advice for a robot that programs SwiftUI, iOS apps well

[u/spammmmmmmmy]

I have 64GB os VRAM to consume, and I need to wean myself off of Claude Opus, like yesterday. however unless we're programming in Python, I cannot get my home robots to write good code. the best I've come up with is Qwen3.8/27B, but the output is so buggy, after numerous bug fixes cycles until it compiles again, the feature we were working on doesn't work and I end up blowing all my tokens asking Opus to fix it.

I'm wondering, is my problem iterative development rather than attempting a well documented one shot? Or is my problem really (as I suspect) just not using the right model?

sometimes I wonder if the models people rave about here are just misinformation/marketing.

[u/false79]

You need to do your part as a human by breaking down the requirements into tasks the model can handle.

[u/xilvar]

That’s odd. I write a fair amount of iOS swift at times mostly using qwen and although it produces some bugs, it generally fixes them just fine too.

I do notice that a few things are important:
1. Plan and design the project well when you start. There are a lot of edge cases in iOS development. Ideally you have some experience so you can help define cleaner paths at the beginning.
2. Never have the agent code the entire starting project from zero. Create the initial project using Xcode the normal way. More than most platforms, the ‘right’ initial project changes faster on mobile than almost anywhere else.
3. It helps when the agent can see what it’s doing. Make sure to encourage it to run and look at the app at least in the simulator.
4. Lifecycle is trickier in mobile development than any previous platform. Make sure you and the agent have observability of it in logs or wherever.

[u/spammmmmmmmy → u/xilvar]

Thank you! I am making my first Augmented Reality app and I'm finding the process tricky - it can't run in the simulator... and I can't easily reproduce a behavior with it tethered to a USB cable. 

[u/xilvar → u/spammmmmmmmy]

Hm. You should be able to have it debug and perceive the app on device. You will probably need to add a bit of extra debugging harness to the app itself though in order to get screen captures or a video stream. Ask the agent to solve that problem.

You can then help it debug by encouraging it to use you as its remote hands.

[u/Past-Chain-7377]

what you might be missing is skill files that the model can load to understand how to write better code in your specific case (best practices, idiomatic swift expressions, etc.). I find Qwen3.8 27b and Qwen3.6 27b/35ba3b to be the best coding models in my experience.

[u/spammmmmmmmy → u/Past-Chain-7377]

Skill files? I have never heard of such a thing (well, outside of The Matrix, "I know  kung-fu!")

Could you give an example of something I could have a look at?

[u/Past-Chain-7377 → u/spammmmmmmmy]

https://agentskills.io/home

[u/my_name_isnt_clever]

Bigger frontier models are more forgiving. Local models aren't being marketed lol; there's nobody paying for that. They just require more skill and care to get to the same goals. If that's too much for you, that's a you problem.