Measurements and tasks¶
Most users will typically run experiments in QruiseOS through workflows – automated sequences of tasks. Measurements define what is executed on the QPU within experiment tasks.
What is a task?¶
A task is essentially a Jupyter notebook that performs a specific function within a workflow. Tasks can run experiments, handle setup steps (such as initialisation and bootstrapping), or perform computational work (such as simulation and optimisation). Tasks are self-contained and reusable, making it easy to create and customise workflows.
The majority of tasks you'll use in QruiseOS will be experiment tasks. These run an experiment on the QPU and consist of three parts: executing a measurement, analysing the results, and storing the data.
QruiseOS experiment catalogue
QruiseOS provides an extensive experiment catalogue with pre-defined experiment tasks for common characterisation and calibration experiments. You can also integrate your own custom experiments.
What is a measurement?¶
A measurement contains the code that runs on the QPU. It defines the experiment (what you execute and what you measure), including the quantum circuits or pulse sequences, their parameters (such as amplitude ranges or time delays), and how the QPU is configured for that experiment. It does not include any analysis or data persistence, keeping measurement code focused and reusable.
Hierarchy: measurements, tasks, and workflows¶
- A workflow runs a sequence of tasks
- Tasks execute experiments, handle setup, or perform computations
- Measurements define experiments executed on the QPU and are used by experiment tasks
When will you work with measurements and tasks?¶
Your interaction with measurements and tasks depends on your use case.
Most users: running workflows¶
If you're running characterisation, calibration, or benchmarking experiments, you'll almost exclusively use workflows. A workflow executes tasks in the order you define on the assigned qubits, and with the relevant dependencies. You don't need to think about running individual tasks or measurements – just define your workflow in qruise-flow.yaml and let QruiseOS handle the orchestration.
You can learn more about running workflows in our step-by-step guides, starting with Running a pre-defined workflow.
Advanced users: running individual tasks¶
Sometimes you need to run a single experiment outside of a workflow – perhaps for debugging, testing new parameters, or exploring a specific qubit behaviour. In these cases, you can execute a task notebook directly. Running an individual task gives you full visibility into each step: you can see the raw measurement data, inspect the analysis, and decide whether to commit the results to the knowledge base.
To better understand tasks, we recommend going through our Running a single task user guide. It explains how a task combines measurement, analysis, plotting, and data persistence in a single notebook.
Advanced users: creating custom tasks and measurements¶
If you're implementing novel experiments or have custom measurement requirements, you'll need to define a new measurement, create a task notebook, and add it to your workflow. QruiseOS provides templates and clear patterns to streamline this process, making it straightforward to extend the system with your own experiments.
See our Integrating a new measurement and Writing a new analysis user guides for details.