cometchat-ios-core

Ground truth: CometChatUIKitSwift 5.1.22 (a prebuilt binary xcframework) + CometChatSDK 4.1.7. Every symbol below is verified against the shipped .swiftinterface (catalogs/ios-v5.json); the golden-path composition and its layout constraints are verified on a simulator by the native harness, not reasoned from the web pack. This file is the THIN map loaded every run; deep detail lives in references/*, loaded only when the task needs it.

Use this skill when

"add chat to my iOS app", "integrate CometChat in Swift", "set up CometChat credentials", "show a conversations + messages screen", "build a chat app". An unscoped "add chat" means a production-ready core chat surface — a CometChatConversations list that pushes to a chat screen you compose — NOT a bare list, and NOT the whole combined app. It grows on request (users/groups tabs, group details, threads, calls); those recipes live in cometchat-ios-placement and cometchat-ios-features.

Three things that are NOT like the web UI Kit

Setter-based API (not props) · no composite component in v5 (the *WithMessages names are v4) · navigation stack, not side-by-side panes. Full detail + why each one compiles-but-fails: references/anti-patterns.md.

Install — Swift Package Manager only

SPM only. Never CocoaPods, even if a Podfile exists (its distribution is winding down; a Podfile is a detection signal, not an instruction). Add three packages at EXACT versions — the kit is a prebuilt binary compiled against one Chat SDK version and SPM will not resolve that transitively: CometChatUIKitSwift 5.1.22 · CometChatSDK 4.1.7 · CometChatCallsSDK 5.0.3 (required even for chat-only — see references/install.md for the repos, the Calls-SDK reason, and the Xcode steps).

Setup & credentials (essentials — full chain: references/setup-credentials.md)

1. Detect the project shape AND its lifecycle — a stock Xcode project is a SwiftUI @main App with no AppDelegate/SceneDelegate, so there is no launch hook for init → login until you add one (references/swiftui.md). A Podfile is a detection signal only; integrate via SPM.
2. version_conflict — STOP if a non-v5 kit is installed (v4 shows *WithMessages components). Reconcile first, never mix majors (RULES.md); v4 → v5 is cometchat-ios-migration.
3. Credentials — OFFER to fetch from the dashboard FIRST; never silently default to "paste it yourself." Load the CLI on demand (references/setup-credentials.md has the exact command), ask which EXISTING app, never auto-create. Manual paste is the fallback.
4. Wire them: gitignored Secrets.xcconfig → ATTACH to the build configurations → DECLARE each key in Info.plist as $(COMETCHAT_APP_ID) → read via Bundle.main, rejecting the literal $(. Miss a step and you get the literal, not the value. Modern projects generate Info.plist and cannot take custom keys through build settings — references/setup-credentials.md §2-§3.
5. Authorize = init and login both resolve. An auth failure is usually the wrong Region.

Integration ordering (BAKED — invariant)

init → login → only then render. Both are async and both must COMPLETE before the next step. Calling login() before init resolves fails silently — no crash, no error, just a screen that never populates.

import CometChatUIKitSwift
import CometChatSDK

let settings = UIKitSettings()
    .set(appID: appID)          // from Secrets.xcconfig — never a literal
    .set(region: region)
    .set(authKey: authKey)      // DEV ONLY; prod uses login(authToken:)
    .subscribePresenceForAllUsers()
    .build()

