Installation - Development Snapshot

Swift SDK for WebAssembly - Cross compile to WebAssembly

The upstream Open Source Swift toolchain does support WebAssembly as a target platform since Swift 6.0. For those versions, you just need to install Swift SDK for cross-compilation.

Instructions

Find a Development Snapshot

Visit the SwiftWasm GitHub Releases page.
Match the Swift Toolchain Version

Refer to the release note's table to find the corresponding upstream Swift toolchain version.

For example, swift-wasm-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2024-06-12-a corresponds to swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2024-06-11-a
Download the Swift Toolchain

Download the appropriate Swift toolchain version from swift.org/install.
Get the Swift SDK artifactbundle URL

Find the URL ending with .artifactbundle.zip from the release page you found in step 1. Currently we provide Swift SDKs for the following WebAssembly targets:
- wasm32-unknown-wasi (Recommended): for WASI Preview 1
- wasm32-unknown-wasip1-threads: for WASI Preview 1 with wasi-threads extension
Choose wasm32-unknown-wasi if you are not sure which target to use.

Install the Swift SDK for WebAssembly

Use the following command to install the Swift SDK:

$ swift sdk install <URL-or-filename-of-swift-sdk-artifactbundle>

For example, if you selected swift-wasm-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2024-06-12-a, you need to run the following command:
$ swift sdk install https://github.com/swiftwasm/swift/releases/download/swift-wasm-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2024-06-12-a/swift-wasm-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2024-06-12-a-wasm32-unknown-wasi.artifactbundle.zip

You can see the installed SDKs using the following command:
```
$ swift sdk list
<Swift SDK id>
...
```
Once you don't need the SDK, you can remove it using the following command:
```
 $ swift sdk remove <Swift SDK id>
```

How to use the Swift SDK

First, create a new Swift package using the following command:

$ mkdir Example
$ cd Example
$ swift package init --type executable

Then, you can build the package using the Swift SDK:

$ swift build --swift-sdk wasm32-unknown-wasi
# or
$ swift build --swift-sdk <Swift SDK id>

FAQ

What is the difference between the Swift Toolchain and the Swift SDK?

The Swift toolchain is a complete package that includes the Swift compiler, standard library, and other tools.

The Swift SDK includes a subset of the Swift toolchain that includes only the necessary components for cross-compilation and some supplementary resources.

What is included in the Swift SDK for WebAssembly?

The Swift SDK for WebAssembly includes only the pre-built Swift standard libraries for WebAssembly. It does not include the Swift compiler or other tools that are part of the Swift toolchain.

Swift and WebAssembly