Building desktop apps with PySide6 is honestly super fun — until you reach that final boss:
“How do I turn this into an actual EXE or Linux binary?”

So here’s my personal notebook entry on how I packaged my PySide6 app (Simdoro) into a clean distributable for Windows (and Linux too).
Raw, simple, and straight from my dev flow.

🚀 Why this guide exists

I was building a small productivity tool with PySide6. The Python part was easy.
Shipping it? Not so much.

Most tutorials were either outdated, too complex, or straight-up confusing.

So, here’s the real world, dev-friendly, no jargon version of how I actually built my installer.

✅ What you need installed

Before running anything:

  • Python (3.10+ recommended)
  • A virtual environment (always a good idea)
  • PySide6
  • PyInstaller (for EXE builds)
  • Optional: cx_Freeze (for MSI installers)

Inside your project:

myapp/
│─ classes/
│─ helpers.py
│─ pomo.py
│─ sounds.py
│─ icon.ico
│─ sound.mp3

Pretty standard setup.

🪟 Packaging for Windows (EXE)

✅ Method 1 — PyInstaller (the fastest way)

If you’re using PowerShell / CMD:

pyinstaller ^
  --noconfirm ^
  --onefile ^
  --windowed ^
  --name Simdoro ^
  --icon icon.ico ^
  --collect-submodules PySide6 ^
  --collect-data PySide6 ^
  --collect-binaries PySide6 ^
  --add-data "sound.mp3;." ^
  --add-data "classes;classes" ^
  pomo.py

If you’re in Git Bash (MINGW64):

pyinstaller \
  --noconfirm \
  --onefile \
  --windowed \
  --name Simdoro \
  --icon icon.ico \
  --collect-submodules PySide6 \
  --collect-data PySide6 \
  --collect-binaries PySide6 \
  --add-data 'sound.mp3;.' \
  --add-data 'classes;classes' \
  pomo.py

✅ After running it: dist/Simdoro.exe And that’s it — a clean portable EXE.

📦 Bonus: MSI Installer (Windows) If you want a real installer (Add/Remove Programs, Start Menu, etc.): Install:

pip install cx-Freeze

Create setup.py:

from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable

build_exe_options = {
    "packages": ["PySide6"],
    "include_files": [
        "icon.ico",
        "sound.mp3",
        "classes",
    ],
}

setup(
    name="Simdoro",
    version="0.1.0",
    description="Simple PySide6 Pomodoro App",
    options={"build_exe": build_exe_options},
    executables=[Executable("pomo.py", base="Win32GUI", icon="icon.ico")],
)

Build MSI:

python setup.py bdist_msi

Installer goes into: dist/Simdoro-0.1.0.msi

🐧 Packaging for Linux Linux builds are actually easier:

pyinstaller \
  --noconfirm \
  --onefile \
  --windowed \
  --name simdoro \
  pomo.py

The output is a single binary under: dist/simdoro

If you want a .deb or .rpm package, tools like fpm or appimage-builder can do that — but honestly, the single binary works great for small utilities.