Blogholio

ZephShipper: Automate Your iOS App Store Workflow with AI

Open-source automation for iOS/macOS app validation, App Store metadata, and submission. Ship apps in minutes, not hours.

DDiego Varela|15 feb 2026|3 min de lectura
ios
automation
app-store
open-source
openclaw
devtools

ZephShipper: Automate Your iOS App Store Workflow with AI

Shipping iOS apps to the App Store is tedious. Between code validation, build bumping, metadata management, screenshot uploads, and submission — the manual process eats hours that could go into building features.

ZephShipper is an open-source automation skill for OpenClaw that handles the entire iOS/macOS shipping pipeline.

What It Does

ZephShipper provides three core capabilities:

1. Code Validation

Before anything ships, ZephShipper runs a validation pipeline:

  • SwiftLint with zero-tolerance policy — no warnings, no errors
  • Memory leak pattern detection — catches common retain cycle issues
  • Build verification — ensures the project compiles clean

2. App Store Connect API Integration

Full metadata management via the ASC API:

  • List apps and versions — see what's live and what's pending
  • Set metadata — descriptions, keywords, subtitles, promo text
  • Category management — primary and secondary categories
  • Pricing — set free or paid tiers
  • Subscription management — list and manage in-app purchases
  • Screenshot uploads — programmatic screenshot delivery
  • Build linking — connect uploaded builds to versions
  • Submission — submit for review with one command

3. Build Automation

  • bump-build.sh — increment CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION across all targets
  • ship.sh — archive, export, and upload to App Store Connect
  • validate.sh — full pre-flight check before shipping

Built-in Guardrails

ZephShipper enforces quality:

  • No hallucinated contact info — blocks fake emails, URLs, and phone numbers in metadata
  • Character limit enforcement — subtitles (30), keywords (100), descriptions (4000)
  • Keyword hygiene — no spaces after commas, no competitor brand names
  • Apple tools are blockers — if xcodebuild fails, nothing ships

Real-World Usage

We use ZephShipper to manage a portfolio of 9 iOS/macOS apps:

  • NutriSnAIp — AI calorie tracking
  • Making Miles — travel journal
  • TunePulse — musician tools
  • InkMark — markdown editor
  • TaskLancer — task management
  • Civics 100 — citizenship test prep
  • ZephTicker — stock tracker (macOS)
  • Purpura — habit tracker

Every app goes through the same pipeline: validate → bump → archive → upload → set metadata → submit. What used to take 30+ minutes per app now takes under 2 minutes.

ASO Automation

ZephShipper pairs well with the App Store Optimization skill for keyword research and metadata optimization. The workflow:

  1. Research keywords with ASO skill
  2. Generate optimized metadata
  3. Upload via ZephShipper's asc-metadata.py
  4. Submit for review

Get Started

ZephShipper is open source and available on GitHub.

Install as an OpenClaw skill:

clawhub install zephshipper

Or clone directly:

git clone https://github.com/diegoavarela/zephshipper.git

Requirements

  • macOS with Xcode installed
  • App Store Connect API key (P8 format)
  • Python 3 with PyJWT
  • SwiftLint (brew install swiftlint)