Getting Started • Documentation • Example Apps • Issues

ObjectBox Swift Database - swiftly persist objects & vector embeddings on iOS & macOS

Powerful & superfast on-device vector database for Swift that's also easy to use. Persist Swift objects quickly and reliably locally on iOS and macOS for seamless offline-first apps. With fast local vector search for powerful Edge AI features - local, private, speedy.

Demo code

// objectbox: entity
class Person {
    var id: Id = 0
    var firstName: String = ""
    var lastName: String = ""
    
    init() {}
    
    init(id: Id = 0, firstName: String, lastName: String) {
        self.id = id
        self.firstName = firstName
        self.lastName = lastName
    }
}

let store = try Store(directoryPath: "person-db")
let box = store.box(for: Person.self)

var person = Person(firstName: "Joe", lastName: "Green")
let id = try box.put(person) // Create

person = try box.get(id)!    // Read

person.lastName = "Black"
try box.put(person)          // Update

try box.remove(person.id)    // Delete

let query = try box.query {  // Query
    Person.firstName == "Joe"
    && Person.lastName.startsWith("B")
}.build()
let people: [Person] = try query.find()

Want details? Read the guide or check out the API reference.

Why use ObjectBox for Swift data persistence?

Simple but powerful; frugal but fast: The ObjectBox NoSQL database offers an intuitive Swift API that's easy to pick up, fun to work with, and incredibly fast, making it sustainable in many ways. Its frugal resource use (CPU, memory, battery / power) makes ObjectBox an ideal and sustainable choice for iOS apps. So why not give it a try right away? Check out the installation section below. You can also star this repository for later 🌟

Features

🧠 Artificial Intelligence - superfast on-device vector search.
🏁 High performance on restricted devices, like IoT gateways, micro controllers, ECUs etc.
💚 Resourceful with minimal CPU, power and Memory usage for maximum flexibility and sustainability
🔗 Relations: object links / relationships are built-in
💻 Multiplatform: Linux, Windows, Android, iOS, macOS

🌱 Scalable: handling millions of objects resource-efficiently with ease
💐 Queries: filter data as needed, even across relations
🦮 Statically typed: compile time checks & optimizations
📃 Automatic schema migrations: no update scripts needed

And much more than just data persistence
👥 ObjectBox Sync: keeps data in sync between devices and servers
🕒 ObjectBox TS: time series extension for time based data

Add ObjectBox to your project

ObjectBox is available as a

• Swift Package
• CocoaPods pod

Swift Package

Instructions depend on whether you want to set up an Xcode project (to build iOS and macOS apps) or a Swift Package Manager manifest.

Set up an Xcode project

In Xcode, add a package dependency and search for the package URL:

https://github.com/objectbox/objectbox-swift-spm

For the Dependency Rule, we recommend to use "Up to Next Major Version". To find the latest version to use view the tags of the objectbox-swift-spm repository.

Finally, when asked, add the ObjectBox.xcframework to your app target. Or to use ObjectBox Sync (requires access to the Sync feature), add the ObjectBox-Sync.xcframework instead.

Now, you are all set to define your first ObjectBox entities! To continue check the Getting Started guide or the example project.

Set up a Swift Package Manager manifest

In your Package.swift file, add the ObjectBox Swift Package repository to the dependencies block:

.package(url: "https://github.com/objectbox/objectbox-swift-spm.git", from: "INSERT_VERSION"),

Replace INSERT_VERSION with the latest tag of the objectbox-swift-spm repository.

Add the ObjectBox.xcframework to the dependencies of the desired target in targets:

.product(name: "ObjectBox.xcframework", package: "objectbox-swift-spm")

Or to use ObjectBox Sync (requires access to the Sync feature), add the ObjectBox-Sync.xcframework instead:

.product(name: "ObjectBox-Sync.xcframework", package: "objectbox-swift-spm")

Your Package.swift file should then contain sections similar to this:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/objectbox/objectbox-swift-spm.git", from: "INSERT_VERSION"),
],
targets: [
  .executableTarget(
    name: "YourApp",
    dependencies: [
        .product(name: "ObjectBox.xcframework", package: "objectbox-swift-spm")
    ]),
]

Now, you are all set to define your first ObjectBox entities! To continue check the Getting Started guide or the example project.

CocoaPods

If you are new to CocoaPods, check out their website for an introduction and installation instructions.

To add the ObjectBox Swift dependency, add the following line to your Podfile:

pod 'ObjectBox'

Then install the pod and run the ObjectBox setup script:

pod install --repo-update
Pods/ObjectBox/setup.rb

The setup.rb script will configure your Xcode project to run ObjectBox generator on every build by adding a build phase (called "[OBX] Update Sourcery Generated Files") for every target with an executable.

Disable the User Script Sandboxing option in your Xcode project build settings to allow the ObjectBox generator script to run.

[!NOTE] The ObjectBox code generator needs to run in the project directory and will generate files there. If this is executed in a sandbox, the build phase will fail.

Then, open your Xcode workspace (.xcworkspace) instead of the Xcode project (.xcodeproj).

Now, you are all set to define your first ObjectBox entities! To continue check the Getting Started guide or the example project.

Troubleshoot setup issues

If installing the pod or configuring the project failed, try to update the xcodeproj and cocoapods gem:

gem update xcodeproj && gem update cocoapods && pod repo update

[!NOTE] On Apple Silicon (M1), ensure you have the latest gems for CocoaPods:

gem update ffi ethon

Update to a new version

After a new version of ObjectBox Swift is released, update the ObjectBox pod and run the setup script again:

pod repo update
pod update ObjectBox
Pods/ObjectBox/setup.rb

Recommended Xcode project settings

ObjectBox Swift does not include Bitcode, so you may need to adjust "Build Settings" in Xcode accordingly. In that tab, ensure "All" is active and search for "bitcode". You will find the "Enable Bitcode" setting which you set to "No".

Otherwise, for some build targets, you will get a build error like this:

'.../ObjectBox.framework/ObjectBox' does not contain bitcode. You must rebuild it with bitcode enabled (Xcode setting 
ENABLE_BITCODE), obtain an updated library from the vendor, or disable bitcode for this target.

Example

In the Example directory, you'll find a "Notes" example app demonstrating ObjectBox's Swift API. The example comes with two apps: one for iOS and one for macOS. The iOS example is a full GUI application, whereas the macOS example runs a few operations and then exits.

Changelog

For notable and important changes in new releases, read the changelog.

Development

The source code for ObjectBox's Swift binding can be found in the Source folder of this repository.

Background: code generation

ObjectBox Swift Database uses generated code for optimal performance at runtime by avoiding reflection etc.

It uses a fork of Sourcery for this.

Already using ObjectBox?

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Keep in touch: For general news on ObjectBox, check our blog!

Cross-platform database: Mobile, Desktop, Browser, Embedded, IoT

ObjectBox is a cross-platform database supporting sustainable app development in multiple native languages:

• ObjectBox C and C++ SDK: native speed with zero copy access to objects on embedded devices
• ObjectBox Java and Kotlin SDK: runs on Android, desktop, and servers.
• ObjectBox Dart and Flutter SDK: persist Dart objects & build cross-platform apps using Flutter.
• ObjectBox Go SDK: great for IoT, data-driven tools, and server applications. also enables porting ObjectBox to other languages.

License

Copyright 2018-2026 ObjectBox Ltd. All rights reserved. 

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

Note that this license applies to the code in this repository only. See our website on details about all licenses for ObjectBox components.