Announcement Banner Generator

Generate a configurable in-app announcement/banner system that displays contextual messages (maintenance alerts, new feature highlights, promotions) from remote config or local definitions. Supports dismissal, deep link actions, and scheduling.

When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:

• Asks to "add announcement banner" or "in-app banner"
• Wants "app announcement" or "notification banner"
• Mentions "promotional banner" or "promo banner"
• Asks about "maintenance notice" or "maintenance alert"
• Wants "in-app messaging" or "contextual banners"
• Asks to "show announcements" or "display alerts to users"
• Mentions "feature highlight banner" or "what's new banner"

Pre-Generation Checks

1. Project Context Detection

• Check Swift version (requires Swift 5.9+)
• Check deployment target (iOS 16+ / macOS 13+)
• Check for @Observable support (iOS 17+ / macOS 14+)
• Identify source file locations

2. Conflict Detection

Search for existing banner/toast code:

Glob: **/*Banner*.swift, **/*Announcement*.swift, **/*Toast*.swift, **/*InAppMessage*.swift
Grep: "AnnouncementBanner" or "InAppBanner" or "ToastView" or "BannerView"

If third-party library found (Firebase In-App Messaging, Braze, Intercom):

• Ask if user wants to replace or keep it
• If keeping, don't generate — advise on integration patterns instead

3. Deep Linking Detection

Check for existing deep linking setup:

Grep: "deepLink" or "DeepLink" or "universalLink" or "openURL" or "onOpenURL"

If deep linking exists, integrate with it. If not, generate standalone action handling.

Configuration Questions

Ask user via AskUserQuestion:

1. Banner position?

   • Top (slides in from top) — recommended for alerts
   • Bottom (slides in from bottom)
   • Floating (centered overlay with dimmed background)

2. Content source?

   • Local only (hardcoded announcements in code)
   • Remote JSON (fetch from server endpoint)
   • Both (remote with local fallbacks) — recommended

3. Action type?

   • Deep link (navigate to in-app screen)
   • URL (open in Safari/SFSafariViewController)
   • Dismiss only (informational, no action button)
   • All of the above — recommended

4. Include scheduling (start/end dates)?

   • Yes (time-limited announcements with date ranges) — recommended
   • No (always-active until dismissed)

Generation Process

Step 1: Read Templates

Read templates.md for production Swift code.

Step 2: Create Core Files

Generate these files:

1. Announcement.swift — Model with style, action, priority, scheduling
2. AnnouncementManager.swift — @Observable manager: loads, filters, tracks dismissals
3. AnnouncementProvider.swift — Protocol + local/remote implementations with caching

Step 3: Create UI Files

4. AnnouncementBannerView.swift — SwiftUI banner with style-aware colors and animations
5. AnnouncementBannerModifier.swift — ViewModifier for overlay placement and action routing

Step 4: Create Optional Files

Based on configuration:

• AnnouncementScheduler.swift — If scheduling selected (date range filtering, timezone handling)

Step 5: Determine File Location

Check project structure:

• If Sources/ exists -> Sources/AnnouncementBanner/
• If App/ exists -> App/AnnouncementBanner/
• Otherwise -> AnnouncementBanner/

Output Format

After generation, provide:

Files Created

AnnouncementBanner/
├── Announcement.swift              # Model with style, action, priority
├── AnnouncementManager.swift       # Observable manager with dismiss tracking
├── AnnouncementProvider.swift      # Protocol + local/remote providers
├── AnnouncementBannerView.swift    # SwiftUI banner view
├── AnnouncementBannerModifier.swift# ViewModifier for overlay + actions
└── AnnouncementScheduler.swift     # Date range filtering (optional)

Integration Steps

Add banner overlay to root view:

// In your root ContentView or NavigationStack
ContentView()
    .announcementBanner()

With custom position:

ContentView()
    .announcementBanner(position: .bottom)

With deep link action handler:

ContentView()
    .announcementBanner { action in
        switch action {
        case .deepLink(let destination):
            router.navigate(to: destination)
        case .url(let url):
            openURL(url)
        case .dismiss:
            break
        }
    }