// ATTRIBUTION FIRST, then the credential-bearing init — BOTH, in this order.
// `initFromSettings` stamps integrationSource = "ai-agent". It takes no parameters because it
// reads a bundled `cometchat-settings.json` (see references/setup-credentials.md §6). Skip it and
// the app is stamped "manual" — attributed to a hand-written integration, which is worse than
// unattributed. On 5.1.19 it does NOT initialise the UI Kit layer, so calling it INSTEAD of the
// classic init makes login fail with Err_101; it runs BEFORE, never in place of.
CometChatUIKit.initFromSettings { _, _ in
    // Ignore the result deliberately: attribution is best-effort. A missing or malformed
    // settings file must not stop the app from initialising below.
    CometChatUIKit(uiKitSettings: settings) { result in
        switch result {
        case .success:
            // Guard re-login: getLoggedInUser() is SYNCHRONOUS.
            // This init callback is NOT guaranteed on the main queue — hop before any UI work.
            guard CometChatUIKit.getLoggedInUser() == nil else {
                DispatchQueue.main.async { showChat() }
                return
            }
            CometChatUIKit.login(uid: uid) { loginResult in
                switch loginResult {
                case .success:            DispatchQueue.main.async { showChat() }
                case .onError(let error): // surface it — do not render on failure
                    break
                @unknown default: break
                }
            }
        case .failure(let error):
            break                      // usually a wrong Region or App ID
        }
    }
}

Which UID? login() needs a user that ALREADY EXISTS — it does not create one. ASK, or take one from Dashboard → Users. Never invent a UID and never suggest remembered "classic sample" UIDs; the only tentative suggestion allowed is cometchat-uid-1, labelled "if this is a fresh app." Login result is an enum, not an error-first callback: ApiStatus.success(User) / .onError(CometChatException). Handle @unknown default. UI work belongs on the main queue — the callbacks are not guaranteed to be.

Component / API map (BAKED closed list — all catalog-verified)

Init/auth: CometChatUIKit, UIKitSettings. Core surface: CometChatConversations, CometChatMessageHeader, CometChatMessageList, CometChatCompactMessageComposer. Wired affordances: CometChatThreadedMessageHeader, CometChatSearch. Grow set (on request): CometChatUsers, CometChatGroups, CometChatGroupMembers, CometChatCallLogs, CometChatIncomingCall.

Never emit: CometChatMessages, CometChatUsersWithMessages, CometChatGroupsWithMessages, CometChatConversationsWithMessages, CometChatAddMembers, CometChatMessageHeaderOption — all v4 or non-existent. Anything not in this list → check catalogs/ios-v5.json before you write it.

Hot-path API (BAKED — the golden path needs NO fetch)

• CometChatConversations: set(onItemClick:) (push the chat screen) · set(conversationRequestBuilder:) (scope the list) · onSearchClick (property, not a setter) · set(subtitleView:) / set(trailView:).
• CometChatMessageHeader / CometChatMessageList / CometChatCompactMessageComposer: set(user:) or set(group:) — exactly one · set(controller:) on all three.
• Thread scoping — the LIST takes its parent in the SAME call as its target. CometChatMessageList.set(user:parentMessage:withParent:) (or set(group:parentMessage:)). A separate set(user:) followed by set(parentMessageId:) does NOT scope the list: the first call already built a request for the whole conversation, so the thread screen renders the entire conversation with the parent in it. The COMPOSER is different — set(user:) then set(parentMessageId:). The header takes set(parentMessage:). Three components, three shapes — verified against the shipped 5.1.22 interface by compiling each.
• Styles are properties, not setters: conversations.avatarStyle = …, .badgeStyle, .dateStyle, .receiptStyle, .statusIndicatorStyle, .typingIndicatorStyle.

Exhaustive API or any other component → fetch its .md twin via references/docs-map.md. Never read the .swiftinterface or guess from memory.

Golden path — the production-ready CORE surface

Setup → init/login (guarded) → a CometChatConversations list inside a UINavigationController → set(onItemClick:) pushes your own MessagesVC composing header + list + composer. This composition and its constraints are verified on a simulator; the five rules below are what the runtime gate actually checks, and each one is a real failure that compiles cleanly.

