What is inside an .xcarchive and an .ipa, what does exportArchive add, and what does it need to succeed?

25.7.1 · L3 · Interview

Predict first

An unsigned release archive is inspected, exported and zipped. What does each step report?

// === run.sh ===
cp -R "$FIXTURE"/. .
xcodebuild archive -project Demo.xcodeproj -scheme Demo -sdk iphoneos -configuration Release \
  -archivePath out/Demo.xcarchive CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO -quiet >/dev/null 2>&1
echo "archive: $(ls out/Demo.xcarchive | tr '\n' ' ')"
echo "app: $(ls out/Demo.xcarchive/Products/Applications) dSYM: $(ls out/Demo.xcarchive/dSYMs)"
P=out/Demo.xcarchive/Info.plist
echo "archive plist: $(plutil -extract ApplicationProperties.CFBundleIdentifier raw $P) $(plutil -extract ApplicationProperties.CFBundleShortVersionString raw $P) ($(plutil -extract ApplicationProperties.CFBundleVersion raw $P))"
echo "signing identity: [$(plutil -extract ApplicationProperties.SigningIdentity raw $P)] team: [$(plutil -extract ApplicationProperties.Team raw $P)]"
codesign -dv out/Demo.xcarchive/Products/Applications/Demo.app 2>&1 | tail -1
printf '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><plist version="1.0"><dict><key>method</key><string>app-store-connect</string></dict></plist>' > ExportOptions.plist
xcodebuild -exportArchive -archivePath out/Demo.xcarchive -exportOptionsPlist ExportOptions.plist -exportPath exp 2>&1 | grep -E "^error:|EXPORT"
mkdir Payload && cp -R out/Demo.xcarchive/Products/Applications/Demo.app Payload/ && zip -qr Demo.ipa Payload
echo "zip layout: $(unzip -Z1 Demo.ipa | head -2 | tr '\n' ' ')"

The archive has an empty signing identity and team, export fails with “No Team Found in Archive”, the zip starts with Payload/
Export succeeds with a development profile
The archive contains an .ipa

Mental model. The archive is a finished but unsealed shipment on the dock with its packing list; export puts the courier’s seal on it and loads it onto the right truck.

An .xcarchive is a folder: an Info.plist (the app’s bundle ID, versions, architectures, and the signing identity and team that were used), Products/Applications/Demo.app, and dSYMs/ with the debug symbols. In the check, an archive made with CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO shows an empty signing identity and team, and codesign reports the app is not signed. An .ipa is just a zip with a Payload/<App>.app folder at the top; the check zips one to show the layout (that unsigned zip is not installable). Archiving builds in the Release configuration and produces the symbols; it does not make anything distributable.

xcodebuild -exportArchive is the step that re-signs for a distribution method and packages the result: it needs a team in the archive, a matching distribution certificate and profile (or automatic signing with an API key, Q478, Q480) and an ExportOptions.plist naming the method (in current Xcode, app-store-connect, release-testing, debugging and the like; older names such as app-store and ad-hoc still appear in many scripts). The check shows the honest failure on an unsigned archive: error: exportArchive No Team Found in Archive. This also gives the useful debugging order: if archive fails it is a build problem, if export fails it is a signing problem, and you can keep the archive and retry export without rebuilding, which is how a pipeline promotes one artefact (Q482). Keep the archive and its dSYMs for every shipped build (Q481). A real export was not run because it needs a paid team.

Archive and export are separate; export is where signing inputs are required.

Common traps

Re-archiving to fix a signing problem. Archive is not where signing is decided; fix the export inputs and export the same archive again.
Discarding the archive after upload. The dSYMs inside it are what you need for crash reports later.

They might follow up with

Why does the archive record the signing identity? Export uses it to choose profiles and to warn when the team is missing.
Is an .ipa the same as the App Store package? The store re-processes it (thinning, slicing), so the binary users receive differs per device (Q439).

What is inside an .xcarchive and an .ipa, what does exportArchive add, and what does it need to succeed?

Predict first

Common traps

They might follow up with

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