Prevent retain cycles via ARC, weak/unowned references, and Capture Lists in Swift. Use when managing Swift ARC, avoiding retain cycles, or configuring capture lists in closures.
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---
name: swift-memory-management
description: Prevent retain cycles via ARC, weak/unowned references, and Capture Lists in Swift. Use when managing Swift ARC, avoiding retain cycles, or configuring capture lists in closures.
metadata:
triggers:
files:
- '**/*.swift'
keywords:
- weak
- unowned
- capture
- deinit
- retain
---
# Swift Memory Management
## **Priority: P0**
## Implementation Guidelines
### ARC Fundamentals
- **Default**: Strong references. ARC handles retain/release automatically.
- **Weak**: Use weak if the reference can become nil during its lifetime (delegates, optional parent refs).
- **Unowned**: Use unowned if the reference is guaranteed to outlive referring object (rare; prefer `weak`).
### Capture Lists
- **Closures**: `[weak self]` at beginning of the closure's capture list. Pattern: `{ [weak self] in guard let self = self else { return } }`.
- **Self in Structs**: No list needed — `self` copied by value.
- **Multiple Captures**: `[weak self, weak delegate]`.
### Retain Cycles
- **Delegates**: `weak var delegate` always. Protocol inherits from AnyObject (e.g., `protocol MyDelegate: AnyObject {}`)..
- **Closures as Properties**: Use `weak` or `unowned` in capture list.
- **Two-way References**: One side must `weak`.
## Anti-Patterns
- **No strong var delegate**: Use weak.
- **No self in escaping closures**: Use [weak self].
- **No unowned unless certain**: Default to weak to prevent crashes.
## References
- [Capture Lists & Retain Cycles](references/implementation.md)
