Apple is building the agent layer into every device they ship. App Intents — the framework that powers Siri, Shortcuts, Spotlight, and now the new on-device agent — is the API every app developer will need to adopt.
The problem? App Intents are Swift-only. They require Xcode, a macOS machine, and fluency in Apple's protocol-heavy style. That's a hard sell for the millions of TypeScript and Python developers building AI-powered tools.
The gap we saw
When Apple announced the App Intents framework at WWDC 2022, we watched the Swift ecosystem absorb it slowly. By 2025, most apps still hadn't adopted it. The boilerplate was too heavy — every intent needed a Swift struct, parameter wrappers, Info.plist entries, entitlements, and manual Xcode configuration.
Meanwhile, Model Context Protocol was exploding. Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf — every AI coding tool was adopting MCP as the standard way for agents to interact with software. But there was no bridge between MCP and Apple's native agent surface.
What Axint does
Axint is a compiler. You write one defineIntent() call in TypeScript (or Python), and it emits:
- A canonical Swift App Intent struct with proper
@Parameterdecorators - An Info.plist fragment with the
NSAppIntentsDomainskey Apple requires - An entitlements XML fragment
- Optionally, an XCTest scaffold
The generated Swift is idiomatic — it reads like code a senior Apple engineer would write. Full type fidelity for Int, Double, Date, URL, and Measurement<UnitDuration>. You can eject at any time and hand-edit the output.
Why it matters for WWDC 2026
Apple is fusing MCP and App Intents. The writing is on the wall: every agent interaction on Apple devices will route through App Intents. Axint is the picks and shovels play — we're not building the gold mine, we're selling the tools to the miners.
With axint compile, a Python developer who's never opened Xcode can ship a production App Intent in under a minute. With the built-in MCP server, their AI coding assistant can do it for them.
What's next
We're shipping entity query support, a VS Code extension, and Axint Cloud (compile without a Mac) before WWDC. The registry at registry.axint.ai already hosts shareable intent packages.
Star the repo, try the playground at axint.ai, and if you've got a weekend to spare — we're looking for contributors who want their name on the compiler that powers the next generation of Siri.