xcode-select active developer directory error

Question

Saw the following error when running an npm install which required node-gyp... but could be triggered by anything which requires xcode-select.

xcode-select: error: tool 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode, but active developer directory '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools' is a command line tools instance

What is the problem?

Wideeyed

a blunt force alternative would be just to uninstall it and reinstall it again. out of all these answers that is the only thing that worked for me – Tarazi

@Tarazi reinstall did not work for me – Proceed

Ensure Xcode app is in the /Applications directory and it worked for me – Winnifredwinning

Answer 1

This problem happens when xcode-select developer directory was pointing to /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools when a full regular Xcode was required (happens when CommandLineTools are installed after Xcode)

Solution:

1. Install Xcode (get it from https://appstore.com/mac/apple/xcode) if you don't have it yet.
2. Accept the Terms and Conditions.
3. Ensure Xcode app is in the /Applications directory (NOT /Users/{user}/Applications).
4. Point xcode-select to the Xcode app Developer directory using the following command:
   sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Note: Make sure your Xcode app path is correct.

• Xcode: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• Xcode-beta: /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer

Wideeyed

@Tarazi Then replace /Applications/Xcode5-DP4.app with the proper path, I would assume. – Gray

@MaxNanasy i mean that's obvious. But no that didnt work. I had to uninstall and reinstall xcode for it to work again – Tarazi

I've been bitten by this a couple of times, generally when using cocos2dx. It happens if you have alternate versions of XCode, or have some other nonstandard installation. Basically the path to pass to xcode-select should be one that contains your XCode binaries at a subpath <path>/usr/bin. If that exists, <path> is your argument to xcode-select. – Selfevident

Works for YOSEMITE too – Wideeyed

How to install xcodebuild without full Xcode (which takes 2.49 GB...): #8417637 – Prine

For the Xcode 7 beta that runs on OS X 10.10, use sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer. – Blane

Thanks man. It works. But when we execute the sudo code we should make sure that xcode app name is matched with the exact xcode app name. if you have renamed xcode as xcode_7 then when u execute the sudo u have to give xcode_7 in the sudo, because it will search for that stuff. Hope someone will save their time:) – Belfast

So, when you install a new version of Xcode (I do mine by hand and give them different names), you need to change this link. Or have a common name and a symlink? – Hadrian

I didn't need to do step 2. Installing Xcode was sufficient. :) – Laspisa

macOS High Sierra 10.13, I already had Xcode 9.2 installed and faced the same issue after installing carthage. Just did the step 4 and that's it! – Clayclaybank

Both yours and @FranklinA answers worked for me. Writing this at 17-dec-18 – Latten

I already had xcode installed, but I was getting this error. Step 4 from this answer was all that was required to fix it. – Gallicism

On a new Mojave 10.14.5 install, I installed Command Line Tools 10.2.1 and then Xcode 10.2.1, and got the above error. Then, I tried using this solution, and I still got the above error. Franklin A's solution worked: https://mcmap.net/q/21858/-xcode-select-active-developer-directory-error – Blastomere

it works fine on Catalina but I needed to add --unsafe-perm=true option while using npm install – Bluegrass

All I needed was sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/ which correctly set the directory. xcode-select --print-path then returned "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer" and Xcode command line tools started working, e.g. open -h NSArray.h started opening the correct header file, rather than triggering a complaint about my DEVELOPER_DIR. – Honestly

This solution fixed this same error message when trying to do pip install salt on OS X 10.15.4 (Catalina). Python version 3.8.2, in case it matters. – Zygosis

To help with SEO (since this solved my problem), this will also fix an issue with SwiftLint running when you get the following error illegal hardware instruction swiftlint rules. Thanks! – Romance

This provided the missing piece of information I needed to fix my xcode-select: error: invalid developer directory issue (no squiggly in front of /Applications!). Thank you so much!!! – Stratigraphy

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer working for me and fix my issue . Thanks – Yadirayaeger

Download the Xcode here. Otherwise, u would have to retry a couple of times. developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=xcode – Rockling

This worked for me: sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer – Sumptuary

How the hell does this happen? – Inhospitable

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer worked! – Valvulitis

Answer 2

I was having an issue while trying to install packages using npm. I got the error: "sudo xcode-select -s /Applications//Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/"

To fix this

• I opened Xcode.
• Preferences
• Locations
• Selected the Command Lin Tools: Xcode 6.1.1

Now when installing packages with npm I no longer get errors.

