Overview

Tool to upload .ipa files to TestFlight.

It's mostly a wrapper for fastlane pilot upload.
This exists as fastlane pilot upload can sometimes randomly fail. This retries it and add some nice logging.

To do

• auto increase build number
• extract project out to a more generic uploader (this one will contain UCB things: .ipa finder)
• figure out why no fastlane logs (wait, did it succeed quietly??)
• some way of reading changelog from file

Requirements

• Python 3
• git
• fastlane (pilot)

Project Structure

repo-root/
pyproject.toml
README.md
package-structure.md
src/
pyliot/
__init__.py
...module files...

Install

Install from GitHub

pip install "pyliot @ git+https://github.com/OWNER/REPO.git"

Session-only install (venv)

bash setup_venv.sh

setup_venv.sh creates/uses .venv/ and installs project dependencies.

Quick Start

1. Create API key (See: Creating Your API Key)
2. Set parameters/environment variables (See: passing variables and variables docs)
3. Run uploader

bash upload_to_testflight.sh

upload_to_testflight.sh calls setup_venv.sh and then runs the uploader entrypoint.

Direct module execution (debugging):

.venv/bin/python3 -m pyliot.upload_to_testflight_cmd_entry

Variables

These can be passed either as command line arguments or as environment variables.
CLI arguments override environment variables if both exist.

CLI Name	ENV Name	Type	Required (Default)	Description
--app-store-connect-api-key-issuer-id	APP_STORE_CONNECT_API_KEY_ISSUER_ID	string	✅	Identifies the issuer who created the authentication token. Look for "Issuer ID" on the App Store Connect API page.
--app-store-connect-api-key-id	APP_STORE_CONNECT_API_KEY_ID	string	✅	Look for "Key ID" on your key in the App Store Connect API page.
--app-store-connect-api-key-content	APP_STORE_CONNECT_API_KEY_CONTENT	string	✅	The raw text contents of your API key (.p8 contents).
--ipa-path	IPA_PATH	path/string	✅	Path to the .ipa file to upload.
--changelog	CHANGELOG	string	✅	Release notes text for this TestFlight upload.
--groups	GROUPS	comma-separated string	❌	Tester groups to distribute to (groupA,groupB). If empty, build still goes to internal testers.
--max-upload-attempts	MAX_UPLOAD_ATTEMPTS	int	❌ (10)	Maximum retry attempts for upload.
--attempt-timeout	ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT	int	❌ (600)	Max time each upload attempt can run in seconds.
--show-fastlane-logs	SHOW_FASTLANE_LOGS	bool	❌ (false)

Passing Variables

Locally (.env file)

Put variables in a .env file at project root.
Do not commit this file; it contains sensitive values.

See example.env

Unity Cloud Build (Environment Variables)

Go to configuration -> Advanced Settings -> Environment variables.
Important: some required variables are provided automatically by UCB.

Command Line Arguments

You can pass any variable with CLI flags.

Example:

bash upload_to_testflight.sh \
--app-store-connect-api-key-issuer-id "<issuer-id>" \
--app-store-connect-api-key-id "<key-id>" \
--app-store-connect-api-key-content "<p8-content>" \
--ipa-path "./Builds/iOS/build.ipa" \
--changelog "Internal QA build" \
--groups "Internal QA" \
--max-upload-attempts 10 \
--attempt-timeout 600

Creating Your API Key

This is how the upload script authenticates with App Store Connect.

Create here: https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/access/integrations/api\ Apple docs: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appstoreconnectapi/creating-api-keys-for-app-store-connect-api

Once you've created and downloaded it (.p8), store it securely. If you open it in a text editor, it should look like this:

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
<key-content>
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----