Xcode will allow you to create a Cocoa target of type “Shell Tool” (Project->New Target->Cocoa->Shell Tool). A Cocoa shell tool has access to the AppKit API after calling NSApplicationLoad(). This is useful if you would like to write tiny helper apps that don’t need workspace support. A simple app created this way can launch very fast.
#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
NSDate *date = [NSDate date];
NSApplicationLoad();
NSImage *buffer = [[NSImage alloc] initWithSize:NSMakeSize(100.0f, 100.0f)];
[buffer lockFocus];
[[NSColor greenColor] set];
NSRectFill(NSMakeRect(0.0f, 0.0f, 100.0f, 100.0f));
[buffer unlockFocus];
NSData *tiff = [buffer TIFFRepresentation];
NSString *file = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Documents/green.tiff"];
[tiff writeToFile:file atomically:YES];
[buffer release];
NSLog(@"duration %f", [[NSDate date] timeIntervalSinceDate:date]);
[pool release];
return 0; }