// List → chat screen. An unwired list is the iOS form of a dead-end affordance.
let conversations = CometChatConversations()
let nav = UINavigationController(rootViewController: conversations)
conversations.set(onItemClick: { [weak nav] conversation, _ in
    let messages = MessagesVC()
    messages.user  = conversation.conversationWith as? CometChatSDK.User   // exactly one is
    messages.group = conversation.conversationWith as? CometChatSDK.Group  // non-nil. Qualify:
                                                    // SwiftUI has its own `Group`.
    nav?.pushViewController(messages, animated: true)
})

final class MessagesVC: UIViewController {
    var user: CometChatSDK.User?
    var group: CometChatSDK.Group?

    private lazy var headerView: CometChatMessageHeader = {
        let v = CometChatMessageHeader()
        v.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        if let user { v.set(user: user) } else if let group { v.set(group: group) }
        v.set(controller: self)                      // REQUIRED — see rule 2
        return v
    }()
    private lazy var messageListView: CometChatMessageList = {
        let v = CometChatMessageList()
        v.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        if let user { v.set(user: user) } else if let group { v.set(group: group) }
        v.set(controller: self)
        return v
    }()
    private lazy var composerView: CometChatCompactMessageComposer = {
        let v = CometChatCompactMessageComposer()
        v.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        if let user { v.set(user: user) } else if let group { v.set(group: group) }
        v.set(controller: self)
        return v
    }()

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        view.backgroundColor = .systemBackground
        navigationController?.setNavigationBarHidden(true, animated: false)   // rule 5
        [headerView, messageListView, composerView].forEach(view.addSubview)
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            headerView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.topAnchor),   // rule 3
            headerView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor),
            headerView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor),
            headerView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 50),

            messageListView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: headerView.bottomAnchor),
            messageListView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor),
            messageListView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor),
            messageListView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: composerView.topAnchor),       // rule 4

            composerView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor),
            composerView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor),
            composerView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.bottomAnchor), // rule 3
        ])
    }

    override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
        super.viewWillDisappear(animated)
        navigationController?.setNavigationBarHidden(false, animated: true)   // rule 5
    }
}

Swift concurrency: several kit initialisers are @MainActor-isolated (CometChatUsers among them). Any factory method that constructs kit components must be @MainActor too, or the build fails with "call to main actor-isolated initializer … in a synchronous nonisolated context". Inside a UIViewController this is free — it is already main-actor — so it only bites in a static/enum factory. The message header has NO tap callback. CometChatMessageHeader exposes no onItemClick; its only interactive surface is set(options:) taking [CometChatPopupMenu.MenuItem]. So "tap the header to open details" is not a thing on iOS — a details or members screen is an overflow menu item you add.

The five rules — each one compiles fine and fails at runtime:

1. One target, never both. conversationWith is a User or a Group; pass the same single target to all three components. Two targets, or none, and the screen loads empty.
2. set(controller:) on every component — omitting it CRASHES the app. No React analogue: it hands the kit a controller to present its OWN sub-screens from. Long-press a message without it and the process dies (EXC_BREAKPOINT, nil force-unwrap in MessagePopupViewController.buildUI). Not a no-op, not a degraded mode — a crash on a gesture users perform within minutes. Call it on the header, the list AND the composer. Be precise about why, because this was measured. Omitting it does not break rendering or list→chat navigation: the harness ran a fixture with it removed everywhere and got a byte-identical surface (393x750) plus a passing navigation step. What is genuinely unverified is the kit-presented sub-screens above — driving those needs an element the kit ships no accessibility identifier for. So follow the docs and call it, but do not tell a user their surface will break without it.
3. Pin both to the SAFE AREA — never the composer to the keyboard. Header to safeAreaLayoutGuide.topAnchor, composer to safeAreaLayoutGuide.bottomAnchor, as the published recipe shows. it does its OWN keyboard adjustment; pinning it to keyboardLayoutGuide double-applies it and the message list collapses to height 0 the moment the keyboard rises (measured — references/layout.md).
4. Divide the space explicitly. Header fixed height, composer at the bottom, list filling between — so the list scrolls internally instead of growing its parent. A list with no bottom constraint collapses; that is the single most common broken surface.
5. One navigation bar — own it on the NAVIGATION CONTROLLER. The kit header carries its own title and back control, so a visible host bar means two headers. Hiding it in the message screen's viewDidLoad is what the docs publish and is NOT enough: it never runs again, and on a push the outgoing screen's viewWillDisappear restore lands after the incoming hide, so the bar returns and the pane loses 91pt (measured). Use a UINavigationControllerDelegate — references/layout.md.

