Usage guide¶

Native interface¶

The library implements IBM-prefixed QDMI 1.3.3 device initialization/finalization, session allocation/configuration/initialization/free, and device, site, and operation queries, and the complete job lifecycle. Supported program formats are OpenQASM 3 and the Executor extension. Child-device enumeration is unsupported.

The generated QDMI declaration reference describes the implemented device functions, types, and IBM-specific constants.

Session configuration¶

Include ibm_qdmi/device.h and ibm-qdmi-device/constants.h. Set parameters before initializing a session. Strings include the terminating null byte in size; embedded null bytes are rejected. A null value checks support without changing a parameter. Successful initialization freezes configuration. Failed initialization leaves the session configurable and safe to free.

Parameter	Value
`QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_TOKEN`	IBM Cloud API key, not an IAM bearer token; otherwise use an explicit key file, then `IBM_QUANTUM_API_KEY`.
`QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_AUTHFILE`	Optional UTF-8 path to a file containing only the API key.
`IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_BACKEND`	Backend name; defaults to `IBM_QUANTUM_BACKEND`; aliases session `CUSTOM1`.
`IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_INSTANCE_CRN`	Instance CRN; defaults to `IBM_QUANTUM_INSTANCE_CRN`; aliases session `CUSTOM2`.
`IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT`	Positive decimal string of milliseconds from 1 through 2,147,483,647; default `30000`; aliases session `CUSTOM3`.
`QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_BASEURL`	Optional API root ending in `/api`, without `/v1`. Defaults from the CRN region.
`QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_AUTHURL`	Optional full IAM token endpoint; defaults to `https://iam.cloud.ibm.com/identity/token`.

Default API roots are https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/api for us-east and https://eu-de.quantum.cloud.ibm.com/api for eu-de. Other regions require an explicit root. Custom endpoints must use HTTPS; HTTP is accepted only for localhost, 127.0.0.1, and [::1] loopback tests. Certificate verification stays enabled, and redirects are not followed. Configure only trusted endpoints. The API key, backend name, and instance CRN must resolve to nonempty values. Explicit parameters take precedence over environment values, including an explicit empty value, which fails validation. Defaults are read during session initialization. A failed attempt does not freeze them; an initialized session retains its configuration when the environment changes.

An explicit token takes precedence over an explicit key file. A selected key file takes precedence over IBM_QUANTUM_API_KEY; an unreadable or invalid file does not fall back to environment credentials. The library does not discover credential files or read saved Qiskit accounts. Files contain a raw UTF-8 API key, optionally followed by one LF or CRLF. Empty files, invalid UTF-8, embedded newlines, and null bytes are rejected. Other whitespace is preserved. Files are read only during initialization; IAM refresh uses the session’s resolved key. An unreadable file returns QDMI_ERROR_PERMISSIONDENIED; malformed content or an empty path returns QDMI_ERROR_INVALIDARGUMENT.

The API key is exchanged at IAM. Backend requests use the resulting bearer token, Service-CRN, and IBM-API-Version: 2026-04-15. Tokens and their expiry belong to individual sessions. Refresh occurs before expiry and once after an HTTP 401; the authenticated GET is retried once. Each HTTP request uses the configured timeout, including IAM refresh and a GET retry. A shorter job-wait deadline takes precedence. The default is 30 seconds; a refresh and retry may require multiple requests. Other errors are not retried. See IBM authentication.

Independent device queries, job retrievals, and operations on different job handles may perform HTTP requests concurrently. IAM refresh remains serialized within each session, and a delayed unauthorized response cannot invalidate a newer token. Operations on one job remain serialized to protect its state and result cache. Job-wait deadlines include time spent waiting for the job lock or an IAM refresh. Submission is always attempted at most once per job handle.

Query behavior¶

Initialization reads backend configuration and calibration properties into a session snapshot. Site and operation handles remain stable until that session is freed and cannot be used with another session. Create a new session for a fresh calibration snapshot. Status and queue queries fetch current backend status.

Queries	Behavior
Device name/version	IBM backend name/version.
Library version	Implemented QDMI version, `1.3.3`.
Qubit count, sites, coupling	Physical indices and directed pairs from backend configuration.
Operations	Native basis gates and advertised measurement/reset; signatures and site tuples from configuration or calibration metadata. Missing information is unsupported.
T1, T2, gate duration	Integer picoseconds, rounded to the nearest picosecond; duration unit `ps`, scale factor `1`.
Gate fidelity	`1 - gate_error`, where IBM reports a finite error in `[0, 1]`.
Device status	`OFFLINE` when unavailable; otherwise `BUSY` for a nonempty queue and `IDLE` for an empty queue. Missing availability is unsupported.
Queue length	Nonnegative number of queued jobs.
Needs calibration	`size_t` zero; the interface does not require client-triggered calibration.
Pulse support	`QDMI_DEVICE_PULSE_SUPPORT_LEVEL_NONE`; pulse submission is unsupported.

