Install PySide6 on Ubuntu Linux

Before you start creating applications with PySide6, you need to have a working installation of PySide6 on your system. In this step-by-step tutorial, you'll learn how to install PySide6 on Ubuntu Linux so you can start building Python GUI applications.

This guide is also available for macOS and Windows.

Preparing Ubuntu to Install PySide6

Before installing PySide6, we need to prepare our operating system and install a couple of tools. Python best practices recommend using virtual environments to isolate our Python projects and manage their dependencies.

Unfortunately, the default Ubuntu installation doesn't include tools like the venv module, which allows us to create virtual environments, and the pip command, which lets us install external packages. So, we need to install them from the distro's repositories.

Installing venv and pip

To install the venv module and the pip command on Ubuntu, run the following commands in your terminal:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install python3-venv python3-pip

The first command updates the package information from all sources of software we are using in our Ubuntu system. The second command downloads and installs the venv module and the pip command. Now, we are ready to create and activate a Python virtual environment.

Creating a Virtual Environment

Once we've installed the venv module, we can proceed to create and activate a Python virtual environment:

$ mkdir project/ && cd project/
$ python3 -m venv ./venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
(venv) $

First, we create a new working directory named project/ as a root for a hypothetical PySide6 project. Then, we create a new virtual environment with venv and activate it. Note how the prompt indicator changes to signal that we're in an active virtual environment.

Install PySide6 With pip

The quickest way to install PySide6 in a virtual environment is to use pip. Run the following command in your active virtual environment:

(venv) $ pip3 install pyside6

This command downloads PySide6 from the Python package index (PyPI) and installs it in our virtual environment.

Verify the PySide6 Installation

After the PySide6 installation is finished, you can verify that everything is working correctly. Run the python3 command in your virtual environment to start an interactive session and import the library:

>>> import PySide6

If no errors appear, PySide6 has been installed successfully on your Ubuntu system.

Next Steps

Now that you've installed PySide6 on Ubuntu Linux, you're ready to start creating Python GUI applications with PySide6. You can also explore our PySide6 widgets library to discover the building blocks available for your applications.