Surface errors — the list components fail silently otherwise. set(onError:) on the conversation list and message list, or assign errorStateView / errorStateTitleText (inherited from CometChatListBase). Without it a failed fetch renders an empty list indistinguishable from "no conversations yet", leaving the user nothing to act on.

conversations.set(onError: { error in /* surface it — do not swallow */ })

Wire or hide every default-on affordance. CometChatConversations HIDES its search entry by default (hideSearch is true on CometChatListBase). Assigning onSearchClick alone renders NOTHING — measured: 0 search fields. To ship search you need BOTH conversations.hideSearch = false and conversations.onSearchClick = { … } (which then shows 1 search field); wire it to CometChatSearch or leave search off deliberately. CometChatMessageList shows a thread indicator that dead-ends until set(onThreadRepliesClick:) opens a thread screen. Anything you PRESENT modally owns its own dismissal; a pushed screen gets its back control from the navigation controller for free. Scope the list to the request. A 1:1-only ask should not show the app's seeded groups — use set(conversationRequestBuilder:) with ConversationRequest.ConversationRequestBuilder(limit: 30).setConversationType(conversationType: .user) (.group for groups-only). Note the method is setConversationType(conversationType:), not set(conversationType:), and the cases are .user / .group / .none — there is no .both; omit the call entirely to keep both. Grows on request → the full app. Users/groups tabs, group details, call logs, threads, calls — cometchat-ios-placement (composition) and cometchat-ios-features (per-feature).

Deep references (load ONLY when the task needs them)

• references/setup-credentials.md — detect, Secrets.xcconfig → Info.plist → Bundle.main, Info.plist usage descriptions, version_conflict, prod auth token.
• references/swiftui.md — where init → login goes per lifecycle, and showing a UIKit-only component from SwiftUI.
• references/docs-map.md — intent → the exact docs .md twin to fetch, plus the SDK-fallback section. Never read the .swiftinterface; never answer API from memory.
• references/layout.md — the iOS sizing standard (safe area · keyboard layout guide · explicit vertical division), the five rules above in depth, and why each fails at runtime rather than compile time.
• references/anti-patterns.md — the v4-carryover phantoms, the two-parent-API thread trap, missing set(controller:), and the wrong-call-form class (styles are properties).
• references/troubleshooting.md — symptom → cause → fix (blank screen, list renders but taps do nothing, composer hidden by the keyboard, two headers, replies never send).

Common pitfalls (top 4 — full list in references/anti-patterns.md)

Emitting a v4 composite · omitting set(controller:) · composer pinned to keyboardLayoutGuide instead of the safe area (double-applies the kit's own keyboard handling — see rule 3) · rendering before login() resolves.

Verify it works

Build and run → init then login both resolve → the conversation list renders full-screen (not a sliver) → tap a conversation → the chat screen pushes and shows header, messages and composer → tap the composer and confirm it rises above the keyboard → send a message and see it appear → back returns to the list. A blank screen means something rendered before login() resolved, or the Region/App ID is wrong. A list whose taps do nothing means set(onItemClick:) was never wired; affordances that render but do nothing when tapped mean set(controller:) was omitted.

Explain what you built (REQUIRED close)

After it builds, tell the user briefly: (1) what I wired (3–5 bullets, NAME the files); (2) decisions & why, flagging dev-only as dev-only (the Auth Key is dev-only → server-minted auth token for production; the <uid> you used); (3) what I did NOT touch (additive — their navigation, auth and styling are intact). Then offer these THREE options as a selectable choice and WAIT — do not auto-continue:

• ① Add another feature → first read what is already wired and ASK which dashboard-gated features are on, then suggest only the GAP (calls · search · threads · push · AI) → cometchat-ios-features / cometchat-ios-calls.
• ② Customize theming → ask whether they have a brand/preset or want to talk through options → cometchat-ios-customization.
• ③ Test it manually → do nothing further; hand it back.