PencilKit Drawing

Capture Apple Pencil and finger input using PKCanvasView, manage drawing tools with PKToolPicker, serialize drawings with PKDrawing, and wrap PencilKit in SwiftUI. Targets Swift 6.2 / iOS 26+.

Contents

• Setup
• PKCanvasView Basics
• PKToolPicker
• PKDrawing Serialization
• Exporting to Image
• Stroke Inspection
• SwiftUI Integration
• PaperKit Relationship
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

Setup

PencilKit requires no entitlements or Info.plist entries. Import PencilKit and create a PKCanvasView.

import PencilKit

Platform availability: iOS 13+, iPadOS 13+, Mac Catalyst 13.1+, visionOS 1.0+.

PKCanvasView Basics

PKCanvasView is a UIScrollView subclass that captures Apple Pencil and finger input and renders strokes.

import PencilKit
import UIKit

class DrawingViewController: UIViewController, PKCanvasViewDelegate {
    let canvasView = PKCanvasView()

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        canvasView.delegate = self
        canvasView.drawingPolicy = .anyInput
        canvasView.tool = PKInkingTool(.pen, color: .black, width: 5)
        canvasView.frame = view.bounds
        canvasView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
        view.addSubview(canvasView)
    }

    func canvasViewDrawingDidChange(_ canvasView: PKCanvasView) {
        // Drawing changed -- save or process
    }
}

Drawing Policies

canvasView.drawingPolicy = .pencilOnly

Configuring the Canvas

// Set a large drawing area (scrollable)
canvasView.contentSize = CGSize(width: 2000, height: 3000)

// Enable/disable the ruler
canvasView.isRulerActive = true

// Set the current tool programmatically
canvasView.tool = PKInkingTool(.pencil, color: .blue, width: 3)
canvasView.tool = PKEraserTool(.vector)

PKToolPicker

PKToolPicker displays a floating palette of drawing tools. The canvas automatically adopts the selected tool.

class DrawingViewController: UIViewController {
    let canvasView = PKCanvasView()
    let toolPicker = PKToolPicker()

    override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
        super.viewDidAppear(animated)
        toolPicker.setVisible(true, forFirstResponder: canvasView)
        toolPicker.addObserver(canvasView)
        canvasView.becomeFirstResponder()
    }
}

Custom Tool Picker Items

Create a tool picker with specific tools.

let toolPicker = PKToolPicker(toolItems: [
    PKToolPickerInkingItem(type: .pen, color: .black),
    PKToolPickerInkingItem(type: .pencil, color: .gray),
    PKToolPickerInkingItem(type: .marker, color: .yellow),
    PKToolPickerEraserItem(type: .vector),
    PKToolPickerLassoItem(),
    PKToolPickerRulerItem()
])

Ink Types

PKDrawing Serialization

PKDrawing is a value type (struct) that holds all stroke data. Serialize it to Data for persistence.

// Save
func saveDrawing(_ drawing: PKDrawing) throws {
    let data = drawing.dataRepresentation()
    try data.write(to: fileURL)
}

// Load
func loadDrawing() throws -> PKDrawing {
    let data = try Data(contentsOf: fileURL)
    return try PKDrawing(data: data)
}

Combining Drawings

var drawing1 = PKDrawing()
let drawing2 = PKDrawing()
drawing1.append(drawing2)

// Non-mutating
let combined = drawing1.appending(drawing2)

Transforming Drawings

let scaled = drawing.transformed(using: CGAffineTransform(scaleX: 2, y: 2))
let translated = drawing.transformed(using: CGAffineTransform(translationX: 100, y: 0))

Exporting to Image

Generate a UIImage from a drawing.

func exportImage(from drawing: PKDrawing, scale: CGFloat = 2.0) -> UIImage {
    drawing.image(from: drawing.bounds, scale: scale)
}

// Export a specific region
let region = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 500, height: 500)
let scale = UITraitCollection.current.displayScale
let croppedImage = drawing.image(from: region, scale: scale)

Stroke Inspection

Access individual strokes, their ink, and control points.

for stroke in drawing.strokes {
    let ink = stroke.ink
    print("Ink type: \(ink.inkType), color: \(ink.color
how to use pencilkit-drawing
CursorClaude CodeClineCodexWindsurfGooseGitHub CopilotVS CodeGemini CLIKiloOpencodeKimi CLIRoo ClineAiderContinueZedBolt.newLovablev0Replit AgentSweepSmol DeveloperDevinCavemanAmpAntigravity
How to use pencilkit-drawing on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
1
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with node --version)
›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add pencilkit-drawing
2
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
$npx skills add https://github.com/dpearson2699/swift-ios-skills --skill pencilkit-drawingcopy
The skills CLI fetches pencilkit-drawing from GitHub repository dpearson2699/swift-ios-skills and configures it for Cursor.
3
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
◆ Which agents do you want to install to?
│
│ ── Universal (.agents/skills) ── always included ────
│   • Amp
│   • Antigravity
│   • Cline
│   • Codex
│ ●Cursor(selected)
│   • Cursor
│   • Windsurf
4
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
.cursor/skills/pencilkit-drawing
Reload or restart Cursor to activate pencilkit-drawing. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /pencilkit-drawing) or your agent's skill management interface.
⚠
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
Additional Resources
›View source code on GitHub›Skills CLI documentation›Learn more about Cursor›What are agent skills?