# Skill: iOS ASO Generator
A Claude Code skill that scans your Swift/SwiftUI codebase and emits paste-ready App Store metadata — App Name, Subtitle, Keywords, Description, and more.

category: Skill
date: Sat May 02 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
reading-time: 6 min read
excerpt: The whole searchable surface on the App Store is 160 characters — App Name (30) + Subtitle (30) + Keywords (100). This skill extracts signals from your codebase and generates a compliant, optimised ASO.md grounded in what your app actually does.

---


# iOS App Store Optimization (ASO) Generator

This skill scans an iOS Swift/SwiftUI codebase and emits a single English-only `ASO.md` at the repo root containing paste-ready App Store metadata plus a research-notes appendix. It encodes Apple's 2025–2026 metadata rules, WWDC25 changes (App Store Tags, CPP organic keywords, SAP collapse), and a codebase-signal extraction taxonomy.

The whole searchable surface on the App Store is **160 characters total**: App Name (30) + Subtitle (30) + Keywords (100). Everything else exists for conversion or browse — not search ranking. Get those 160 right and the rest follows.

## Install

```bash
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/conorluddy/ASOMarketplace
/plugin install ios-aso-plugin
```

Then in any iOS project:

```
/ios-aso
```

## When this skill applies

Trigger when you want to:
- Generate ASO metadata for a new iOS app
- Audit or improve an existing App Store listing
- Pick keywords from your codebase
- Choose a category, write a subtitle, draft a description, or prepare for submission
- Check metadata for rejection risk (2.3.7)

The skill assumes English (U.S.) primary locale. Cross-localization expansion (en-GB, en-AU, en-CA, es-MX) is offered as an optional appendix in the output.

## Workflow

### Step 1 — Confirm iOS project and find the brand

Confirm the working directory is an iOS project: look for `*.xcodeproj`, `*.xcworkspace`, or a `Package.swift` declaring an iOS platform.

Find the brand name in this precedence order:
1. `fastlane/metadata/en-US/name.txt` (if present, treat existing files as the source of truth and propose refinements rather than rewrites)
2. `CFBundleDisplayName` in the primary target's `Info.plist`
3. `CFBundleName`
4. The Xcode target name
5. The repo's README first heading

### Step 2 — Scan the codebase for signals

Build a feature inventory by union-ing signals across Tier 1–4 sources:
- **Tier 1**: `Info.plist` (`NS*UsageDescription` strings), `Localizable.strings` / `.xcstrings`, `fastlane/metadata`, README
- **Tier 2**: `*.entitlements`, `PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy`, Xcode capabilities (widgets, Live Activities, App Clips, Background Modes)
- **Tier 3**: App Intents (`AppIntent`, `AppShortcut`), StoreKit IAPs, SwiftUI/UIKit view + module names, Core Data / SwiftData entities, `Package.swift` / Podfile dependencies
- **Tier 4**: Snapshot test names, accessibility identifiers

Tokenize all user-facing strings, frequency-rank after stop-word filtering, and produce a candidate keyword pool of 30–50 single words.

### Step 3 — Synthesize the metadata

**Pick the keyword set, not phrases.** Choose 10–20 single-word tokens that *recombine* across Title + Subtitle + Keywords into the highest-relevance 2- and 3-word phrases. Apple combines words across those three fields within a locale to form search phrases. Tokens multiply; phrases don't.

Draft fields in this order:

1. **App Name (≤30 chars):** `Brand: Keyword Phrase` (colon is the most efficient separator). For new/indie apps put 1–2 of your strongest keywords here.
2. **Subtitle (≤30 chars):** A readable mini-sentence with 2–3 keyword tokens *not* used in the Name. Leave 1–2 chars headroom — the last word of a fully-packed subtitle occasionally fails to index.
3. **Keywords field (≤100 chars):** Comma-separated, **no spaces after commas**. Single words only. Exclude every word already in Name, Subtitle, primary category, and Apple's stop-word list.
4. **Primary category:** Drives browse placement AND is a text-relevance signal in search.
5. **Secondary category:** Browse only.
6. **Promotional Text (≤170):** Updatable anytime without a build — use for promos, new features, social proof.
7. **Description:** First 170 chars are the hook (above the "more" fold). Then 5–10 benefit-led bullets.
8. **What's New:** Template only.
9. **IAP names (≤30) and descriptions (≤45)** for each detected StoreKit product.
10. **Screenshot caption suggestions** — per WWDC25, captions feed Apple's AI tagging.

### Step 4 — Validate against the rules

**Hard rules:**
- App Name ≤30 chars; Subtitle ≤30; Keywords ≤100
- Keywords field has **no spaces after commas** — Apple counts them
- **No word appears in more than one of Name/Subtitle/Keywords** (or in the primary category)
- **No plurals** of singular forms used elsewhere (Apple stems English; `climb` and `climbs` are duplicates)
- Single words only in the Keywords field

**Apple Review 2.3.7 rejection triggers (default-exclude):**
- Trademarks the developer doesn't own
- Competitor brand names in the Keywords field
- Superlatives without proof: `#1`, `Best`, `Top`, `World's Best`
- Pricing language: `Free`, `50% Off`, `$0.99`
- Generic catch-alls: `app`, `the`, `for`, `of`, `game`, `best`, `top`
- "AI" claims without genuine AI integration

### Step 5 — Write `ASO.md`

The skill writes a 16-section output file:

| Section | Purpose |
|---------|---------|
| TL;DR | One-line summary of the strategy |
| App Name | Final with char count |
| Subtitle | Final with char count |
| Keywords | Final comma-separated string |
| Promotional Text | Updatable copy |
| Description | Full with fold-break marked |
| What's New | Template |
| IAPs | Names + descriptions per product |
| Categories | Primary + secondary |
| Screenshot Captions | Per-screen suggestions |
| Cross-Localization | Optional en-GB/AU/CA/MX appendix |
| Custom Product Pages | CPP keyword targets |
| ASA Seed | Apple Search Ads seed terms |
| Pre-Submission Checklist | 2.3.7 and hard-rule verification |
| Research Notes | Why each choice was made, citing codebase evidence |
| Candidate Pool | Every considered keyword with evidence, for iteration |

The **Research Notes** section is what you read to iterate — concrete evidence like "Picked `workout` because it appears 47× across `Localizable.strings` and the project depends on HealthKit."

## Notes on the post-September-2025 keyword research landscape

The legacy Apple Search Ads "Search Popularity" score collapsed on Sept 29, 2025 — ~77% of U.S. keywords now floor to "5". Don't rely on it. Free signals that still work:
- App Store autocomplete (Apple-direct)
- App Store search results count + which apps rank for a term
- Apple Ads' beta Monthly Search Term Rank Report (limited to legacy SAP ≥ 35 terms)

If you have access to AppTweak / Sensor Tower / MobileAction / Appfigures / App Radar — cross-validate the skill's picks. The skill itself doesn't assume any paid tool.

## Iteration

ASO is iterative. The skill produces a v1. Submit, wait ~4 weeks, track keyword rankings in App Store Connect Analytics, and replace bottom-quartile keywords with alternates from the Candidate Pool. Promotional Text refreshes every 30–90 days. Re-run the skill after major feature ships.