RoRo Quantum
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Working in the lab · Chapter 3 of 14

Run a circuit

QASM → quote → hardware confirm → result.

~2 min read4 sectionssame text as the guide inside the lab
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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.

On this page
The Run rail, field by fieldSubmitCredits, plainlyReading the result

A .qasm file is the one thing the run engine accepts directly. Open one and the Run railin the lab on the right becomes the submit flow. If the rail is hidden — dragged shut, or shut in an earlier session — ⌘⇧R, the Run rail icon under Runs in the rail on the left, or Quote & run in the tab strip brings it back.

The Run rail, field by field

  • Circuit — which .qasm in the project. It follows the editor while you are on a circuit and stays put when you open a README, so a Run button never silently re-aims.
  • Machine — the catalogue. Offline machines are listed but disabled. Under the picker: the machine's codename in mono with a one-click copy, a status chip (available / queue N / offline), simulator or real hardware, and qubit count.
  • Shots — 1 to 100 000.
  • Cost — the server's quote for exactly these inputs, refreshed about half a second after any change. While it says Pricing… the button waits: a price is only true for the inputs it was quoted for. Under it, your balance.

Problems show up in place, in the server's words: an invalid circuit ("This circuit isn't valid for that machine" plus the reason), or Not enough credits — top up in the console.

Submit

Submit run, under Cost in the Run railin the lab, on a simulator submits immediately. On real hardware it opens Run on real hardware? — the file, the machine and its codename, the shot count, and "This holds N credits now and settles when the job finishes. Your balance is B." Confirm with Run — N cr.

After submit: the run is tracked in the Runs rail, the dock opens on output, and the log gets one line: submitted bell.qasm → <machine> · 1024 shots · 1.20 cr · run <id>.

Credits, plainly

  • A run holds credits at submit and settles when it finishes.
  • Cancel a queued run (Stop icon in the Runs rail) and the hold comes back.
  • A failure on the machine's side is refunded automatically by the run engine — the Output pane's credit line says so when it happens, and says "pending review" or "declined" when that is the truth instead.
  • A hardware job still unfinished after 72 hours is failed and refunded.

Reading the result

Select a run in the Runs rail (it is auto-selected on submit). The Output pane shows a submitted → running → result timeline, a sorted histogram (the top 16 outcomes, Show all N outcomes to expand), the credit line, and Explain this result — a metered Copilot turn, cancellable, priced on the footer as it settles. Failures lead with a plain sentence; the raw machine error is one disclosure away, and Report a problem on a failed run sends it, with the run's id, straight to our operators.

Real machines queue for minutes to hours. You can close the lab; the run keeps going and is listed in the project's Runs rail when you return, on any device you sign in on (the run itself lives in your account and the console).

Related: Machines & credits · Circuit builder & emulator