Run Cirq Circuits on Real Quantum Hardware Beta
Keep your hardware-aware Cirq circuits, swap in one sampler, and run on real QPUs from IonQ, Rigetti, IQM, and AQT. Running in under a minute.
The Cirq plugin is in beta. Tell us what works and what doesn’t in the Open Quantum community.
What is Cirq?
Cirq is an open-source Python framework for writing, manipulating, and optimizing quantum circuits, created and maintained by Google Quantum AI. Rather than abstracting the hardware away, Cirq gives you direct control over the circuit itself, which is exactly what you need for NISQ-era algorithms where the precise arrangement of gates drives fidelity.
Its distinguishing strength is fine-grained, hardware-aware control: explicit qubit placement with LineQubit and GridQubit, precise Moment-level scheduling that dictates when each gate executes, and device and gate-set constraints that mirror real hardware. Cirq is the native framework behind Google’s quantum processors and experiments, and it underpins libraries like OpenFermion for quantum chemistry, TensorFlow Quantum for quantum machine learning, and ReCirq for research.
Open Quantum provides OpenQuantumSampler, a drop-in cirq.Sampler that plugs into the standard execution paths — run, sample, run_sweep, and run_batch. Your cirq.Circuit stays exactly the same; you simply hand it an Open Quantum sampler and it executes on real QPUs.
How to Run Cirq on Real Quantum Hardware
Install the Plugin
pip install "openquantum-sdk[cirq]". Set your OPENQUANTUM_CLIENT_ID and OPENQUANTUM_CLIENT_SECRET environment variables. Done.
Build Circuits with Cirq
Use LineQubit, GridQubit, and Moments for hardware-aware control. No vendor-specific code, no new syntax to learn. Your existing cirq.Circuit objects work as-is.
Run on Any QPU
Pick a backend (IonQ, Rigetti, IQM, or AQT) and call sampler.run(). Open Quantum handles conversion, submission, and result formatting.
Your First Cirq Circuit on a QPU in 60 Seconds
A complete example: pip install the plugin, build a Bell state with Cirq LineQubits, and run it on IonQ Forte-1 trapped ion hardware. No credit card required.
pip install "openquantum-sdk[cirq]"import cirq
from cirq_openquantum import OpenQuantumSampler
# Auth via OPENQUANTUM_CLIENT_ID and OPENQUANTUM_CLIENT_SECRET env vars
sampler = OpenQuantumSampler(backend="ionq:forte-1")
q = cirq.LineQubit.range(2)
circuit = cirq.Circuit([cirq.H(q[0]), cirq.CNOT(q[0], q[1]), cirq.measure(*q, key="m")])
result = sampler.run(circuit, repetitions=1024)
print(result.histogram(key="m"))Quantum Hardware Available for Cirq
Run your Cirq circuits on trapped ion and superconducting QPUs from IonQ, Rigetti, IQM, and AQT. No vendor lock-in — switch backends with a single string change.
| QPU | Qubits | Technology | Highlights | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IonQ Forte-1 | 36 qubits | Trapped Ion | 99.6% 2Q fidelity, software-configurable topology | Learn more |
| Rigetti Cepheus-1 | 108 qubits | Superconducting | 99.1% CZ fidelity, modular chiplet architecture | Learn more |
| IQM Emerald | 54 qubits | Superconducting | 99.5% CZ fidelity, European HPC integration | Learn more |
| IQM Garnet | 20 qubits | Superconducting | 99.5% CZ fidelity, European HPC integration | Learn more |
| AQT Ibex-Q1 | 12 qubits | Trapped Ion | Fully-connected, room temperature, rack-mounted | Learn more |
Frequently Asked Questions
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