Apple New Added 9 September 2026

Xcode: Command PhaseScriptExecution failed with a nonzero exit code

A Run Script build phase exited non zero, and Xcode reports its own wrapper rather than the script's message, which is buried higher up the log. Scripts that work in a terminal fail here because the build environment has a trimmed PATH and never loads an interactive shell profile.

Quick fix

Read the commands before running them. Anything that restarts a service, deletes data or changes permissions should be tried on a non-production system first.

Quick fix

# The real error is just above the failure in the raw log
xcodebuild -scheme App -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' 2>&1 | tail -60

# Build phases do not read your shell profile, so set PATH yourself
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
command -v node || { echo "node missing in build env"; exit 1; }

# Fail with your own message rather than an exit code
set -euo pipefail

# Sandboxed script phases cannot write outside their declared outputs
# Either declare input and output files, or turn the sandbox off
ENABLE_USER_SCRIPT_SANDBOXING = NO

How to diagnose Apple errors

macOS developer errors concentrate around three subsystems: the command line tools (xcrun and the active developer directory), the dynamic linker (dyld, library paths, and code signing), and Gatekeeper / notarisation. Apple Silicon added a fourth axis: architecture mismatches between arm64 and x86_64 binaries, which usually surface as confusing "library not loaded" or "bad CPU type" messages rather than as an explicit architecture error.

If the quick fix above does not resolve it, work through these steps. They apply to this whole class of error, not just to this one message, which is usually what saves the time.

Check the active developer directory first with xcode-select -p. After every macOS or Xcode update this can point at a path that no longer exists, breaking git, compilers and package managers all at once.
For dyld errors, run otool -L /path/to/binary to list what it actually wants, then verify each path exists. DYLD_PRINT_LIBRARIES=1 shows the resolution order at runtime.
Confirm architecture with file /path/to/binary and uname -m. On Apple Silicon, a Rosetta shell reports x86_64 and will silently install the wrong Homebrew prefix.
Homebrew lives at /opt/homebrew on Apple Silicon and /usr/local on Intel. Permission errors under /usr/local on an M-series Mac almost always mean a Rosetta/native mix-up.
For Gatekeeper and notarisation, use spctl -a -vvv to assess a bundle and xcrun notarytool log to get the actual rejection reason. The submission status alone tells you nothing useful.

Tools worth reaching for

xcode-select -p
otool -L
codesign -dv --verbose=4
spctl -a -vvv
xcrun notarytool log

Authoritative references

Primary documentation for this error, worth reading before applying any fix in production.

developer.apple.com

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