App Store Connect CLI (asc)

The asc CLI is undergoing an incremental rewrite (April 1, 2026 – June 30, 2026) to replace its execution foundation. The goal is to move away from process-wide shared state (found in the monolithic shared package) toward an explicit runtime object that manages cross-cutting concerns like authentication, client creation, output resolution, and timeouts.

Key Architectural Changes:

• Runtime Object: A new internal/cli/runtime package will own CLI behavior.
• Command Construction: Commands will be rebuilt to accept a *runtime.Runtime object instead of relying on global state.
• Vertical Migration: Migration is organized by command families (e.g., status, submit, release) rather than individual helper functions.

The CLI distinguishes between two types of localization metadata:

Version Localizations

Metadata specific to a single app version:

• What's New text
• Description (if not using app-info)
• Keywords (if not using app-info)
• Support URL (if not using app-info)
• Marketing URL
• Promotional text
• Screenshots
• App previews

App Info Localizations

Metadata shared across all versions of the app:

• App description
• Keywords
• Support URL
• Privacy policy URL
• Subtitle

The app-tags command group allows you to inspect and manage Apple-generated App Store discoverability tags attached to an app. These tags help users understand an app's qualities and appear in search results and product pages.

Each tag resource includes:

• name: The label returned by App Store Connect.
• visibleInAppStore: Whether the tag is currently visible in the storefront.
• territories: The storefront territories linked to that tag.

Use the list command to discover tag IDs, then use view, territories, or update to manage specific tags.

The App Store Connect CLI is undergoing an incremental rewrite (Q2 2026) to move from a monolithic shared package architecture to a domain-driven runtime architecture. This migration aims to reduce global state, split large files like internal/asc/client_options.go into resource-specific files, and move all root command families to a runtime-backed construction model.

Key Architectural Changes:

• From: A monolithic shared package handling auth, client construction, and output.
• To: A distributed structure including internal/cli/runtime, internal/cli/shared/auth, internal/cli/shared/output, etc.
• Client Organization: Moving away from umbrella files toward resource-specific files (e.g., client_options_builds.go).

The docs/openapi/ directory contains offline snapshots of the App Store Connect OpenAPI specification. This is useful for agents or environments without internet access.

• latest.json: The complete OpenAPI specification snapshot.
• paths.txt: A generated index of all available paths and methods for quick existence checks.

The insights command is part of a suite of tools for managing App Store Connect data. For different data types, use the following related commands:

• Analytics: Use this to download raw analytics and sales reports.
• Finance: Use this for financial reports and payment data.
• Subscriptions: Use this to manage subscription products and pricing.

StoreKit Retention Messaging uses a separate authentication mechanism from standard App Store Connect requests. You must use an In-App Purchase API key. You can store a named profile in the keychain using asc storekit auth login or use environment variables for CI/CD or local development.

Environment Variables:

• ASC_STOREKIT_KEY_ID
• ASC_STOREKIT_ISSUER_ID
• ASC_STOREKIT_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH
• ASC_STOREKIT_PRIVATE_KEY
• ASC_STOREKIT_PRIVATE_KEY_B64
• ASC_STOREKIT_BUNDLE_ID
• ASC_STOREKIT_ENVIRONMENT
• ASC_STOREKIT_PROFILE
• ASC_STOREKIT_STRICT_AUTH
• ASC_STOREKIT_BYPASS_KEYCHAIN

asc storekit auth login \
  --name Production \
  --key-id "$KEY_ID" \
  --issuer-id "$ISSUER_ID" \
  --private-key ./SubscriptionKey.p8 \
  --bundle-id com.example.app

To ensure the CLI environment is correctly configured and all tests pass, use the following command sequence. Setting ASC_BYPASS_KEYCHAIN=1 is required for manual and automated testing to bypass keychain interactions.

make format
make check-docs
make lint
ASC_BYPASS_KEYCHAIN=1 make test

When automating tasks with the App Store Connect CLI, follow these best practices:

• Validation: Always run asc workflow validate after editing a workflow file.
• Security: Never hardcode secrets or sensitive IDs. Use environment variables instead.
• Testing: Use the --dry-run flag to preview execution without making changes.
• Error Handling: Define error hooks to perform cleanup operations if a step fails.
• Modularity: Keep workflows focused and break complex logic into composable sub-workflows. Use private workflows for common logic.
• Version Control: Store your .asc/workflow.json in git.
• Documentation: Use descriptive names and document required KEY:VALUE parameters in the workflow descriptions.

The standard workflow for publishing involves validating the version and then submitting it.

1. Validate: asc validate --app "<APP_ID>" --version "<VERSION>".
2. Publish: asc publish appstore --app "<APP_ID>" --ipa "<PATH_TO_IPA>" --version "<VERSION>" --submit --confirm.

After submission, use asc submit status or asc submit cancel to manage the lifecycle.

asc publish appstore --app "123456789" --ipa "./MyApp.ipa" --version "1.2.3" --submit --confirm