Measurement calibration uses readout_length and 1 - readout_error from qubit properties. Site-dependent duration and fidelity require a supported ordered site tuple. Configuration tuples take precedence over calibration tuples; contradictions fail initialization. No connectivity is inferred from gate names. Calibration flags that mark a qubit or gate as non-operational exclude its operation tuples and calibrations. Physical site indices, the qubit count, and the configuration coupling map remain available. Absent operational flags do not exclude tuples. Calibration values describe the reported gate calibration, not a parameter-dependent model. Missing optional values, unknown units, negative durations, overflow, and invalid fidelities return QDMI_ERROR_NOTSUPPORTED, never fabricated zero values. A missing calibration endpoint (HTTP 404) permits initialization without those optional values. Malformed structural metadata fails initialization.

Queries honor the QDMI size-query contract. Insufficient output buffers and invalid arguments return QDMI_ERROR_INVALIDARGUMENT. Uninitialized-session queries return QDMI_ERROR_BADSTATE. HTTP authentication failures map to QDMI_ERROR_PERMISSIONDENIED, a missing backend to QDMI_ERROR_NOTFOUND, request deadlines to QDMI_ERROR_TIMEOUT, allocation failures to QDMI_ERROR_OUTOFMEM, and other transport/server/parsing failures to QDMI_ERROR_FATAL. Errors never include raw server responses or credentials.

The supported backend response shapes follow the IBM backend API. Other QDMI properties return QDMI_ERROR_NOTSUPPORTED.

Query example¶

This C++ function accepts configuration supplied by its caller. Calling it contacts IBM and requires authorization. Keep credentials out of source files. The function owns the device lifecycle; free every session before finalization.

#include <ibm-qdmi-device/constants.h>
#include <ibm_qdmi/device.h>

#include <cstring>

int queryQubitCount(const char *apiKey, const char *crn, const char *backend,
                    size_t *qubits) {
  if (!apiKey || !crn || !backend || !qubits) {
    return QDMI_ERROR_INVALIDARGUMENT;
  }
  int result = IBM_QDMI_device_initialize();
  if (result != QDMI_SUCCESS) {
    return result;
  }
  IBM_QDMI_Device_Session session = nullptr;
  result = IBM_QDMI_device_session_alloc(&session);
  const auto set = [&](QDMI_Device_Session_Parameter parameter,
                       const char *text) {
    if (result == QDMI_SUCCESS) {
      result = IBM_QDMI_device_session_set_parameter(
          session, parameter, std::strlen(text) + 1, text);
    }
  };
  set(QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_TOKEN, apiKey);
  set(IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_INSTANCE_CRN, crn);
  set(IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_SESSION_PARAMETER_BACKEND, backend);
  if (result == QDMI_SUCCESS) {
    result = IBM_QDMI_device_session_init(session);
  }
  if (result == QDMI_SUCCESS) {
    result = IBM_QDMI_device_session_query_device_property(
        session, QDMI_DEVICE_PROPERTY_QUBITSNUM, sizeof(*qubits), qubits, nullptr);
  }
  IBM_QDMI_device_session_free(session);
  const int finalized = IBM_QDMI_device_finalize();
  return result == QDMI_SUCCESS ? finalized : result;
}

Jobs and results¶

Configure the program format and a null-terminated program before submission. OpenQASM shots default to 1,024; an explicit shot count must be positive. The custom IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_JOB_PARAMETER_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME parameter takes a uint64_t number of seconds from 1 through 10,800, defaulting to 60. This bounds QPU execution time, not queue or wall-clock time. A null parameter value probes support without changing configuration.

OpenQASM programs must be static and bound, with explicit classical declarations and indexed measurements. A quantum register must span the backend’s physical qubits; physical $n references are also accepted. Use backend-native operations and route circuits before submitting them. Classical control flow, parameter inputs, register broadcasting, and scheduled delays are unsupported. Static unitary gate declarations support native instructions absent from stdgates.inc, such as ECR and RZZ. Their local arguments cannot introduce classical storage or control flow. The service validates native gate semantics.

Each OpenQASM submission creates one Sampler V2 job with one circuit and classified measurements. Twirling is disabled; dynamical decoupling is disabled by default and can be configured per job. Submission is never automatically retried, including after an authentication failure or a lost response. A failed submission freezes that handle. An ambiguous response may mean IBM accepted the job; inspect the platform before creating a replacement.

