Add a hardware profile
Define coupling Hamiltonian family, topology, timing model, native operation assumptions, calibration notes, and validation status.
Contributor guide
Turn useful ideas into reviewable code and evidence.
Contributions should be small enough to inspect and useful enough to keep: a backend profile, compiler adapter, benchmark manifest, notebook, test, or documentation improvement.
Contributor lanes
Pick a concrete artifact and make the assumptions visible.
Implement a circuit import path
Translate Qiskit, OpenQASM, TKET, QIR, or a minimal internal format into a project trace that can be tested.
Build a pass
Prototype template synthesis, approximate compaction, SU(4)-aware routing, mapping bookkeeping, or pass-level diagnostics.
Create a manifest
Add circuits, parameters, expected outputs, environment notes, command lines, and result summaries in a reproducible format.
Add tests and checks
Protect behavior with unit tests, fixture comparisons, regression data, numerical tolerances, or smoke-test notebooks.
Improve the explanation layer
Clarify terminology, onboarding, architecture, setup, review rules, benchmark interpretation, or failure modes.
Pull request standard
What a strong contribution should include.
Issue or intent
Connect the contribution to an issue, design note, benchmark need, or documented gap. Review starts faster when the purpose is explicit.
Runnable command
Include the smallest command, script, notebook cell, or test that lets a reviewer reproduce the behavior without guessing.
Assumption record
State backend assumptions, coupling model, topology, calibration limits, skipped cases, tolerances, and known failure modes.
Result artifact
Attach the manifest, output file, plot, table, profile diff, or documentation page that proves the contribution works.
Test coverage
Add the smallest check that prevents silent breakage. For numerical work, include tolerances and explain why they are reasonable.
Respectful review
Follow the Code of Conduct, explain trade-offs, respond to questions in good faith, and separate critique of ideas from critique of people.
Contribution quality bar
Research software becomes credible when every claim is inspectable.
Reproducible
A reviewer can run it, see the same shape of output, and understand what changed.
commands · fixtures · notebooksScoped
The pull request solves one visible problem instead of bundling unrelated experiments together.
small PRs · clear commitsExplicit
The assumptions are written down: backend model, input circuits, thresholds, tolerances, and comparison baseline.
profiles · manifests · notesRespectful
Scientific disagreement is welcome. Dismissive, harassing, or exclusionary conduct is not.
conduct · review · credit
Start here
Open an issue, fork the repository, and submit a focused pull request.
The best first contribution is usually a backend profile, a benchmark manifest, a documentation fix, or a small test that makes the project easier to trust.