qiskit-terra

What it is and what it does

Qiskit Terra is the foundational component of the Qiskit quantum computing SDK. It provides tools for constructing quantum circuits using standard gates, defining quantum operators, and executing quantum programs through primitive functions (Sampler for measurement outcomes, Estimator for observable expectation values). The package includes a transpiler that optimizes quantum circuits and maps them to the basis gates and qubit connectivity of target hardware.

The package depends on rustworkx, numpy, scipy, sympy for numerical and symbolic computation, and several other utilities. It supports Python 3.8 through 3.12 on macOS, Linux, and Windows. The description explicitly warns that qiskit-terra will not be updated after August 15th, 2024, and recommends installing the qiskit meta-package instead for forward compatibility.

Use it for:

• Design and simulate quantum circuits locally using the Sampler primitive to obtain measurement outcome distributions.
• Compute expectation values of quantum observables using the Estimator primitive with quantum circuits and operators.
• Optimize and transpile quantum circuits to match the basis gates and qubit connectivity of specific quantum hardware.
• Build quantum operators using the quantum information toolbox for use in quantum algorithms.
• Develop hybrid quantum-classical algorithms by combining circuit construction with classical post-processing.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Qiskit Terra provides the core SDK for building and executing quantum circuits, operators, and primitive functions on quantum computers and simulators.

Yes, with conditions. Qiskit Terra is actively maintained and widely used for quantum computing development. However, the package is officially deprecated in favor of the qiskit meta-package (recommended for new projects). Install it only if you have a specific reason to depend on qiskit-terra directly; otherwise, use qiskit instead. Be aware of four known vulnerabilities before deploying to production.

Install

qiskit-terra on PyPI

pip install qiskit-terra

uv add qiskit-terra

poetry add qiskit-terra

Installing qiskit-terra

Before you install

Medium install friction due to 11 runtime dependencies including compiled packages (rustworkx, symengine). Pre-built wheels available for common platforms (macOS, Linux, Windows across multiple architectures). Actively maintained with recent commits.

License in practice

Apache 2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely provided you include the license notice.

Quickstart

pip install qiskit-terra

from qiskit import QuantumCircuit
import numpy as np

qc = QuantumCircuit(3)
qc.h(0)
qc.p(np.pi/2, 0)
qc.cx(0, 1)
qc.cx(0, 2)

Requires Python 3.8 or later; compiled dependencies (rustworkx, symengine) may require build tools on some platforms.

Verify before relying

• Whether the four known vulnerabilities (GHSA-6m2c-76ff-6vrf, GHSA-fpmr-m242-xm7x, PYSEC-2026-1859, PYSEC-2026-511) affect typical usage patterns.
• Current maintenance status given the package deprecation notice and recommendation to use qiskit instead.

Package facts

Evidence: qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-macosx_10_9_universal2.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux2010_i686.manylinux_2_17_i686.manylinux2014_i686.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_17_ppc64le.manylinux2014_ppc64le.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-win32.whl; qiskit_terra-0.46.3-cp38-abi3-win_amd64.whl

Keywords: qiskit, sdk, quantum

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