qvm — Qt Version Manager

A single-binary CLI tool for installing and managing Qt SDK versions on Windows.

Linux and macOS are not currently supported despite occasional references.

Warning

This tool is mostly AI generated for my own needs. The code has not been thoroughly reviewed. Use at your own risk! The interface will most likely change too.

qvm install 6.8.3
Resolving archives for Qt 6.8.3 (win64_msvc2022_64)...
Downloading [1/12] qtbase-windows-x86_64.7z  124 MB/s  34%
...
Qt 6.8.3 (win64_msvc2022_64) installed to C:\Qt\6.8.3\win64_msvc2022_64

qvm prefix 6.8.3
C:\Qt\6.8.3\win64_msvc2022_64

$Env:Qt6_DIR=$(qvm prefix 6.8.3)

Features

• Install any Qt 6.x version with a single command (Qt 5 is not supported).
• Install Qt add-on modules, documentation, examples, sources, and debug symbols.
• Parallel downloads with retry, resumable interrupted transfers, and progress reporting.
• Auto-detect the best compiler/ABI for the current machine.
• Mirror management — auto-probe and switch to the fastest Qt mirror.
• Fuzzy search for module names.
• JSON output for scripting and automation.
• Metadata caching to minimize network requests.
• Concurrent-install safe: a per-install-dir lock serializes parallel qvm install runs targeting the same version+arch; parallel installs to different version+arch combinations proceed independently.

Installation

From source

go install github.com/trollixx/qvm/cmd/qvm@latest

Pre-built binaries

Download from the Releases page.

Quick Start

# List available Qt versions
qvm list-remote

# Install Qt 6.8.3 (auto-detects compiler/ABI)
qvm install 6.8.3

# Install with specific modules
qvm install 6.8.3 --modules qtcharts,qtwebengine

# Show what is installed
qvm list

# Get the install path (useful with CMake)
qvm prefix 6.8.3

# Run health checks
qvm doctor

Commands

install (i)

Install a Qt version.

qvm install <version> [flags]

Flags

Flag	Description
--arch, -a	Compiler/ABI target (e.g. win64_msvc2022_64, gcc_64, macos). Auto-detected if omitted.
--target	Qt platform: desktop (default), android, ios, wasm. WASM resolves under desktop/; pick a --arch like wasm_singlethread. WinRT is not supported (removed in Qt 6).
--modules, -m	Comma-separated add-on modules (e.g. qtcharts,qtwebengine). The qt prefix is optional (charts and qtcharts both work).
--docs	Install documentation for all selected modules
--examples	Install examples for all selected modules
--sources	Install Qt source code
--debug-symbols	Install debug symbol files
--host	Host platform override (e.g. windows_arm64, linux_arm64). Auto-detected if omitted.
--force	Re-install even if already present
--dir	Override Qt installation directory
--dry-run	Resolve and print archives (with sizes) without downloading
--quiet, -q	Suppress progress output

If a Qt version is already installed, qvm will only download and install the delta — any new modules or extras you have added — unless --force is given.

Examples

# Base Qt only
qvm install 6.8.3

# With modules and docs
qvm install 6.8.3 --modules qtcharts,qtmultimedia --docs

# Specific ABI
qvm install 6.8.3 --arch win64_mingw

# Android target
qvm install 6.8.3 --target android

Desktop is the most thoroughly exercised target. Android and iOS resolve under their own repository paths but the rest of the pipeline is shared, so any archive Qt publishes for the chosen target will install. WASM packages live under desktop/ as separate arch variants; current qvm releases do not yet auto-discover them.