Job ID, program, format, and shots are queryable. An unset supported property returns QDMI_ERROR_BADSTATE; queue position returns QDMI_ERROR_NOTSUPPORTED. A job retains its session resources; freeing a session or job handle does not cancel a remote job. Free every job and session before device finalization.

job_check polls once. job_wait accepts a timeout in seconds, with zero meaning no overall deadline. The deadline includes authentication and HTTP requests. Timeout leaves the remote job active; cancellation is a separate request. A finished or canceled job ends waiting successfully; a failed job returns QDMI_ERROR_FATAL. Cancellation racing with completion returns QDMI_ERROR_INVALIDARGUMENT and preserves the completed state.

Sampler result queries return comma-separated binary shots, comma-separated histogram keys, and a matching size_t count array. Strings include their terminating null byte. Bits follow classical declaration order, with the highest bit index on the left. Leading zeros and shot order are preserved. Results of unfinished or canceled jobs return QDMI_ERROR_INVALIDARGUMENT. Results not yet available after completion return QDMI_ERROR_BADSTATE; malformed results fail rather than fabricating counts. Completed results are cached. Statevectors and probabilities are unsupported.

Retrieval by job ID creates a read-only local handle without resubmitting. It requires the same backend and retained input parameters. Sampler retrieval supports the single-circuit plain-JSON contract. Executor retrieval supports the v2.0 extension described below. Private jobs are unsupported. See the IBM jobs API.

Dynamical decoupling¶

Set IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_JOB_PARAMETER_DYNAMICAL_DECOUPLING (job CUSTOM2) before submission to configure IBM Runtime’s dynamical decoupling. Its value is a null-terminated JSON object; include the terminator in size.

Field	Accepted values	Default
`enable`	JSON boolean	`false`
`sequence_type`	`"XX"`, `"XpXm"`, `"XY4"`	`"XX"`
`extra_slack_distribution`	`"middle"`, `"edges"`	`"middle"`
`scheduling_method`	`"alap"`, `"asap"`	`"alap"`
`skip_reset_qubits`	JSON boolean	`false`

These defaults follow IBM’s dynamical-decoupling options. Each assignment replaces the previous object and fills omitted fields with these defaults. An empty object resets all options. A null pointer only probes support. Malformed JSON, unknown fields, incorrect types, and unsupported values return QDMI_ERROR_INVALIDARGUMENT without changing the last valid configuration or making a request. Configuration is frozen after submission starts and on retrieved jobs. The execution-time cap and disabled twirling remain unchanged.

For a configurable native job:

const char options[] = R"({"enable":true,"sequence_type":"XpXm"})";
const int status = IBM_QDMI_device_job_set_parameter(
    job, IBM_QDMI_DEVICE_JOB_PARAMETER_DYNAMICAL_DECOUPLING,
    sizeof(options), options);

With MQT Core, pass the JSON string directly to the QDMI device’s submission method. This example assumes an authenticated IBM device and a native, bound OpenQASM 3 program. Submission creates a paid job and requires an authorized backend and budget:

import json

from mqt.core.qdmi import ProgramFormat

job = device.submit_job(
    program,
    ProgramFormat.QASM3,
    num_shots=128,
    custom2=json.dumps({"enable": True, "sequence_type": "XpXm"}),
)
job.wait(900)
shots = job.get_shots()

The shared Qiskit backend.run() interface does not expose this custom option. IBM validates compatibility with the selected backend and circuit. Service rejection follows the normal submission error contract and is never retried.

Python package¶

See the Python package guide for installed paths, package metadata, and the information CLI. The optional Qiskit integration exposes ibm.qdmi.qiskit.IBMBackend through MQT Core’s shared adapter.

Executor extension¶

IBM_QDMI_PROGRAM_FORMAT_EXECUTOR aliases QDMI_PROGRAM_FORMAT_CUSTOM1. Set it before assigning PROGRAM, then provide a null-terminated Executor v2.0 params object, rather than a complete REST job request. It contains schema_version, quantum_program, and optional options. The native device validates the envelope, positive shot count, and nonempty item list; IBM’s encoder and service validate circuit and samplex contents.

quantum_program.shots supplies SHOTSNUM. Setting the separate SHOTSNUM parameter or the Sampler dynamical-decoupling parameter is unsupported for this format. Selecting Executor after setting those parameters is also unsupported. A job’s format cannot change after its program is assigned. The existing maximum-execution-time parameter applies to both formats.

Read IBM_QDMI_JOB_RESULT_EXECUTOR (QDMI_JOB_RESULT_CUSTOM1) to obtain the null-terminated result JSON. Size queries include the terminating null byte. The device caches the complete result, including tensor encodings and metadata. Standard shots and histogram result queries return QDMI_ERROR_NOTSUPPORTED for Executor jobs. The custom result is unsupported for Sampler jobs. Job status, waiting, cancellation, and retrieval by ID use the existing QDMI API.