Rochet

Fixed Robo VM setup. – Groundhog

THIS is the good answer and should be followed first. All the others suggesting to use sudo and even entering root mode is just bad practice – Prank

Fixed Ionic Capacitor – Shaunna

It saves my time! This works perfectly and easily! thanks – Adit

Fixed Cordova-Angular setup – Gertudegerty

It's Xcode > Settings > Locations in Xcode 15.2 – Raby

Answer 3

Other solution for those who don't want to install Xcode:

1. Install Command Line Tools (if you haven't already):

   xcode-select --install

2. Change the active directory:

   sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

This worked for me (git).

Penguin

from all the solutions out there for mavericks, this was the only one working for me. – Munos

I prefer this solution to installing Xcode, however it looks like you can't download xcode-select from Apple any longer: cl.ly/image/2T0u2f2D471a/content – Joannejoannes

I think I already have Command Line Tools installed, however, so this will not fix anything. – Joannejoannes

So, is the only way to get a usable xcodebuild to install the whole of Xcode? :-( – Joannejoannes

Looking to get a better answer here, hopefully: #19606362 – Joannejoannes

optionally, using the installer takes seconds and just works – Dentiform

This answer seems incorrect. The whole point is that 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode, i.e., a full install of Xcode, nor CommandLineTools. Testing it here, switching to CommandLineTools doesn't stop the error, nor would it. – Ignoramus

This answer is no longer correct. As of May 2015, when using Command Line Tools for OSX 10.10 (Yosemite), the xcodebuild command no longer functions without full xcode installed. – Ona

Yosemite 10.10.4, the second command has solved this issue (I had command tools but didn't have Xcode) – Heti

For me, xcode-select --install failed but then sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools worked. – Giro

This didn't work for me. It kept saying that Xcode was already installed. Installing from AppStore finally did it (tjmehta's answer). – Chantellechanter

MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode6-Beta.app/Contents/Developer – Matinee

For anyone on a fresh install of mojave, I resolved this issue by installing the cli directly from developer.apple.com/download/more I dont know why apple cant find its own servers. – Sawtelle

On a new Mojave 10.14.5 install, I installed Command Line Tools 10.2.1 and then Xcode 10.2.1, and got the above error. Then, I tried using this solution, and I still got the above error. Franklin A's solution worked: https://mcmap.net/q/21858/-xcode-select-active-developer-directory-error – Blastomere

Worked for me in 2021, osx 11.6.1. First command said xcode-select was already installed, so ran the second one. It worked and then my original problem was also resolved. Saved me 12GB. – Iceboat

This worked for me on xcode 14.2. – Tertial

Answer 4

Xcode > Preferences > Locations > Command Line Tools

Select the option matching your version of Xcode.

Wyatt

Click on the link and look at the image. The solution to this problem is not complicated. – Wyatt

I have installed 8 xcode versions thats making and issue but the above one will resolve mine issue. You are a life saver ;) – Regression

This was the only thing that worked for me when I tried to have 2 version of XCode installed. Trying xcode-select kept saying "error: invalid developer directory"! – Forging

This was the solution I needed. Not sure why that command Line Tools option wasn't set. But once I set it, it resolved my problem. Thanks. – Interruption

If you're wondering what to do, just click the "Command Line Tools" dropdown and select an option from what you see. – Kubis

Answer 5

Simply run sudo xcode-select -r which should automatically reset the path.

 -r, --reset
              Unsets any user-specified developer directory, so that the developer directory will be found via the default search mechanism. This command must  be
              run with superuser permissions (see sudo(8)), and will affect all users on the system.

Pokey

wonder what will happen if i uninstalled xcode and followed the steps above since i installed CLI after xcode. Would that messup my existing IOS app projects? – Roquefort

This worked for me on osx 10.14.4 with xcode 11.3.1 – Tilbury

Worked after Big Sur upgrade (11.6). – Rein

Answer 6

I just ran the following command and the issue was resolved for me:

sudo xcode-select --reset

Bon

This is the same solution as in this other answer. – Preheat

worked for me immediately – Engleman

It worked on MacOS Sonoma. – Ear

Awesome, it was so simple ❤️ – Equestrienne

Answer 7

if you installed XCode already, All you have to do is to...

