App Store Preflight Skills

What This Skill Does

The App Store Preflight Skills tool is an essential automated assistant for iOS and macOS developers designed to minimize the risk of rejection during the Apple App Review process. Before submitting your build, the skill performs a deep-dive analysis of your Xcode project, source code, and App Store Connect metadata. It acts as a static analysis agent that maps your project's configuration against specific Apple Review Guidelines. By identifying potential issues—such as missing privacy manifests, improper handling of Sign in with Apple, or non-compliant In-App Purchase workflows—the skill saves developers valuable time and prevents the common "waiting game" associated with App Store rejections. It categorizes findings by severity, allowing you to prioritize critical blocking issues versus minor warnings.

Installation

To integrate this skill into your development workflow, ensure you have the OpenClaw agent environment configured. Run the following command in your terminal within your project root:

clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/adisinghstudent/app-store-preflight-skills

Once installed, ensure you have the asc CLI installed via Homebrew and your App Store Connect API credentials (ASC_KEY_ID, ASC_ISSUER_ID, and ASC_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH) exported as environment variables. This allows the skill to verify your metadata against the live state of your application in App Store Connect.

Use Cases

This skill is best utilized during the final stages of the development lifecycle, specifically after feature completion and before archiving the build. Use it when:

• You are preparing for a major version release and want to ensure compliance with updated privacy policies.
• You are implementing new In-App Purchase types that require strict guideline adherence.
• You are building an AI-powered app that needs specific data collection disclosures to avoid rejection.
• You want to perform a 'sanity check' on your privacy manifest files and entitlements.

Example Prompts

1. "OpenClaw, run a preflight scan on this project and tell me if my PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy file is missing any required data use keys."
2. "Check my current iOS project against the subscription and IAP guidelines. Are there any missing ToS links or pricing display issues?"
3. "Scan my project for potential App Store review violations and provide a report on any high-severity items that would cause an automatic rejection."

Tips & Limitations

• Always pull the latest metadata using asc before running the scan to ensure the agent is comparing your code against the most recent submission data.
• While the skill is highly effective at catching structural and configuration-based issues, it cannot 'see' the user interface or UX flows in the same way a human reviewer does.
• Use the provided checklists in the references/guidelines/ folder for manual cross-referencing if you receive a complex warning.
• The skill requires read access to your project files; ensure your IDE environment is configured to allow agent file system access for the most accurate results.