@@ -2287,4 +2287,47 @@ describe('autolinkingDepToSpmTarget', () => {
       ),
     ).toThrow(/expandSpmDependencies/);
   });
+
+  // Every npm dep is self-managed or reported missing, so nothing would
+  // consume header search paths read from its podspec — and the read can
+  // spawn `pod ipc spec`.
+  it('does not read the podspec of a dep that declares HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS', () => {
+    const sourceDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'spm-hsp-'));
+    try {
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        path.join(sourceDir, 'Consumer.podspec'),
+        "Pod::Spec.new do |s|\n  s.name = 'Consumer'\n" +
+          "  s.pod_target_xcconfig = { 'HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS' => '\"$(PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT)/common/cpp\"' }\nend\n",
+      );
+      const readPodspecCached = jest.fn(() => ({
+        headerSearchPaths: ['$(PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT)/common/cpp'],
+      }));
+      let isolated;
+      jest.isolateModules(() => {
+        jest.doMock('../read-podspec', () => ({
+          ...jest.requireActual('../read-podspec'),
+          readPodspecCached,
+        }));
+        isolated = require('../generate-spm-autolinking');
+      });
+
+      const target = isolated.autolinkingDepToSpmTarget(
+        'react-native-consumer',
+        {
+          name: 'react-native-consumer',
+          root: sourceDir,
+          platforms: {ios: {sourceDir}},
+          swiftName: 'ReactNativeConsumer',
+        },
+        '/out',
+        new Map(),
+      );
+
+      expect(readPodspecCached).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(target).not.toHaveProperty('headerSearchPaths');
+    } finally {
+      jest.dontMock('../read-podspec');
+      fs.rmSync(sourceDir, {recursive: true, force: true});
+    }
+  });
 });
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ const {
   MIN_IOS_VERSION_SUPPORTED,
   sanitizeIosDeploymentTarget,
 } = require('./ios-deployment-target');
-const {findPodspecs, readPodspecCached} = require('./read-podspec');
+const {findPodspecs} = require('./read-podspec');
 const {
   AUTOLINKED_PACKAGE_NAME,
   REACT_CODEGEN_PACKAGE_NAME,
@@ -801,58 +801,6 @@ function expandSpmSourceGlobs(
   return micromatch(walkSourceFiles(sourcePath), patterns).sort();
 }
 
-/**
- * Converts an autolinking.json dependency to an SPM target spec.
- * Returns null if the dependency doesn't have iOS support.
- *
- * `swiftNameByNpm` maps each autolinked dep's npm name to its resolved Swift
- * name (populated by expandSpmDependencies from the dep's podspec and
- * `spm.name`). Every name this function emits comes from there — see
- * requireSwiftName.
- */
-/**
- * Read the dep's podspec (if any) and extract its declared
- * `pod_target_xcconfig` HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS, substituted relative to the dep
- * source dir. Returns paths suitable for an SPM `.headerSearchPath()`
- * directive whose target.path is the dep root (entries are NOT yet prefixed
- * with the synth wrapper's `root/` — the emission site adds that prefix
- * because the wrapper's target.path is `.`, not the source dir).
- *
- * Without these, path-style angle includes like
- * `<react/renderer/components/safeareacontext/X.h>` (used by
- * react-native-safe-area-context, reanimated, screens, etc.) fail to resolve
- * because the headers live under the dep's `common/cpp/` rather than under
- * the framework-imported xcframework headers.
- */
-function extractPodspecHeaderSearchPaths(
-  sourceDir /*: string */,
-) /*: Array<string> */ {
-  const podspecPath /*: ?string */ = findPodspecs(sourceDir)[0];
-  if (podspecPath == null) return [];
-
-  let model;
-  try {
-    model = readPodspecCached(podspecPath);
-  } catch {
-    return [];
-  }
-
-  const out /*: Array<string> */ = [];
-  for (const raw of model.headerSearchPaths) {
-    const substituted = raw
-      .replace(/\$\(PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT\)/g, '.')
-      .replace(/\$\{PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT\}/g, '.');
-    // Drop entries still containing unresolved Xcode tokens — emitting them
-    // verbatim would surface as clang "no such file" failures.
-    if (/\$[({]/.test(substituted)) continue;
-    const cleaned = substituted.replace(/^\.\//, '').replace(/^\//, '');
-    if (cleaned.length > 0 && !out.includes(cleaned)) {
-      out.push(cleaned);
-    }
-  }
-  return out;
-}
-
 /**
  * The Swift name expandSpmDependencies resolved for `npmName`, or a hard error:
  * re-deriving one here would emit a reference nothing in the graph matches.
@@ -869,6 +817,15 @@ function requireSwiftName(
   return resolved;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Converts an autolinking.json dependency to an SPM target spec.
+ * Returns null if the dependency doesn't have iOS support.
+ *
+ * `swiftNameByNpm` maps each autolinked dep's npm name to its resolved Swift
+ * name (populated by expandSpmDependencies from the dep's podspec and
+ * `spm.name`). Every name this function emits comes from there — see
+ * requireSwiftName.
+ */
 function autolinkingDepToSpmTarget(
   depName /*: string */,
   dep /*: AutolinkedDep */,
@@ -903,17 +860,13 @@ function autolinkingDepToSpmTarget(
       ? spmDeps.map(n => requireSwiftName(n, swiftNameByNpm.get(n)))
       : undefined;
 
