Earlier this month, Qt pulled back the curtain on its new “Bridges” technology at Qt World Summit 2025. As its name suggests, it aims to build bridges between Qt’s UI capabilities and a host of popular programming languages, without forcing developers to abandon their existing codebases.
“Our ethos with Qt and cross-platform development has always been ‘build it once, use it everywhere,’” said Juhapekka Niemi, SVP of Product Management at Qt Group.
“We looked back at all the amazing tech inventions we’ve helped make possible over the years with Qt and said, ‘We want to bring that to a lot more people.’”
Qt breaks free from C++ dependency
While Qt has been great for UI development, its deep C++ roots have always been a bit of a stumbling block for developers more comfortable in other languages. Since its inception, Qt has demanded at least a passing familiarity with C++ to really get things working properly.
QML and Qt Quick brought some welcome relief back in 2010 with their declarative approach to UI development, but even then, you’d still need to dust off your C++ skills when trying to access application-specific APIs and data outside the QML Engine. Not ideal if C++ isn’t your daily driver.
Qt Bridges wasn’t some overnight brainwave. The journey began in late 2023, when the Qt team started thinking beyond their C++ and Python strongholds.
“We began exploring how we could expand Qt and Qt Quick as a leading UI/UX framework beyond the C++ and Python communities,” the company explained. “Our goal was to enable new users to stay focused on their existing codebases and their preferred programming language, minimising the effort required for refactoring.”
What started as a handful of hackathon projects evolved into something concrete around May 2024. Fast forward to spring 2025, and after several development iterations, the team had working bridges for five different programming languages:
- C#
- Kotlin/Java
- Python
- Rust
- Swift
You might be scratching your head wondering, “Hang on, doesn’t Qt already support Python through PySide?” You’d be right, but there’s a subtle difference here.
While PySide gives you direct access to Qt APIs from Python, Qt Bridges takes a higher-level approach, offering simplified APIs designed for connecting Python backends to Qt Quick UIs.
Think of Qt Bridges as an interpreter at an international conference. Your business logic speaks C#, Java, Python, Rust, or Swift, while your UI speaks QML and Qt Quick. Qt Bridges sits in the middle, ensuring both sides understand each other perfectly.
Qt Bridges: Not just another integration tool
The Qt team took pains to distinguish their approach from existing solutions. Take Rust, for example. If you’re wondering how Qt Bridges differ from CXX-Qt, they’re actually quite different beasts.
CXX-Qt lets Rust applications tap into Qt C++ code directly, whereas Qt Bridges specifically targets QML and Qt Quick for frontend work to reduce the bridging code you need to write.
What’s particularly exciting is Qt’s plan to open up several previously private QML APIs. This means the wider development community will be able to create their own language bridges in the future. Fancy connecting Qt with Golang or Ruby? That door might soon be open.
While Qt Bridges made its debut at Qt World Summit 2025, it’s still being polished behind the scenes. The team is currently working on further implementation refinements and setting up a new repository for the Qt 6 baseline.
This move represents quite a pivot in Qt’s strategy. Rather than asking developers to come to Qt’s world of C++, Qt is now reaching out to meet developers where they are. The approach feels very in sync with today’s development landscape, where polyglot programming is increasingly common and teams often select different languages for different parts of their applications.
For companies sitting on mountains of code written in C#, Java, or Swift, Qt Bridges could offer a much-needed shortcut to modern UI development without the daunting prospect of rewriting everything from scratch.
“We want to make Qt the backbone of all software application development, no matter the technology or industry. We also want to empower people to create UX that is a real differentiator, not just an enabler,” explained Niemi.
“You can build the modern UX of your dreams on top of any foundation imaginable, and you never have to duplicate the work. That’s where the real value is.”
As with any bridging technology, questions remain about performance overhead, debugging experiences, and integration with existing workflows. Will there be compromises in speed? How smooth will the developer experience be when tracking down bugs across language boundaries?
Despite these open questions, Qt Bridges represents one of the most ambitious expansions of Qt’s ecosystem in years. If it delivers on its promises, we could see Qt UIs appearing in places they’ve rarely ventured before. For a framework approaching its fourth decade of existence, that’s no small feat.
(Photo by Alex Azabache)
See also: Java at 30: Still brewing success or evaporating?
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