When developing a safari 10 extension in xcode, how do I do that independent of a macOS app?

Question

I want to develop a Safari extension that simply runs in Safari without an associated Cocoa App on macOS. However, to get a "target" in xcode for a Safari Extension I have to have an existing macOS application. Why is that? Can I avoid it? Can I distribute the extension independent of the app? Can I test the extension on mobile/iOS Safari?

Answer 1

I suggest that you develop and test your extension in Xcode and then you are done, you can use the Extension Builder in Safari to make your extension independent from a MacOS app. Then you can submit your extension to the Safari extension Gallery

You should also check out the documentation here