Start here · Chapter 1 of 14

Getting started

The 60-second path from nothing to counts.

~2 min read3 sectionssame text as the guide inside the lab
All chapters

Words marked like thisin the lab are buttons inside the lab — they open a panel, a dialog or the tour there. On this page they are plain text.

Keys are written for macOS, the way the lab prints them — on Windows and Linux read as Ctrl, as Alt, as Shift, as Enter.Keys are shown for Windows / Linux to match your platform — on a Mac, Ctrl is and Alt is . Every binding: Keyboard shortcuts.

The lab is a VS Code-shaped editor with a phone line to real quantum machines. Sixty seconds gets you from nothing to counts.

The 60-second path

  1. Open something. A fresh account lands on a template picker; pick Bell state. It creates bell.qasm, main.py and a README.md. Already have projects? ⌘O switches between them.
  2. Look at the circuit two ways. With bell.qasm open, the tab strip shows a Code | Circuit toggle. Circuit is a drawable picture of the same file; press ∿ emulate there to scrub through the ideal statevector.
  3. Price it. The Run rail on the right follows the active file. For a .qasm it shows Circuit, Machine, Shots and a Cost that comes from the server (POST /runs/quote) — the lab never multiplies numbers itself.
  4. Submit. Press Submit run. On a simulator it goes straight away; on real hardware a dialog named Run on real hardware? repeats the machine, the shots and the exact hold before anything is charged.
  5. Read the result. The bottom dock (⌘J) opens on output with a timeline, a histogram and one honest line about credits. Explain this result asks Copilot to narrate it.

The surfaces you will use most

  • Explorer (first rail icon): files, folders, right-click actions.
  • Search (⌘⇧F): find and replace across the whole project, previewed before anything is written. Problems (⌘⇧M) in the bottom dock names what will not parse. Chapter: Projects & files.
  • Library (⌘K): 48 worked programs on five shelves, the start-here row first — fork onein the lab and it becomes your project. Chapter: Library.
  • Copilot (last-but-one rail icon): reads and searches the project, sees the machine catalogue, server quotes, this project's runs and the library; proposes edits behind approval cards, runs Python locally. Chapter: Copilot.
  • Command palette (⌘⇧P): everything above by name, plus every guide chapter.

Where to go next

Every shortcut in one place: press ⌘/ or read Keyboard shortcuts. Take the 60-second tourin the lab again any time.