The QIR Alliance is a joint effort to develop a forward-looking quantum intermediate representation with the goal to enable full interoperability within the quantum ecosystem and reduce development effort from all parties.

We strive to develop a holistic solution that permits to take full advantage of unique and distinct capabilities in the landscape of heterogenous quantum processors. We are thrilled to be collaborating closely with the quantum community to design and implement the necessary compiler technology to accelerate advances in quantum programming language design and execution systems.

Information about ongoing workstreams under the QIR Alliance and their organization, purpose, and meeting cadence can be found here. We refer to the corresponding workstream definition for more information about how to get involved. Alternatively, please reach out to [email protected].

The following workstreams have been approved by the steering committee and are currently actively worked on:

• Specification of a Base Profile that defines the minimal requirements to define and execute quantum programs
  [workstream definition, GitHub issue]

• Update the QIR specification to clarify mechanisms for entry point handling, including command line input as well as runtime initialization and finalization
  [workstream definition, [GitHub issue ]

If you would like to suggest a new workstream, please take a look at the workstream creation template, and reach out to [email protected] with your suggestion. Currently, creation of the following workstreams are being discussed:

• Specification of a first Adaptive Profile that permits to execute quantum programs that require performing classical computations while the quantum state remains coherent
  [workstream definition, GitHub issue]

Steering members include Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Quantinuum, Quantum Circuits Inc., and Rigetti Computing (in alphabetical order). For more information about the project organization, we refer to this document.

The steering committee meets once a month. The meetings are not open to the public at this time, but minutes are published here. The steering committee may invite domain experts and repository maintainers to join the discussions. Please reach out to [email protected] if you would like to propose a topic for consideration and/or would like to volunteer your time and expertise.

Whether you are curious about our work or already deeply engaged, the following existing repositories may be interesting to you:

• qir-spec: QIR specification defining how to represent quantum programs within the LLVM IR
• pyqir [examples]: Python bindings for emitting, loading, and executing QIR.
• qcor [examples, docs]: C++ compiler for heterogeneous quantum-classical computing using QIR, including the XACC runtime
• qat [docs]: QIR compiler tools and optimization passes for targeting QIR to different hardware backends

We refer to the guidelines in the respective repository for contributions to existing repositories. Please also take a look at community forums to learn more about QIR related projects and discussions.

We welcome new repositories under the QIR Alliance from both members and non-members of the organization. If you feel your repository would fit in well under this org, please reach out to [email protected]. The steering committee will will approve and initiate the creation of new repositories, and facilitate the

migration of existing ones.

We largely leave it up to the repository maintainers to define the rules and guidelines for their repositories, including legal matters such as a Contributor License Agreement (CLA). The only requirements for code repositories under the QIR Alliance are the following:

• At least two maintainers need to be designated for the repository, and a way to contact the maintainers should be shared with the steering committee.
• The repository is either actively maintained by the maintainers or the repository is archived.
• The Code of Conduct aligns in spirit with the Code of Conduct of the broader org.
• The project should be related in content to the goals and scope of the QIR Alliance as outlined above.
• All code should be licensed under MIT license, and we highly recommend to ask new contributors to accept the CLA defined by the maintainers. Instructions for how to set up a basic bot that present the chosen CLA to new contributors and asks them to accept it can be found here.

The QIR Alliance will reach out to the maintainers if a repository no longer satisfies these criteria to reach an agreement and resolve the situation. If the maintainers cannot be reached or are unable to take action, the QIR Alliance reserves the right to archive the repository.

For any inquiries about the QIR Alliance, our work and upcoming opportunities, please contact [email protected]. If you are curious about our work, we encourage you to join our Open Source community on Discord. The QIR community meets on the Unitary Fund Discord server; to add the server, please follow this invite before clicking on the links below. The following forums and events may be of interest for you:

• QIR channel on the Unitary Fund Discord
• QIR Alliance community call every other week on Thursdays

Logos and icons of the QIR Alliance and associated efforts can be downloaded here.