-  const headerSearchPaths = extractPodspecHeaderSearchPaths(sourceDir);
-
   return {
     name: targetName,
     path: relSourcePath,
     exclude: [],
     publicHeadersPath: inferPublicHeadersPath(sourceDir),
     resources,
     spmTargetDependencies,
-    headerSearchPaths:
-      headerSearchPaths.length > 0 ? headerSearchPaths : undefined,
   };
 }
 
@@ -1123,12 +1076,6 @@ function generateSynthPackageSwift(spec /*: SynthPackageSpec */) /*: string */ {
   const exclude /*: Array<string> */ = spec.exclude ?? [];
   const sources /*: ?Array<string> */ = spec.sources;
   const publicHeadersPath /*: ?string */ = spec.publicHeadersPath ?? null;
-  // Per-dep header search paths from the podspec's
-  // pod_target_xcconfig HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS — already prefixed by the caller
-  // with the synth wrapper's `root/` so they resolve relative to target.path.
-  // Emitted as `.headerSearchPath()` directives, which SPM accepts on
-  // cSettings / cxxSettings without needing absolute paths.
-  const headerSearchPaths /*: Array<string> */ = spec.headerSearchPaths ?? [];
   const spmDependencies /*: Array<{swiftName: string}> */ =
     spec.spmDependencies ?? [];
   const hasReactDep /*: boolean */ = spec.hasReactDep !== false;
@@ -1212,22 +1159,11 @@ function generateSynthPackageSwift(spec /*: SynthPackageSpec */) /*: string */ {
     packageDeps.length > 0
       ? `    dependencies: [\n        ${packageDeps.join(',\n        ')},\n    ],\n`
       : '';
-  // `.headerSearchPath(...)` entries from the podspec — first-class
-  // directives keep SPM's diagnostics meaningful (clang reports the
-  // dep-relative path on miss). React headers need no paths at all.
-  const headerSearchPathList = headerSearchPaths.map(
-    p => `.headerSearchPath("${p}")`,
-  );
-  const cSettingsLine =
-    headerSearchPathList.length > 0
-      ? `\n            cSettings: [${headerSearchPathList.join(', ')}],`
-      : '';
-  // ALWAYS emit the config-gated C++ defines (even with no header paths): a
-  // Fabric C++ target must compile with the same NDEBUG state as the prebuilt
-  // React.framework, else DebugStringConvertible's vtable / ShadowNode layout
-  // diverges and a Release build fails to link. Mirrors Package.swift.
-  const cxxEntries = [...REACT_CXX_CONFIG_DEFINES, ...headerSearchPathList];
-  const cxxSettingsLine = `\n            cxxSettings: [${cxxEntries.join(', ')}],`;
+  // ALWAYS emit the config-gated C++ defines: a Fabric C++ target must
+  // compile with the same NDEBUG state as the prebuilt React.framework, else
+  // DebugStringConvertible's vtable / ShadowNode layout diverges and a
+  // Release build fails to link. Mirrors Package.swift.
+  const cxxSettingsLine = `\n            cxxSettings: [${REACT_CXX_CONFIG_DEFINES.join(', ')}],`;
 
