ prints the usage text, and one switch in Settings turns the API off.
How do I make the iOS simulator use less memory?
Reduce Simulator Memory in Pitlane switches off the roughly 170 background services a simulator boots that your app never calls: Siri, Spotlight, News, photo analysis, iCloud sync. Each simulator ends up two to four times smaller in memory (on an iOS 26.5 device, 217 processes became 67 on one boot and 183 became 76 on another), the change sticks across reboots, and anything your apps declare in their entitlements or Info.plist, from push to widgets to HealthKit, stays on. It needs an iOS 18 or newer runtime, and Restore Background Services puts a simulator back to stock.
Can I run four or five iOS simulators at once on an 8 GB or 16 GB Mac?
That is what the memory reduction is for. Stock simulators together mean swapping on a modest Mac; reduced ones fit several at once, and Pitlane can switch the services off before every Build & Run so new simulators start light. The sidebar shows every booted simulator's process count and real footprint, plus the total against your RAM, so you can see what fits instead of guessing.
How do I read xcodebuild errors without scrolling through the log?
Pitlane parses the output as it streams into a list of errors and warnings. Click one and Xcode opens at that line; an agent reads the same list over the API. The full log is still there too.
How do I fix a stuck Xcode build or clear DerivedData without opening Xcode?
Pitlane's reset ladder goes Clean, then DerivedData, then the package caches, then the global SPM cache, then the stuck processes, ordered by how much each rung throws away so you start with the cheapest fix. It tells you what it cleared.
Why isn't Pitlane on the Mac App Store?
It launches xcodebuild and simctl on your behalf, which the App Sandbox forbids. It's signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple instead, so it opens without a warning.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Pitlane checks in about once a day and gets back a signed pass that lasts three days, so a flight or a weekend without a connection changes nothing.
What does Pitlane send, and can it see my code?
No analytics, and nothing about your projects or your code leaves the Mac. There are two outbound requests: an update check you can turn off, and one check-in a day that sends a one-way hash of your Mac's hardware ID, plus your license key and the Mac's name once you have one.