# Qt {#sec-language-qt}
Writing Nix expressions for Qt libraries and applications is largely similar as for other C++ software.
This section assumes some knowledge of the latter.
However, Qt makes extensive use of runtime dependency detection.
In nixpkgs, those runtime dependencies are made into build dependencies through wrappers.
## Nix expression for a Qt package (default.nix) {#qt-default-nix}
```{=docbook}
{ stdenv, lib, qtbase, wrapQtAppsHook }:
stdenv.mkDerivation {
pname = "myapp";
version = "1.0";
buildInputs = [ qtbase ];
nativeBuildInputs = [ wrapQtAppsHook ];
}
Import Qt modules directly, that is: qtbase, qtdeclarative, etc.
Do not import Qt package sets such as qt5
because the Qt versions of dependencies may not be coherent, causing build and runtime failures.
All Qt packages must include wrapQtAppsHook in
nativeBuildInputs, or you must explicitly set
dontWrapQtApps.
```
## Locating runtime dependencies {#qt-runtime-dependencies}
Qt applications must be wrapped to find runtime dependencies.
Include `wrapQtAppsHook` in `nativeBuildInputs`:
```nix
{ stdenv, wrapQtAppsHook }:
stdenv.mkDerivation {
# ...
nativeBuildInputs = [ wrapQtAppsHook ];
}
```
Add entries to `qtWrapperArgs` are to modify the wrappers created by
`wrapQtAppsHook`:
```nix
{ stdenv, wrapQtAppsHook }:
stdenv.mkDerivation {
# ...
nativeBuildInputs = [ wrapQtAppsHook ];
qtWrapperArgs = [ ''--prefix PATH : /path/to/bin'' ];
}
```
The entries are passed as arguments to [wrapProgram](#fun-wrapProgram).
Set `dontWrapQtApps` to stop applications from being wrapped automatically.
Wrap programs manually with `wrapQtApp`, using the syntax of
[wrapProgram](#fun-wrapProgram):
```nix
{ stdenv, lib, wrapQtAppsHook }:
stdenv.mkDerivation {
# ...
nativeBuildInputs = [ wrapQtAppsHook ];
dontWrapQtApps = true;
preFixup = ''
wrapQtApp "$out/bin/myapp" --prefix PATH : /path/to/bin
'';
}
```
::: {.note}
`wrapQtAppsHook` ignores files that are non-ELF executables.
This means that scripts won't be automatically wrapped so you'll need to manually wrap them as previously mentioned.
An example of when you'd always need to do this is with Python applications that use PyQt.
:::