Define local announcements:

let provider = LocalAnnouncementProvider(announcements: [
    Announcement(
        id: "maintenance-2024",
        title: "Scheduled Maintenance",
        message: "We'll be performing maintenance on Saturday 9-11 AM EST.",
        style: .warning,
        action: .dismiss,
        priority: 10,
        startDate: maintenanceStart,
        endDate: maintenanceEnd
    ),
    Announcement(
        id: "new-feature-photos",
        title: "New: Photo Library",
        message: "Check out our new photo library with AI-powered search!",
        style: .promotion,
        action: .deepLink("app://features/photos"),
        priority: 5,
        isDismissible: true
    )
])

Fetch from remote config:

let provider = RemoteAnnouncementProvider(
    url: URL(string: "https://api.example.com/announcements")!,
    cacheDuration: 3600  // 1 hour
)

Testing

@Test
func dismissedAnnouncementsAreHidden() async throws {
    let manager = AnnouncementManager(
        provider: MockAnnouncementProvider(announcements: [testAnnouncement]),
        dismissalStore: InMemoryDismissalStore()
    )

    await manager.loadAnnouncements()
    #expect(manager.activeAnnouncement != nil)

    manager.dismiss(testAnnouncement)
    #expect(manager.activeAnnouncement == nil)
}

@Test
func highestPriorityAnnouncementShownFirst() async throws {
    let lowPriority = Announcement(id: "low", title: "Low", message: "...", style: .info, priority: 1)
    let highPriority = Announcement(id: "high", title: "High", message: "...", style: .warning, priority: 10)
    let manager = AnnouncementManager(
        provider: MockAnnouncementProvider(announcements: [lowPriority, highPriority])
    )

    await manager.loadAnnouncements()
    #expect(manager.activeAnnouncement?.id == "high")
}

@Test
func expiredAnnouncementsAreFiltered() async throws {
    let expired = Announcement(
        id: "expired",
        title: "Old",
        message: "...",
        style: .info,
        endDate: Date.distantPast
    )
    let manager = AnnouncementManager(
        provider: MockAnnouncementProvider(announcements: [expired])
    )

    await manager.loadAnnouncements()
    #expect(manager.activeAnnouncement == nil)
}

Common Patterns

Show Maintenance Banner

Announcement(
    id: "maintenance-\(date)",
    title: "Scheduled Maintenance",
    message: "Service will be unavailable Saturday 2-4 AM EST.",
    style: .warning,
    action: .url(URL(string: "https://status.example.com")!),
    priority: 100,  // High priority overrides other banners
    startDate: Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: maintenanceDate)!,
    endDate: maintenanceEndDate,
    isDismissible: false  // Can't dismiss maintenance warnings
)

Promote New Feature

Announcement(
    id: "feature-v2.5-darkmode",
    title: "Dark Mode is Here!",
    message: "Try our new dark mode in Settings.",
    style: .promotion,
    action: .deepLink("app://settings/appearance"),
    priority: 5,
    isDismissible: true
)

Time-Limited Promotion

Announcement(
    id: "promo-summer-2024",
    title: "Summer Sale - 40% Off!",
    message: "Upgrade to Pro at our lowest price ever.",
    style: .promotion,
    action: .deepLink("app://subscription/upgrade"),
    priority: 8,
    startDate: promoStart,
    endDate: promoEnd,
    isDismissible: true,
    targetAudience: .freeUsers
)

Gotchas

1. Banner stacking — Never show multiple banners simultaneously. Use priority to determine which single banner to display. Queue others and show the next one after dismissal.
2. Don't cover critical UI — Ensure the banner doesn't overlap navigation bars, tab bars, or interactive elements. Use safe area insets.
3. Respect user dismissal — Persist dismissed announcement IDs so they don't reappear after app relaunch. Use UserDefaults or a lightweight store.
4. Remote config caching — Cache fetched announcements to avoid network requests on every app launch. Honor cache duration but allow force-refresh.
5. Date/timezone handling — Always use UTC for start/end dates in remote config. Convert to local timezone only for display purposes.
6. Accessibility — Announce banner appearance with AccessibilityNotification.Announcement. Ensure dismiss button has proper label.
7. Animation interruption — If a user navigates away mid-animation, ensure the banner state resets properly. Use .task tied to view lifecycle.

References

• templates.md — All production Swift templates
• Related: generators/deep-linking — Deep link routing integration
• Related: generators/whats-new — What's new screen for feature highlights