SwiftPM regresses flutter clean times

When using SwiftPM, each plugin becomes an Xcode scheme.

When running flutter clean, it iterates through the schemes and cleans each:

flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/clean.dart

Lines 100 to 106 in 4bc4779

    
           for (final String scheme in projectInfo.schemes) { 
        
             await xcodeProjectInterpreter.cleanWorkspace( 
        
               xcodeWorkspace.path, 
        
               scheme, 
        
               verbose: _verbose, 
        
             ); 
        
           }

This increases the time it takes for flutter clean to complete. The plugin schemes don't make sense to be built individually and you'd have to do it though Xcode anyways, so I think skipping them is a valid solution.

@hellohuanlin

@hellohuanlin watch out for local packages if we indeed want to skip cleaning those

@jmagman

@jmagman and I discussed this briefly and one potential solution would be to add a build flag (something like --xcode-workspace) and only do the xcodebuild clean if the flag is passed in.

That would also fix #127708 and #173940

Another alternative may be to only clean the current scheme based on if a flavor is passed in (or default to Runner). We could also add an --all flag or something

How to get the scheme:

flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/xcode_project.dart

Lines 252 to 264 in 2ab4fab

    
             Future<String?> schemeForBuildInfo(BuildInfo buildInfo, {Logger? logger}) async { 
        
               final XcodeProjectInfo? info = await projectInfo(); 
        
               if (info == null) { 
        
                 logger?.printError('Xcode project info not found.'); 
        
                 return null; 
        
               } 
        
               final String? scheme = info.schemeFor(buildInfo); 
        
               if (scheme == null) { 
        
                 info.reportFlavorNotFoundAndExit(); 
        
               } 
        
               return scheme; 
        
             }

Flavor docs: https://docs.flutter.dev/deployment/flavors-ios

@vashworth

@vashworth I suggest we clean all application/flavor schemes by default instead of introducing specific --flavor or --all flags. Plus we already have --scheme flag for developers who want to clean a specific flavor

The primary cause of the slowness during flutter clean is the sequential cleaning of individual SwiftPM plugin schemes, rather than the app's flavor schemes themselves. By simply filtering out the plugin and internal framework schemes from the loop, we can resolve the performance regression entirely while preserving the broad application cleanup developers expect from the command. wdyt?

@vashworth

[@vashworth ](https://github.com/vashworth) I suggest we clean all application/flavor schemes by default instead of introducing specific --flavor or --all flags. Plus we already have --scheme flag for developers who want to clean a specific flavor

The primary cause of the slowness during flutter clean is the sequential cleaning of individual SwiftPM plugin schemes, rather than the app's flavor schemes themselves. By simply filtering out the plugin and internal framework schemes from the loop, we can resolve the performance regression entirely while preserving the broad application cleanup developers expect from the command. wdyt?

That's not always the case. It is for this particular issue, but not for #127708, which was filed before SwiftPM was introduced.

@vashworth

@vashworth I agree. This fix directly targets #173940 and #183946, which are caused by the SwiftPM plugin schemes.

However, it doesn't necessarily address #127708. Fixing #127708 would require skipping the xcodebuild native cleanup by default, which could be a breaking change for developers who rely on it to fix corrupted native caches and it’s unclear how many developers are working exclusively on web-only platforms with no iOS devices installed so I'm not sure if the trade-off of a breaking change is worth it for that specific edge case.

Maybe a better approach for #127708 would be a separate PR that checks if a build/ios folder exists. If a developer has never built for iOS, we could safely bypass launching the xcodebuild clean step altogether. wdyt

@vashworth

@vashworth Plus if the ios or macos isnt being built, the time i assume should be constant maybe 3 -5 seconds which i dont think is worth the breaking change

Just skipping the schemes is insufficient:

https://discord.com/channels/608014603317936148/846507953959862273/1515776742982287500

Every xcodebuild command triggers SwiftPM dependencies to download. We've filed an issue with Apple about this (FB22283724).

flutter clean uses xcodebuild -list to get the list of schemes:

flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/clean.dart

Lines 106 to 109 in 1dded18

    
           final XcodeProjectInfo projectInfo = (await xcodeProjectInterpreter.getInfo( 
        
             xcodeProject, 
        
             buildDirectory: globals.fs.directory(xcodeProject.darwinPlatform.buildDirectory()), 
        