---

list (ls)

List installed Qt versions. Fast and offline (no network access).

qvm list [flags]

Flag	Description
--format, -f	Output format: text (default) or json

---

list-remote (ls-remote)

List Qt versions available in the repository, with installed versions marked.

qvm list-remote [<version-filter>] [flags]

Flag	Description
--format, -f	Output format: text (default) or json
--host	Host platform override (e.g. windows_arm64, linux_arm64)

qvm list-remote                # all available, grouped by major
qvm list-remote 6              # all 6.x versions
qvm list-remote 6.8            # all 6.8.x versions
qvm list-remote 6.8.3          # detailed view: archs, modules, extras
qvm list-remote --format json  # machine-readable output

---

uninstall (remove)

Uninstall a Qt version.

qvm uninstall <version> [flags]

Flag	Description
--arch, -a	Remove only a specific ABI (for multi-arch installations)
--yes, -y	Skip confirmation prompt

---

prefix

Print the installation directory for a Qt version.

qvm prefix <version> [--arch <arch>]

Ideal for use in build scripts:

cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$(qvm prefix 6.8.3) ..

If multiple ABIs are installed for the same version, qvm picks the host's default arch automatically; use --arch to disambiguate explicitly.

---

info (show)

Show detailed information about an installed Qt version.

qvm info <version> [flags]

Flag	Description
--arch, -a	Specify ABI for multi-arch installations
--format, -f	text (default) or json

---

search (s)

Fuzzy-search available add-on module names.

qvm search <query>

qvm search charts                  # finds qtcharts
qvm search webengine
qvm search --format json multimedia

---

doctor

Run environment health checks.

qvm doctor

Checks include config readability, metadata cache freshness, disk space, Qt installation integrity (qmake works), and compiler availability (MSVC on Windows).

---

config

Get, set, or list configuration values.

qvm config list
qvm config get <key>
qvm config set <key> <value>
qvm config path

Available keys

Key	Default	Description
install.dir	C:\Qt / ~/Qt	Qt installation root
repository.url	https://download.qt.io/	Primary Qt mirror
repository.mirrors	-	Fallback mirror URLs (comma-separated)
repository.blacklist	-	Mirrors to exclude (comma-separated)
download.concurrency	4	Parallel download threads
download.timeout_seconds	300	HTTP timeout

qvm config set install.dir /opt/Qt
qvm config set download.concurrency 8
qvm config set repository.mirrors https://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/qtproject/,https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/qtproject/

---

cache

Manage download and metadata caches.

qvm cache list
qvm cache clean [flags]

Flag	Description
--incomplete	Remove only partial downloads, keep complete archives
--metadata	Remove cached repository metadata
--all	Remove everything
--yes, -y	Skip confirmation

---

mirror

Probe and manage Qt repository mirrors.

qvm mirror list
qvm mirror refresh
qvm mirror select --auto
qvm mirror select <url>

• list — Probe all cached mirrors and display latency. Marks the current primary (*) and fastest (←).
• refresh — Fetch the latest mirror list from Qt.
• select --auto — Probe all mirrors and switch to the fastest reachable one.
• select <url> — Test a specific URL and switch to it if reachable.

Platform Support

OS	Architectures	Default ABI
Windows	x86_64	win64_msvc2022_64
Linux	x86_64, aarch64	gcc_64
macOS	x86_64, arm64	macos

Common ABI values

Platform	ABI	Compiler
Windows	win64_msvc2022_64	MSVC 2022 64-bit
Windows	win64_msvc2019_64	MSVC 2019 64-bit
Windows	win64_mingw	MinGW-w64 64-bit
Windows	win64_llvm_mingw	LLVM/Clang MinGW 64-bit
Linux	gcc_64	GCC x86_64
Linux	linux_gcc_arm64	GCC AArch64
macOS	macos	Clang (universal / x86_64)

The install command auto-detects the recommended ABI for the current machine. Use --arch to override.

File Locations

qvm follows XDG Base Directory conventions on Linux and macOS, and standard Windows app directories on Windows.

File	Windows	Linux / macOS
Config	%LOCALAPPDATA%\qvm\config.toml	~/.config/qvm/config.toml
Registry	%LOCALAPPDATA%\qvm\registry.json	~/.local/state/qvm/registry.json
Download cache	%LOCALAPPDATA%\qvm\downloads\	~/.cache/qvm/downloads/
Metadata cache	%LOCALAPPDATA%\qvm\metadata\	~/.cache/qvm/metadata/

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/trollixx/qvm.git
cd qvm
go build ./cmd/qvm

Run tests:

go test ./...

License

MIT