My project has been around for twenty years and has over a thousand .m files. They all build into one of two static library targets. I believe I cannot use swift packages from a static library, or at least I couldn't get it to work. Moving my code into a dynamic library also seems like an overwhelming task; when I tried, it looked like I would need to change every single #import to use <> instead of "". I also tried using the open source swift-create-xcframework but it didn't work, and I would rather not depend on third party build tools. Do I have any good options?
What is the least painful way to start using Swift packages in my very old app?
Just a personal opinion.
Unless you have really imperative reason to refactor your project, and if your app works correctly, I would not undertake such a work. You will spend huge amount of time with the risk to create a lot of bugs.
In any case, make sure you have a complete project back up (not only Time Machine).