           ))!;

And uses xcodebuild clean to actually do the clean:

flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/ios/xcodeproj.dart

Lines 366 to 388 in 1dded18

    
           Future<void> cleanWorkspace( 
        
             XcodeBasedProject xcodeProject, 
        
             String workspacePath, 
        
             String scheme, { 
        
             required Directory buildDirectory, 
        
             bool verbose = false, 
        
           }) async { 
        
             final String projectPath = _fileSystem.currentDirectory.path; 
        
             final List<String> xcodebuildCommandArgs = await fetchDependenciesAndGenerateXcodebuildArgs( 
        
               xcodeProject, 
        
               buildDirectory, 
        
             ); 
        
             await _processUtils.run(<String>[ 
        
               ...xcodebuildCommandArgs, 
        
               '-workspace', 
        
               workspacePath, 
        
               '-scheme', 
        
               scheme, 
        
               if (!verbose) '-quiet', 
        
               'clean', 
        
               ...environmentVariablesAsXcodeBuildSettings(_platform), 
        
             ], workingDirectory: projectPath); 
        
           }

As stated before, a solution would be to add a build flag (something like --xcode-workspace) and only do the xcodebuild clean if the flag is passed in.

this is fixed by #186004

@okorohelijah

@okorohelijah I don't think this is sufficiently fixed yet, see comment: #183946 (comment)

Bypass xcodebuild -list SwiftPM fetch during flutter clean

Make Xcode workspace cleaning optional during flutter clean (flutter#…

Revert: Make Xcode workspace cleaning optional during flutter clean (f…

Reland "Make Xcode workspace cleaning optional during flutter clean" (f…

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. If you are still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new bug, including the output of flutter doctor -v and a minimal reproduction of the issue.

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SwiftPM regresses `flutter clean` times #183946

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	for (final String scheme in projectInfo.schemes) {
	await xcodeProjectInterpreter.cleanWorkspace(
	xcodeWorkspace.path,
	scheme,
	verbose: _verbose,
	);
	}

	Future<String?> schemeForBuildInfo(BuildInfo buildInfo, {Logger? logger}) async {
	final XcodeProjectInfo? info = await projectInfo();
	if (info == null) {
	logger?.printError('Xcode project info not found.');
	return null;
	}

	final String? scheme = info.schemeFor(buildInfo);
	if (scheme == null) {
	info.reportFlavorNotFoundAndExit();
	}
	return scheme;
	}

	final XcodeProjectInfo projectInfo = (await xcodeProjectInterpreter.getInfo(
	xcodeProject,
	buildDirectory: globals.fs.directory(xcodeProject.darwinPlatform.buildDirectory()),
	))!;

	Future<void> cleanWorkspace(
	XcodeBasedProject xcodeProject,
	String workspacePath,
	String scheme, {
	required Directory buildDirectory,
	bool verbose = false,
	}) async {
	final String projectPath = _fileSystem.currentDirectory.path;
	final List<String> xcodebuildCommandArgs = await fetchDependenciesAndGenerateXcodebuildArgs(
	xcodeProject,
	buildDirectory,
	);
	await _processUtils.run(<String>[
	...xcodebuildCommandArgs,
	'-workspace',
	workspacePath,
	'-scheme',
	scheme,
	if (!verbose) '-quiet',
	'clean',
	...environmentVariablesAsXcodeBuildSettings(_platform),
	], workingDirectory: projectPath);
	}

SwiftPM regresses flutter clean times #183946

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hellohuanlin commented on Mar 26, 2026

vashworth commented on Mar 31, 2026

vashworth commented on Apr 28, 2026

vashworth commented on Apr 28, 2026

okorohelijah commented on Apr 30, 2026

vashworth commented on Apr 30, 2026

okorohelijah commented on Apr 30, 2026

okorohelijah commented on Apr 30, 2026

vashworth commented on Jun 15, 2026

okorohelijah commented on Jul 7, 2026

vashworth commented on Jul 8, 2026

github-actions commented on Aug 24, 2026

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SwiftPM regresses `flutter clean` times #183946