Run a quantum circuit from Claude
Yes. The Qiskit team's official MCP servers let Claude build circuits and run them on IBM Quantum hardware with your own IBM Quantum API key. IBM's Open Plan gives up to 10 minutes of runtime a month free. Amazon Braket runs circuits on Rigetti, IQM, IonQ and others for $0.30 per task plus a price per shot.
| Option | Works today as | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Qiskit (IBM) MCP serversBuild circuits with Qiskit and run them on IBM Quantum hardware through qiskit-ibm-runtime, from the Qiskit team. | Official MCP from the vendor | free (open source) |
| IBM QuantumRun circuits on IBM's real quantum computers. | Manual through the provider | Open Plan free: up to 10 minutes of runtime per month; Pay-As-You-Go starts at $96/minute, billed per second |
| Amazon BraketRun quantum circuits on real quantum processors from Rigetti, IQM, IonQ, AQT and QuEra. | API from the vendor | $0.30 per task + per shot: Rigetti Cepheus $0.000425, IQM Garnet $0.00145, IQM Emerald $0.0016, QuEra Aquila $0.01, AQT IBEX-Q1 $0.0235, IonQ Forte $0.08 |
| IonQ Quantum CloudSubmit quantum circuits to IonQ trapped-ion quantum computers and simulators. | API from the vendor | not verified |
| QuantinuumRun circuits on Quantinuum H-series trapped-ion quantum computers. | API from the vendor | not verified |
| D-Wave LeapSolve optimisation problems on D-Wave quantum annealers. | API from the vendor | not verified |
| OpenQuantumRun Qiskit and quantum workflows from an agent workspace with MCP tools. | Community MCP server | free (open source) |
Set it up
- Get an IBM Quantum API key. The Open Plan is free for up to 10 runtime minutes a month.
- Add one of the Qiskit MCP servers. This install line is from its README:
uvx qiskit-code-assistant-mcp-server
- Ask Claude for a small circuit first, such as a 2-qubit Bell state, and check the counts.
After the free minutes, IBM's Pay-As-You-Go plan starts at $96 a minute, billed per second. A 1,000-shot Rigetti task on Amazon Braket is about $0.73. See IBM Quantum and Amazon Braket in the catalog.
“Live through our connector” runs through Real World MCP today. “Official MCP” is the vendor's own server. “Manual” means you or a browser use the provider's site. Prices are the provider's own and change. Browse every quantum entry.
What people have done
- Run quantum experiments on IBM and Quantum Inspire hardware with agents
A TU Delft research project uses autonomous agents, with MCP servers for Claude Code, to submit circuits to IBM Marrakesh, IBM Torino and the Quantum Inspire Tuna-9 chip, replicate published papers, and log 22 results.
Questions people ask
Can Claude run code on a real quantum computer?
Yes. With a Qiskit MCP server and your IBM Quantum API key, Claude can build a circuit and run it on IBM hardware, then read back the measured counts.
Is it free?
IBM's Open Plan includes up to 10 minutes of runtime a month for free. After that, Pay-As-You-Go starts at $96 a minute, billed per second.
Do IonQ or D-Wave have MCP servers?
Not that we found. IonQ, Quantinuum, D-Wave, Rigetti, IQM and Azure Quantum are listed as APIs.