synqt

The command line tool for SynQt, a framework for building complete web systems in Qt and QML with no third party servers to stand up.

synqt scaffolds a project, resolves and pins its toolchain (the Qt SDK and the Emscripten compiler), builds every entity in it (the browser client to WebAssembly, the services natively), issues the project's mesh certificates, validates the topology, and runs the whole system locally with file watching and hot reload.

Documentation, tutorials, and the full reference: synqt.org.

Install

pipx install synqt

pip install synqt works too. pipx is the recommendation only because this is an application and not a library. There is also a single-file binary that needs no Python at all, if you would rather have that:

curl -fsSL https://get.synqt.org/install.sh | sh   # macOS and Linux
irm https://get.synqt.org/install.ps1 | iex        # Windows, in PowerShell

Both are cut from the same tag and behave identically.

Use

synqt create        # scaffold a project, asking a short set of questions
cd my-app
synqt dev           # build, serve, watch, and open a browser

synqt new my-app --auth github is the same scaffolder without the questions, for a script, and synqt add entity adds each further entity by name. synqt doctor reports what is installed and what is missing, and it is the first thing to run when something will not build.

The full command reference is in build system and CLI, and the walkthrough is in getting started.

What this package does not include

Only synqt itself is Python. Everything it builds is Qt. The CLI pins the Qt SDK and the Emscripten toolchain to one version per project, so every machine and every teammate compiles with the same versions. synqt doctor prints the exact aqt and emsdk commands that install whatever is missing into the project's synqt/toolchain/ directory. A Qt already installed under /opt/Qt, ~/Qt or QTDIR at the pinned version is used as it is. Installing the toolchain takes a few minutes and a few gigabytes of disk.

The framework's own C++ and CMake sources ship inside this package, so a pipx-installed synqt can scaffold and build without a SynQt checkout. Setting SYNQT_ROOT to a checkout overrides them, which is what you want when working on SynQt itself.

Licensing

synqt, and all of SynQt's own source, is Apache-2.0. What you build with it inherits Qt's license instead. Under open source Qt the browser client is GPLv3 and is conveyed to every visitor, so you have to publish its source. A commercial Qt license removes that obligation. synqt new, synqt build --release and synqt doctor each say so at the point it matters, and licensing is the full analysis.