qiskit

Qiskit

Overview

Qiskit is the world's most popular open-source quantum computing framework with 13M+ downloads. Build quantum circuits, optimize for hardware, execute on simulators or real quantum computers, and analyze results. Supports IBM Quantum (100+ qubit systems), IonQ, Amazon Braket, and other providers.

Key Features:

• 83x faster transpilation than competitors
• 29% fewer two-qubit gates in optimized circuits
• Backend-agnostic execution (local simulators or cloud hardware)
• Comprehensive algorithm libraries for optimization, chemistry, and ML

Quick Start

Installation

uv pip install qiskit
uv pip install "qiskit[visualization]" matplotlib

First Circuit

from qiskit import QuantumCircuit
from qiskit.primitives import StatevectorSampler

# Create Bell state (entangled qubits)
qc = QuantumCircuit(2)
qc.h(0)           # Hadamard on qubit 0
qc.cx(0, 1)       # CNOT from qubit 0 to 1
qc.measure_all()  # Measure both qubits

# Run locally
sampler = StatevectorSampler()
result = sampler.run([qc], shots=1024).result()
counts = result[0].data.meas.get_counts()
print(counts)  # {'00': ~512, '11': ~512}

Visualization

from qiskit.visualization import plot_histogram

qc.draw('mpl')           # Circuit diagram
plot_histogram(counts)   # Results histogram

Core Capabilities

1. Setup and Installation

For detailed installation, authentication, and IBM Quantum account setup:

• See references/setup.md

Topics covered:

• Installation with uv
• Python environment setup
• IBM Quantum account and API token configuration
• Local vs. cloud execution

2. Building Quantum Circuits

For constructing quantum circuits with gates, measurements, and composition:

• See references/circuits.md

Topics covered:

• Creating circuits with QuantumCircuit
• Single-qubit gates (H, X, Y, Z, rotations, phase gates)
• Multi-qubit gates (CNOT, SWAP, Toffoli)
• Measurements and barriers
• Circuit composition and properties
• Parameterized circuits for variational algorithms