> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ios-course.cornellappdev.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ios-course.cornellappdev.com/resources/tool-guides/cocoapods.md).

# CocoaPods

### What is CocoaPods?

CocoaPods is a dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C projects in Xcode. It is used in over 3 million apps and contains over 95 thousand libraries. It is similar to **pip** for Python and **npm** for NodeJS. In other words, you can use code written by other people in your own Xcode project to make your life easier!

### CocoaPods Setup

1. To install CocoaPods, simply run the following in the command line: `sudo gem install cocoapods`
2. Navigate to your Xcode project directory and run this command: `pod init`. This creates a `Podfile` in your directory.
3. Open the `Podfile` and list out the pods you want to install. For example, if I wanted to install the latest version of **SnapKit** and **Alamofire**, my `Podfile` would look something like this:

```
# Uncomment the next line to define a global platform for your project
# platform :ios, '9.0'

target 'MyApp' do
  use_frameworks!

  # Pods for MyApp

  pod 'SnapKit'
  pod 'Alamofire'
end
```

*Change ‘MyApp’ to the name of your project.*

1. Once you are done, save your `Podfile` and install the dependencies by running `pod install`
   * If this command does not work, try `pod install --repo-update`

{% hint style="danger" %}
**You must open the Xcode workspace instead of the project when using CocoaPods!**
{% endhint %}