• Open XCode
• Go To Xcode → Preferences → Locations
• From the Command Line Tools Select your Xcode

Unfriended

That control only shows the current one on my system, whereas the CommandLineTools/SDKs directory shows two more SDKs. – Schnapps

Worked for me! Xcode is too smart to find it automatically :) – Eldreda

Even though it looks like it's selected, you need to actually select it! Confusing! – Causative

@Causative This x 1000. Talk about a wild goose chase. Apple... really? – Alveta

Answer 8

Type this in your terminal

xcode-select --install
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -license accept

Beaner

Super cool! After these three commands execution finished, do remember to restart your terminal to apply the new changes. – Blanton

Answer 9

Just in case you're using xcode beta:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-Beta.app/Contents/Developer

Fourchette

Answer 10

I had to run this first

sudo xcode-select --reset

then

sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

and then it worked.

Liris

For me the problem was fixed after running the first command. Running the second command broke things again. So just the first one (in my case). Thank you. – Phalanx

I second that, just running the --reset fixed the problem – Disloyal

This worked for me too . Thanks !! – Theresatherese

Answer 11

1. Download Xcode from App Store.

2. Go to Xcode preferences/Locations/CommandlineTools

   You just have to set it to the Xcode version. It automatically points to '/Application/Xcode.app'

Harbinger

Answer 12

I was having the same problem in high sierra. running the following command solved it

npm explore npm -g -- npm install node-gyp@latest

Pym

This worked for me, except I simply reinstalled with npm -g install node-gyp@latest – Latashalatashia

Answer 13

Simple reinstall xcode-select

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
xcode-select --install

Oversubscribe

Answer 14

Please follow the steps below :

1. The latest version of Xcode can be downloaded from https://developer.apple.com/xcode/download/
2. It will be downloaded in the 'Downloads' unless specified otherwise. Please make sure to check the path where you have downloaded and extracted the Xcode
3. Now unlike other downloaded applications, on extraction, Xcode doesn't give the option to move it to Applications
4. Note the XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION or move it to the Applications
5. Note if you have downloaded Xcode or Xcode-beta

Based on 4 and 5, execute one of the commands (Do not execute all of them without reading above description):

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcode-select -s /[XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION]/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcode-select -s /[XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION]/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer

Elyot

2020, Xcode this works for me. Thank you. Please read carefully. – Harrow

Answer 15

Install Xcode from App Store. After installing run xcodebuild with root privileges i.e. sudo xcodebuild and accept the language. After this npm install bcrypt worked like a charm!

Counterfeit

Answer 16

Without Xcode: create file /usr/local/bin/xcodebuild with content to cheat XcodeSelect

  #!/bin/bash
  exit 0

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/xcodebuild

Somatoplasm

I must say I'm having issues with node-gyp for some reason running xcodebuild when I only have CLT installed. I'd rather not install Xcode just to install some native extensions nothing to do with Mac and iOS development, so I'm very up for trying this technique to basically just shut the error up. Do you know if there are any repercussions of doing this? I can only imagine that node-gyp s calling xcodebuild for a reason, and by doing an exit 0 we're breaking the toolchain for a given build, but I'm not sure, as I don't know why it'd be using xcodebuild in the first place. Any ideas? – Jackpot

I tried this, it made no difference unfortunately. I really don't want to install XCode - this is just some Apple marketing BS to force you to install it. – Christinachristine

Answer 17

In case you are using Xcode beta, run

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer 

instead of

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Bilek

Answer 18

I was able to solve this error without installing the full Xcode application. You must, however, have xcode command line tools installed.

