Set up Build Environment on macOS

Note: This is only a one-time setup guide. For actually building KeePassXC, please refer to our build guide.

Install the build toolchain

First, install Xcode from the AppStore and run

xcode-select --install

in a terminal to install the Xcode CLI tools. Next, install Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

(or use the pkg installer if you dislike curl | bash).

Use Homebrew to install the required build tools:

brew install cmake asciidoctor

Install build dependencies

To install the actual build dependencies, there are two options:

1. Via Homebrew (faster, but suitable only for local builds).
2. Via vcpkg (much slower, but suitable for distribution).

Option 1: Install build dependencies via Homebrew

Open a terminal and run:

brew install qt@5 argon2 botan qrencode readline minizip

Option 2: Install build dependencies via vcpkg

Set up vcpkg in a location of your choosing:

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git && ./vcpkg/bootstrap-vcpkg.sh

Install pkg-config and (optionally) the vcpkg stub package from Homebrew:

brew install pkg-config vcpkg

If you installed the vcpkg stub package, set the VCPKG_ROOT environment variable to your install location. You can then run the vcpkg command from anywhere, given that Homebrew is in your PATH. Otherwise, call the vcpkg binary with its full path.

The first time, you compile KeePassXC, vcpkg will download, compile, and install all required dependencies from the vcpkg manifest.

Important: If you have custom INCLUDE or CPATH variables set, make sure, . is not part of your include path and the path variables contain no empty segmemts (which can happen easily if you construct them like export INCLUDE="/some/include/path:${INCLUDE}") or else you will see strange compilation errors.