   return `// swift-tools-version: 6.0
 // AUTO-GENERATED by scripts/generate-spm-autolinking.js – do not edit manually.
@@ -1245,7 +1181,7 @@ ${packageDepsBlock}    targets: [
         .target(
             name: "${swiftName}",
             dependencies: [${targetDeps.join(', ')}],
-            path: "${targetPath}",${excludeLine}${sourcesLine}${publicHeadersLine}${resourcesLine}${cSettingsLine}${cxxSettingsLine}
+            path: "${targetPath}",${excludeLine}${sourcesLine}${publicHeadersLine}${resourcesLine}${cxxSettingsLine}
             linkerSettings: [.linkedFramework("UIKit"), .linkedFramework("Foundation"), .linkedFramework("CoreGraphics")]
         ),
     ],
@@ -1705,15 +1641,6 @@ function main(argv /*:: ?: Array<string> */) /*: void */ {
     const prefixedSources /*: ?Array<string> */ =
       rawSources.length > 0 ? rawSources.map(withRoot) : null;
 
-    // Podspec HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS were captured relative to the dep's source
-    // dir. The wrapper exposes the source dir under `root/` (target.path is
-    // `.`, the wrapper dir), so each entry must be prefixed with `root/` so
-    // clang sees the real subtree.
-    const prefixedHeaderSearchPaths /*: ?Array<string> */ =
-      target.headerSearchPaths != null && target.headerSearchPaths.length > 0
-        ? target.headerSearchPaths.map(withRoot)
-        : null;
-
     const synthContent = generateSynthPackageSwift({
       swiftName: target.name,
       iosDeploymentTarget: args.iosDeploymentTarget,
@@ -1725,7 +1652,6 @@ function main(argv /*:: ?: Array<string> */) /*: void */ {
       // header farm at <outputDir>/headers is folded into it).
       publicHeadersPath: 'include',
       resources: prefixedResources,
-      headerSearchPaths: prefixedHeaderSearchPaths,
       spmDependencies: (target.spmTargetDependencies ?? []).map(swiftName => ({
         swiftName,
       })),
 
@@ -87,13 +87,6 @@ export type SpmTarget = {
   // .js/.podspec/.md siblings, etc. can never sneak in. Null/empty means
   // fall back to SPM's default scan of target.path.
   sources?: ?Array<string>,
-  // Header search paths declared by the dep's podspec
-  // (pod_target_xcconfig HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS), already substituted relative
-  // to the dep's source dir. Path-style includes like
-  // `<react/renderer/components/safeareacontext/X.h>` resolve through these.
-  // Emitted as `.headerSearchPath(...)` directives in the target's
-  // cSettings / cxxSettings.
-  headerSearchPaths?: ?Array<string>,
 };
 
 // Routing metadata kept alongside an SpmTarget in main(). Lives in a wrapper
@@ -373,13 +366,6 @@ export type SynthPackageSpec = {
   // supply absolute paths (tests). Production uses siblingSynthAbsolutePaths.
   siblingPackageBaseRelative?: string,
   siblingSynthAbsolutePaths?: {[swiftName: string]: string},
-  // Header search paths from the dep's podspec `pod_target_xcconfig`
-  // HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS, with `$(PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT)` substituted and the
-  // synth wrapper's `root/` prefix applied. Emitted as `.headerSearchPath()`
-  // directives on cSettings / cxxSettings so path-style includes like
-  // `<react/renderer/components/safeareacontext/X.h>` resolve through the
-  // dep's own `common/cpp/` subtree.
-  headerSearchPaths?: ?Array<string>,
   iosDeploymentTarget?: ?string,
 };