Prerequisites

What to install before the first session

Everything below is the base setup for the whole week. Do it in advance.

Official Qiskit install docsSetup help on Discord

Base setup — everyone

Do this before Monday 19 October. It takes about fifteen minutes on a working machine.

  1. 01

    Python 3.10 or newer

    Check what you already have before installing anything. If the command below prints 3.10 or higher, you are done with this step.

    Qiskit raises its minimum Python version over time, so if you are installing fresh, take the current version rather than an old one.

    python3 --version
  2. 02

    A virtual environment

    Install Qiskit into an isolated environment rather than system Python. Installing into system Python is a common source of problems.

    Any of venv, uv or conda is fine. The commands below use the standard library’s venv.

    python3 -m venv qff2026source qff2026/bin/activate        # macOS / Linuxqff2026\Scripts\activate           # Windows PowerShell
  3. 03

    Qiskit, with visualisation support

    With the environment active, install Qiskit and the plotting extras. The visualisation extra draws circuit diagrams and Bloch spheres, which the lectures use throughout.

    pip install --upgrade pippip install 'qiskit[visualization]'pip install qiskit-ibm-runtime

    On Windows PowerShell, drop the quotes: pip install qiskit[visualization]

  4. 04

    A way to run notebooks

    The hands-on material is notebook-based. Install Jupyter locally, or use VS Code with the Python and Jupyter extensions if you prefer an IDE.

    pip install jupyterjupyter notebook
  5. 05

    Verify the install

    Run this before the first session. If it prints a Qiskit version number without raising, your setup is good.

    python3 -c "import qiskit; print(qiskit.__version__)"

    If it fails, bring the full error text to the #help channel on Discord before Monday.

Accounts to create in advance

Create these in advance. Two are free and instant; the IBM Quantum account has an open question noted below.

  1. 01

    IBM Quantum account

    Free to create. You need one to run circuits on IBM Quantum hardware and on the hosted simulators, rather than only on your own machine.

    Create it in advance and check you can sign in.

    TBC: whether the event uses a shared classroom or instance, and any approval lead time that comes with it, is not confirmed. Any lead time will be published here in advance.

  2. 02

    Discord account

    Discord is where the schedule changes, the challenge prompts, the team-forming and the setup help all happen.

  3. 03

    GitHub account — hackathon participants

    Useful for the hackathon weekend for sharing code within a team. Install Git locally as well if you have not already.

    git --version

If you cannot install anything

A locked-down laptop, a machine you do not own, or an install that will not co-operate does not stop you attending.

  1. 01

    Run it in the browser instead

    Qiskit installs with pip inside any hosted notebook environment, so a browser-based notebook service works for the lecture material.

    Come to a Q&A or the Discord help channel and we will get you onto something workable.

    !pip install "qiskit[visualization]"

Not final yet

Per-session requirements

Some sessions will need more than the base setup — an extra package, a dataset, or an account. Those per-session requirements are published on this page alongside the detailed schedule, and flagged in the Discord announcement for each session. They are not final yet.

Stuck on any of this? Bring the exact error text to Discord. It is usually a Python version or a virtual environment that is not active.

Ask on DiscordBack to the programme