"Couldn’t communicate with a helper application" error when uploading archive to notary service

Did this previously work? Or is this the first time you’re tried notarising with Xcode?

If you select Developer ID > Export rather than Developer ID > Upload, are you able to export the app? That’ll tell us whether this is a problem with the code signing or the notarisation.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

First time, yes. And yes, I can export and sign just normally!

Also I've marked your reply as "accepted" accidentally, the issue still persists. Thank you.

I can export and sign just normally!

Cool. I’d like to you to try notarising the resulting app from the command line using notarytool. See Customizing the notarization workflow.

This test has two benefits:

• If it works, it’ll show that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong about your notarisation setup, and that it’s just Xcode that’s having problems.

• If Xcode continues to give you problems, you can use it as a workaround.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

I'm seeing this issue as well on Xcode Version 14.2 (14C18)

I'm seeing this issue as well

OK. Do you want to try the diagnostic test I suggested above?

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Hi @eskimo, this is caused by a crash in com.apple.dt.Xcode.ITunesSoftwareService. After retrying 4-5 times it works and signs/uploads the app.

Thread 5 Crashed::  Dispatch queue: com.apple.NSURLSession-delegate
0   libobjc.A.dylib               	       0x1866cdc34 objc_msgSend + 52
1   CoreFoundation                	       0x186bd6f54 ___CFXRegistrationPost_block_invoke + 124
2   CoreFoundation                	       0x186bd6e78 _CFXRegistrationPost + 440
3   CoreFoundation                	       0x186b0c580 _CFXNotificationPost + 704
4   Foundation                    	       0x187a699e4 -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:userInfo:] + 88
5   Notarization                  	       0x1061cb69c 0x1061a8000 + 145052
6   Notarization                  	       0x1061dfcd8 0x1061a8000 + 228568
7   Notarization                  	       0x1061dd490 0x1061a8000 + 218256
8   CFNetwork                     	       0x18b38c56c 0x18b2cb000 + 791916
9   CFNetwork                     	       0x18b31f6dc 0x18b2cb000 + 345820
10  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868b6874 _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 32
11  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868b8400 _dispatch_client_callout + 20
12  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868bfa88 _dispatch_lane_serial_drain + 668
13  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868c062c _dispatch_lane_invoke + 436
14  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868cb244 _dispatch_workloop_worker_thread + 648
15  libsystem_pthread.dylib       	       0x186a64074 _pthread_wqthread + 288
16  libsystem_pthread.dylib       	       0x186a62d94 start_wqthread + 8

another crash:

Thread 2 Crashed::  Dispatch queue: com.apple.NSXPCConnection.user.anonymous.62440
0   libobjc.A.dylib               	       0x1866cc5f8 objc_release + 16
1   DVTITunesSoftwareServiceFoundation	       0x100fb4fbc NotarizationWrapper.getStatus(submissionID:authenticationServiceIdentifier:accountCredentials:teamID:extraHeaders:) + 1360
2   DVTITunesSoftwareServiceFoundation	       0x100fb5710 @objc NotarizationWrapper.getStatus(submissionID:authenticationServiceIdentifier:accountCredentials:teamID:extraHeaders:) + 252
3   com.apple.dt.Xcode.ITunesSoftwareService	       0x100e3aee4 -[DVTITunesSoftwareService notarizationStatusResponse:accountCredentials:teamID:authenticationServiceIdentifier:extraHeaders:callback:] + 260
4   CoreFoundation                	       0x186b288a4 __invoking___ + 148
5   CoreFoundation                	       0x186b28718 -[NSInvocation invoke] + 428
6   Foundation                    	       0x187b0b384 __NSXPCCONNECTION_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_EXPORTED_OBJECT__ + 16
7   Foundation                    	       0x1880e542c -[NSXPCConnection _decodeAndInvokeMessageWithEvent:reply:flags:] + 1204
8   Foundation                    	       0x1880e6da4 message_handler_message + 88
9   Foundation                    	       0x1880e6810 message_handler + 152
10  libxpc.dylib                  	       0x1867abe74 _xpc_connection_call_event_handler + 152
11  libxpc.dylib                  	       0x1867aa8f4 _xpc_connection_mach_event + 1376
12  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868b84c0 _dispatch_client_callout4 + 20
13  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868d4ed8 _dispatch_mach_msg_invoke + 468
14  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868bf960 _dispatch_lane_serial_drain + 372
15  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868d5c24 _dispatch_mach_invoke + 448
16  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868bf960 _dispatch_lane_serial_drain + 372
17  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868c062c _dispatch_lane_invoke + 436
18  libdispatch.dylib             	       0x1868cb244 _dispatch_workloop_worker_thread + 648
19  libsystem_pthread.dylib       	       0x186a64074 _pthread_wqthread + 288
20  libsystem_pthread.dylib       	       0x186a62d94 start_wqthread + 8

If internal components of Xcode are crashing, that’s definitely bugworthy. Please post your bug number, just for the record.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

same issue here, no more notarisation possible on Xcode 14.2 (on macOS 12.6.7).

i cannot confirm that it works after 4-5 times, had 10 failures in a row with the very same "Couldn’t communicate with a helper application." message.

I’ve posted a number of responses on this thread but I see now evidence that folks have tried the suggestions I posted. That makes makes me sad.

Anyway, to reiterate:

• Try exporting from the Xcode organiser, rather than just notarising. That’ll rule out a world of potential issues. See this post.

• If the export is successful, you can try notarising with notarytool. That has a couple of benefits. First, it checks whether notarisation is working in general. Second, it offers you a potential workaround. See this post.

• If you see an Xcode component crashing, I recommend that you file a bug about that. Please post your bug number, just for the record. See this post.

• And finally something new: Create a new user account on your Mac and repeat your tests from there. That’ll tell you whether the problem is specific to your machine or your user account.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

I had the same problem and it seemed due to not having accepted all the latest developer agreements. xcrun notarytool reported:

Error: HTTP status code: 403. A required agreement is missing or has expired. This request requires an in-effect agreement that has not been signed or has expired. Ensure your team has signed the necessary legal agreements and that they are not expired.

There was an updated agreement on https://developer.apple.com/account. Accepting this didn't seem to solve the problem, at least not after a waiting for a few minutes, so I kept looking and found the "Paid Apps" agreement on https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/agreements. I wasn't sure if it's relevant to me (I don't currently have any paid apps), but after accepting this one, notarising from Xcode worked again. However, it could be that there was just a propagation delay and that accepting the first agreement would have proved to be enough eventually.

I'm having this issue and while signing the new agreements temporarily fixed it, I still have this issue quite often.

It works roughly 50% of the time.

Sometimes restarting Xcode once fixes it, other times (like right now) nothing seems to fix it... And then eventually it ends up working. This time around I actually managed to upload it but there was a bug with the notarization, and I can't seem to upload it a second time.

I'm having this issue. It was working well yeseterday. howerver, today I still this issue sometime. It works roughly 50% of the time.

Same problem here today: we have random notarization failures, some of them with internal server errors (500), some of them with missing agreement.

Same problem here as well with Xcode 14.3 and Mac OS 13.3.1. The issue is solved by accepting the updated agreement on https://developer.apple.com/account (after several minutes later).