QChat - QField plugin

QChat client in QField, let's chat with your GIS fellows on the field !

• See QChat: the QGIS plugin and QChat client in QGIS.
• QChat client compatible with the gischat backend.
• QField users can target the qchat.geotribu.net instance, the one configured by default.

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Installation

You can follow the QField documentation regarding plugin installation.

The URL to install the QChat plugin is:

https://github.com/geotribu/qchat-qfield-plugin/releases/latest/download/qfchat-latest.zip

Or flash this QR code directly within QField :

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Development

• Install precommit tools with:

pre-commit install

• Create a symlink from the qfield-plugin-qchat repository into your QField documents / plugins local repository.

• Install the QField Plugin Reloader plugin for an easier reloading workflow.

Tests locally

Note

QGIS4 must be installed on the test machine!

• Install uv locally:

python3 -m pip install uv --break-system-packages

• Create local virtualenv with system packages and sync:

uv venv --system-site-packages
uv sync

• Add system packages to local virtual env (hacky):

SITE_PACKAGES=$(uv run python -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")
echo "/usr/share/qgis/python" > "$SITE_PACKAGES/qgis.pth"

• Test that imports are fine:

uv run python -c "import qgis; print(qgis.__file__)"
uv run python -c "import PyQt6; print(PyQt6.__file__)"
uv run python -c "from PyQt6.QtCore import QT_VERSION_STR; print(QT_VERSION_STR)"

Note

Tested on Ubuntu 26.04, only...

• Clone QField locally, e.g.:

git clone --depth 1 [--branch release-4_2] https://github.com/opengisch/QField.git

• Run tests:

uv run pytest tests -v --qgis_disable_gui

Translate the plugin

• install the required tools:

sudo apt install qt6-tools-dev-tools

• generate the translations strings:

/usr/lib/qt6/bin/lupdate qfield-plugin-qchat/translations.pro

• open the generated .ts files with Qt Linguist, using the GUI or the command line:

/usr/lib/qt6/bin/linguist qfield-plugin-qchat/main_fr.ts

• compile the translations to .qm files:

/usr/lib/qt6/bin/lrelease qfield-plugin-qchat/main_fr.ts

Bump a new release

1. Make sure the version key is updated in the plugin's metadata file.

2. Make sure the pyproject.toml version is updated, e.g. with uv version --bump minor.

3. Create a new tag on the main branch, e.g. git tag 1.4, then git push origin 1.4. A workflow will then create the GitHub release.

Note

It is recommended to regularly prune the tags locally with git fetch --prune --prune-tags, since PR workflows might create some temporary ones.

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Shout out to @nirvn, the initiator of this QField plugin. Thanks for the amazing work !