Xcode is crashing on startup. Any workarounds?

Hi,

When I open an existing project (following https://developer.apple.com/tutorials/swiftui/creating-and-combining-views) in Xcode, it crashes immediately with this "(tabController) should not be nil." error:

Code Block 
(tabController) should not be nil.
Process:               Xcode [11567]
Path:                  /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/MacOS/Xcode
Identifier:            com.apple.dt.Xcode
Version:               12.3 (17715)
Build Info:            IDEFrameworks-17715000000000000~8 (12C33)
App Item ID:           
App External ID:       
Code Type:             ARM-64 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [1]
Responsible:           Xcode [11567]
User ID:               501
Date/Time:             2020-12-19 01:09:44.783 +1100
OS Version:            macOS 11.1 (20C69)
Report Version:        12
Anonymous UUID:        
Sleep/Wake UUID:       
Time Awake Since Boot: 40000 seconds
Time Since Wake:       310 seconds
System Integrity Protection: enabled
Crashed Thread:        0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type:        EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note:        EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Application Specific Information:
ProductBuildVersion: 12C33
ASSERTION FAILURE in /Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/IDEFrameworks/IDEFrameworks-17715/IDEKit/Workspace/IDEWorkspaceDocument.m:3270
Details:  (tabController) should not be nil.
Object:   <IDEWorkspaceDocument: 0x11d5fdb20>
Method:   -commitStateToDictionary:
Thread:   <NSThread: 0x140628ff0>{number = 1, name = main}
Open FDs: 38/7168
Hints:   
 
Backtrace:
  0   -[IDEAssertionHandler handleFailureInMethod:object:fileName:lineNumber:assertionSignature:messageFormat:arguments:] (in IDEKit)
  1   _DVTAssertionHandler (in DVTFoundation)
  2   _DVTAssertionFailureHandler (in DVTFoundation)
  3   -[IDEWorkspaceDocument showWindows] (in IDEKit)
  4   -[DVTStateToken _copyStatefulObjectState] (in DVTFoundation)
  5   -[DVTStateToken pushStateToRepositoryAndReturnError:] (in DVTFoundation)
  6   -[DVTStateRepository _updateStateIfNeeded] (in DVTFoundation)
  7   -[DVTStateRepository collectStateFromRegisteredObjects] (in DVTFoundation)
  8   -[IDEWorkspaceDocument writeStateData] (in IDEKit)
  9   28-[IDEWorkspaceDocument init]_block_invoke (in IDEKit)
 10   -[DVTDelayedInvocation runBlock:] (in DVTFoundation)
 11   NSFireDelayedPerform (in Foundation)
 12   CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_TIMER_CALLBACK_FUNCTION (in CoreFoundation)
 13   CFRunLoopDoTimer (in CoreFoundation)
 14   CFRunLoopDoTimers (in CoreFoundation)
 15   __CFRunLoopRun (in CoreFoundation)
 16   CFRunLoopRunSpecific (in CoreFoundation)
 17   RunCurrentEventLoopInMode (in HIToolbox)
 18   ReceiveNextEventCommon (in HIToolbox)
 19   _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter (in HIToolbox)
 20   _DPSNextEvent (in AppKit)
 21   -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] (in AppKit)
 22   -[DVTApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] (in DVTKit)
 23   -[NSApplication run] (in AppKit)
 24   NSApplicationMain (in AppKit)
 25   start (in libdyld.dylib)
 
abort() called
Application Specific Signatures:
((tabController)) != nil


Are there any workarounds?

Post not yet marked as solved Up vote post of SunsetBoulevard Down vote post of SunsetBoulevard
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Posted by
SunsetBoulevard
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Thanks @randomize66

I'm getting the same error in one of my projects. 
A workaround for me is to:
Open a different project
File -> Open Recent
Clean build folder
Close Xcode
Delete DerivedData content for the project
Open the project as usual
Clean build folder once again
Go!

Posted by
concevigo
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I have figured the work around for this back in December already - in it I would open another Xcode project and then with the project window open, I would open the needed project with File -> Open Recent.

Here's a funny thing: today, that OTHER project has stopped opening too. Amazing.

Now I'm using a third, different project, and apparently I'm running out, but statistically, I'll lose access to all of them only by 2023. Amazing.
Posted by
isaacweisberg
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Thanks this worked for me. I opened another project and xcode did not crash.

Posted by
coconut-tech
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UPDATE to my previous post. Reopening another post did allow xcode to open without crashing; however, my current project failed to open and did in fact crash xcode. This worked for me: deleted my project workspace, deleted my podfile.lock and Pods folder. You may also simply rename at the terminal with: > mv yourprojectfile.workspace to yourprojectfile.workspace.bak or any other name. Do the same for the folder.

reinstalled my pods via > pod install.
So the crash was due to my project. Before you go nuts trying to fix xcode, it may be a good idea to test if it an xcode problem or a project problem. So thanks for your tip: by opening another project, it led me to think this issue was my current project.

Posted by
coconut-tech
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  • This is what worked for me: I keep all my projects in /Users/me/Source, so I renamed Source to Source2. Xcode has stopped crashing on startup! Now to find the problem project(s).

    —
    spstanley
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