Q-Code v1.1

A participatory quantum coding language. The observer is part of the program.

Free and open source (MIT). No quantum hardware. No account. No cost. Released November 5, 2026.

Looking for an older version? All versions — v1.0 stays available. Patch notes for v1.1.

What it is

Q-Code is a programming language that breaks the spectator assumption — the idea that the observer stands outside the system. In Q-Code, asking a question collapses a possibility. Paying attention reshapes the odds. Two observers can hold different views of the same field until they ask. Information lives in relationships, not in things. Storage is a wave, not a place.

The same program runs on five backends: a participatory field model, exact statevectors (dense or sparse), and real Qiskit circuits, with an optional IBM Quantum backend for real hardware. It has a real interpreter, control flow, functions, a REPL, a debugger, and a standard library of quantum systems.

What's new in v1.1

Sparse statevector backend — the qubit cap goes from ~20 to 50 for typical programs. A 50-qubit GHZ state builds and measures exactly; a 30-qubit GHZ runs through the interpreter in 0.15 seconds. Use backend sparse.
Shor's algorithm — factors 15, 21, and 35 (largest on 16 qubits). Run python3 examples/shor_demo.py.
Standard library — one-line Grover, QFT, phase estimation, Deutsch–Jozsa, Bernstein–Vazirani, and VQE.
OpenQASM import/export — Q-Code circuits talk to the rest of the quantum world.
IBM Quantum backend (optional) — run on real hardware with your own free-tier token. Inert without one: no token, no network, no job.
Debugger — step through a program showing the quantum state at each step. python3 qdebug.py program.qc
Killer demo — wave memory: "WAVES REMEMBER" reconstructed exactly from half the points. The message was never anywhere. It was everywhere.
Pip package — pip install qcode-lang (field/state/sparse need no dependencies).

Full details: patch notes.

Run it in 60 seconds

python3 qinterp.py examples/hello.qc
python3 qinterp.py examples/friend.qc
python3 qinterp.py examples/grover_demo.qc
python3 qinterp.py examples/killer_demo.qc
python3 examples/shor_demo.py

Python 3.10+ only. Field, state, and sparse backends need nothing else. The quantum backend needs pip install -r requirements.txt (Qiskit + Aer). The IBM backend needs your own token — see docs/ibm-backend.md. Full instructions are in QUICKSTART.md inside the zip.

What is inside

The language — fields, entangle, attend, ask, declare, become, observers, control flow, functions, recursion.
Wave memory — text and images stored as waves, readable from a random half of the points; entangled and teleported memory where bits live only in relationships.
Quantum error correction — bit-flip and phase-flip codes, every error position corrected exactly.
Q-RAM + Grover search — a quantum RAM you query in superposition; Grover finds a value in 12 oracle calls where classical search needs 128.5.
GhostDB — a database in signals and waves: tables, Grover search, superposed aggregation, and data hidden in Wi-Fi beacons, Bluetooth names, SSIDs, and sound.
BB84 quantum key distribution — a home quantum network over an audio carrier; Eve caught at 24.2% error (theory 25%).
Quantum compression — Schumacher compression, amplitude encoding, a quantum autoencoder, a quantum JPEG, and quantum sound compression.
Superdense coding, photons, many worlds, shared QRAM, and a server — your phone sends a program, your laptop runs it and sends the answer back.

376 of 380 tests pass across 42 suites. The only failures are 4 known fixture-state failures in the parked vault module, unchanged from v1.0. Every number in the README is backed by a test you can run yourself.

How it breaks classical assumptions

Information must live inside things — broken. Entangled waves, GHZ memory, and teleportation store bits in relationships; no part holds the bit alone.
The observer stands outside the system — broken. Asking collapses. Attention reweights. Observers hold different views until they ask.
Storage means addressed places — broken. A wave memory returns text exactly from a random half of its points.

What it is not — the honest limits

Q-Code is a simulator. The states are computed on a classical CPU. There is no quantum hardware, no wall-clock speedup, and it cannot break encryption. Shor's algorithm here is a simulator demo on small numbers, not a threat to RSA. The sparse backend only wins when the state stays sparse — a dense superposition over all 2^n basis states is not helped. It does not send signals faster than light, it does not let you choose which branch of the multiverse you land in, and it cannot compress random data — nothing can. Holevo's bound is a theorem: n qubits give back n bits. What compresses is structure. The README states every limit plainly, with the numbers.

Source and license

Q-Code v1.1 — built November 5, 2026. The language's name is Q-Code. The work continues.