Apple has introduced agentic coding in Xcode 26.3, allowing developers to use autonomous coding agents such as Anthropic’s Claude Agent and OpenAI’s Codex directly within the development environment to handle complex tasks and accelerate app development.
Xcode 26.3 is available as a release candidate starting February 4 for members of the Apple Developer Program, with a public release planned soon on the App Store.
“Agents like Claude Agent and Codex can now collaborate throughout the entire development life cycle, giving developers the power to streamline workflows, iterate faster, and bring ideas to life like never before,” the company said in a statement.
The company added that agents can search documentation, explore file structures, update project settings, and verify work by capturing Xcode Previews and running builds.
“Agentic coding supercharges productivity and creativity, streamlining the development workflow so developers can focus on innovation,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations.
Xcode 26.3 builds on intelligence features introduced in Xcode 26, which added a coding assistant for writing and editing in Swift. Developers can choose between built-in integrations with Anthropic’s Claude Agent and OpenAI’s Codex, or use other compatible agents through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard that allows third-party tools to connect with Xcode.
Apple also recently acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup specialising in imaging and machine learning, as the race to dominate the next phase of artificial intelligence gathers pace.
Q.ai enables devices to interpret whispered speech and enhance audio quality in noisy environments—capabilities that could be folded into products such as AirPods, where Apple has been steadily rolling out new AI features, including live translation introduced last year.
Q.ai has also built technology to detect subtle facial muscle movements, which could be used to enhance the Apple Vision Pro headset.
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