Developing for Boot to Qt Devices | Qt Creator Documentation
Description: Connect Boot to Qt devices to the computer to run, debug, and analyze applications built for them from Qt Creator.

- Qt Creator Documentation
- Developing for Boot to Qt Devices
- Qt Creator 18.0.2

Developing for Bare Metal Devices ◦ Developing for MCUs

# Developing for Boot to Qt Devices

Connect Boot to Qt devices to the computer to run, debug, and analyze applications built for them from Qt Creator.

The Boot to Qt stack runs on a variety of hardware. Qt license holders can customize the contents of the stack and take it into production hardware.

Note: Enable the Boot to Qt plugin to use it.

If you have a toolchain for building applications for Boot to Qt devices installed on the computer, add it to a kit with the Boot to Qt device type to build applications for and run them on the devices.

## Protecting Device Connections

To protect the connections between Qt Creator and a device, use OpenSSH for remote login over the SSH protocol. The OpenSSH suite is not delivered with Qt Creator, so download it and install it on the computer. Then, configure the paths to the tools in Qt Creator.

You need either a password or an SSH public and private key pair for authentication. If you do not have an SSH key, use the `ssh-keygen` tool to create it in Qt Creator.

Note: Qt Creator does not store passwords, so if you use password authentication, you may need to enter the password on every connection to the device, or, if caching is enabled, at every Qt Creator restart.

If you frequently run into the timeout, consider using key-based authentication. Create an SSH key in Qt Creator with the `ssh-keygen` tool.

On macOS and Linux, go to Preferences > Devices > SSH and increase the time (in minutes) for sharing an SSH connection in the Connection sharing timeout field. Windows does not support shared connections.

See also How To: Develop for Boot to Qt, How To: Manage Kits, Run in Qt Application Manager, Boot to Qt Deploy Configuration, Boot to Qt Run Settings, and Boot to Qt: Documentation.

Developing for Bare Metal Devices ◦ Developing for MCUs