Plugin not loading on MacOS with Qt

[bapuji_4469]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to build Adobe Illustrator plugins using the C++ SDK on macOS. I have downloaded the latest SDK (v1-Aug2025) for Mac and installed Qt 6.9.2 using the online installer. I built the EmptyPanel plugin without any changes, and it loads fine in Adobe Illustrator 2025.

However, after adding a single line

_myQtApp = new QApplication(argc, nullptr);

to the EmptyPanelPlugin::StartupPlugin function and linking the required Qt frameworks to resolve errors, the plugin fails to load.

I have tried the following steps, but with no luck:

1.  Running the macdeployqt command
2.  Running install_name_tool -add_rpath "@loader_path/../Frameworks" "/Users/Desktop/SDK/samplecode/output/mac/debug/EmptyPanel.aip/Contents/MacOS/EmptyPanel"

If I launch Xcode from my plugin and run Illustrator, the plugin loads, but Adobe Illustrator does not show any menu items. I added log messages at the start and end of EmptyPanelPlugin::StartupPlugin, and I can see the log output. My guess is that after loading EmptyPanel, Illustrator fails to load the remaining plugins, which is why no Illustrator menu items appear. 

Currently, I am loading the plugin from the SDK/SampleCode/Output directory by setting the "Additional Plug-ins Folder" in Illustrator Preferences.

My development environment is as follows:

• MacBook Pro (Apple M2)

• macOS Tahoe 26.0

• Xcode 26.0

• Qt 6.9.2

• Adobe Illustrator 2025, Version 29.8.1

• Adobe SDK v1-Aug2025

Are there any specific steps I need to follow for Qt integration? Do I need to build Qt in debug mode, or should I copy anything directly into the Adobe Illustrator folder? Thanks in advance!

[bapuji_4469 · Accepted solution]

Finally, I figured out the solution. To fix this, we need to add the following line before instantiating QApplication:

QApplication::setAttribute(Qt::AA_PluginApplication);

The root cause is that after creating a Qt application in the plugin, Qt takes over the event loop and does not return it to Illustrator.

Hopefully, this information will be useful for someone later. Thank you!