From here:

1. $ cd /usr/bin
2. $ sudo mv xcodebuild xcodebuild.orig (A backup just in case)
3. $ vim xcodebuild
4. Paste the following:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ $1 == '-version' ]]; then
  echo "Xcode 10.2.1"
  echo "Build version 10E1001"
else
  /usr/bin/xcodebuild.bak $@
fi

5. $ sudo chmod +x xcodebuild

Thole

Nice answer. Also appreciate you referencing the original source. :) – Irritable

Answer 19

All I did which worked is run the command on the terminal:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Favored

Answer 20

XCode2: sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode\ 2.app/Contents/Developer

Pay attention to the "\" to escape the space

Subsistence

Answer 21

I had two instance of Xcode installed xcode.app and xcode-beta.app When I tried to create a build with netbeans it showed me the error "supported version of xcode and command line tools not found netbeans"

I followed the following steps:

1. "xcode-select --print-path" is equal to "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer"
2. "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform" exists
3. "xcodebuild -version" starts with "Xcode"

after 1 I found that it is pointing me to xcode-beta.app

so here is the solution which worked like a charm:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Latif

Answer 22

For context, today is Jan 28, 2019.

On my Mac, I did two things to resolve this problem:

1. Run the following command in your terminal:
   sudo xcode-select --install

2. Restart your Mac.

Until I restarted the computer, the problem kept occurring in my Android Studio. After reboot, it was working just fine. Also note that I did not execute any --switch commands as others are doing. I hope this helps.

Aldose

Answer 23

Manually installing Command LineTool worked for me.

1. I stalled xcode through App Store
2. Still could not download Homebrew
3. I installed Command Line Tool manually through link.
4. Bing Bang Boom

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/?=command%20line%20tools

Knitting

Answer 24

For those using a newer version of Xcode (I'm using 14.3), you need to install command Line tools. I suggest two ways.

1. Either run this command on terminal:

   xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch xcode-select --install

2. Or download the installable DMG file (command line tools for Xcode 14.3) from this link and install it.

I stumbled upon this issue when trying to install brew on macOS 13.3.

International

Answer 25

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer

languoguangs-iMac:/ languoguang$ sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer
xcode-select: error: invalid argument '10.app/Contents/Developer'
Usage: xcode-select [options]

Print or change the path to the active developer directory. This directory
controls which tools are used for the Xcode command line tools (for example, 
xcodebuild) as well as the BSD development commands (such as cc and make).

Options:
  -h, --help                  print this help message and exit
  -p, --print-path            print the path of the active developer directory
  -s <path>, --switch <path>  set the path for the active developer directory
  --install                   open a dialog for installation of the command line developer tools
  -v, --version               print the xcode-select version
  -r, --reset                 reset to the default command line tools path
languoguangs-iMac:/ languoguang$ sudo xcode-select -s "/Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer"

because my Xcode name in Application is "Xcode 10",

sudo xcode-select -s "/Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer"

works.

Epictetus

Answer 26

In my case,

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer 

didn't work because my Xcode had some special name. eg) Xcode_11.2.0_beta_2_stackoverflow.app

cd /applications
ls

Then I found my Xcode name, then replace it with

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/{myXcodeName}.app/Contents/Developer 

It worked for me.

Highbred

Answer 27

None of the above worked for me. I originally installed Command Line Tools separately, and then all of Xcode. What worked for me was to uninstall Command Line Tools as shown here. Then, when trying to run xcode-select again, I was asked to reinstall them.

*By the way, the very reason why I found this thread was because I had installed some libraries (particularly gcc) with macports, presumably using the old Command Line Tools, and then I installed the full Xcode midway into development. So anyways, for my case, I had to reinstall macports after removing the stand-alone Command Line Tools, reinstalling them, reinstalling gcc, and then my compilation worked.

Barcarole

Answer 28

There are only two steps required, and the full XCode.app is not required at all:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
xcode-select --install

At this point the "Installing Softwre" dialog pops up:

That's it!

Bevis

Answer 29

None of the above solutions helped me. I was working on an old project, and I had the latest version of NodeJs installed globally (v14.x) on my computer.

No node version above 10.1.x worked for me and when testing I received the same error as above.

Solution

• I installed "n" which is a nodeJs version manager like nvm
• I downgraded my nodeJs version to 9.x
• npm install now works.

I will now need to update my versions, or Specify my node version in my package.json.

Kalisz

Answer 30

The simple fix that worked for me is drag and drop Xcode.app from the current location (In my case it was in downloads) to Applications.

Weathercock