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General-purpose SDKs

pennylane

Maintained by XanaduAI

PennyLane is a widely used framework for hybrid quantum-classical workflows, especially where differentiable programming and multi-backend experimentation matter.

PythonApache-2.0FlagshipQtangl relevant
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General-purpose SDKs

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Last pushed

May 27, 2026Updated 3mo ago

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What it is

PennyLane sits at an interesting intersection: it is approachable enough for newcomers, serious enough for research workflows, and flexible enough to connect quantum circuits to classical optimization and machine-learning tooling.

That makes it valuable even beyond pure quantum ML. It is one of the clearest examples of a framework built around hybrid execution instead of treating quantum hardware as an isolated destination.

Who it's for

Developers and researchers who care about hybrid workflows, differentiable programming, and the ability to move across backends without rewriting everything.

What you can build or learn

  • Prototype variational and hybrid workflows that combine quantum circuits with classical optimization loops.
  • Compare plugins, devices, and backend integrations through one framework.
  • Learn how one major ecosystem thinks about hybrid execution as a first-class idea.

License

Apache-2.0

SPDX identifier detected from the repository metadata or license files.

Repository README

Preview from the project README.

Rendered as Markdown inside a scrollable preview. Long READMEs stay contained; expand or open on GitHub for the full document.

~715 words · about 3 min readOpen on GitHub

Key Features

For more details and additional features, please see the PennyLane website and our most recent release notes.

Installation

PennyLane requires Python version 3.11 and above. Installation of PennyLane, as well as all dependencies, can be done using pip:

python -m pip install pennylane

Docker support

Docker images are found on the PennyLane Docker Hub page, where there is also a detailed description about PennyLane Docker support. See description here for more information.

Getting started

Get up and running quickly with PennyLane by following our interactive tutorials and quickstart guide, designed to introduce key features and help you start building quantum circuits right away.

Whether you're exploring quantum machine learning, quantum computing, or quantum chemistry, PennyLane offers a wide range of tools and resources to support your research.

Key Resources

You can also check out our documentation, and detailed developer guides.

Demos

Take a deeper dive into quantum computing by exploring quantum computing research with the PennyLane Demos—covering fundamental quantum concepts alongside the latest quantum algorithm research results.

If you would like to contribute your own demo, see our demo submission guide.

Contributing to PennyLane

We welcome contributions—simply fork the PennyLane repository, and then make a pull request containing your contribution. All contributors to PennyLane will be listed as authors on the releases.

We also encourage bug reports, suggestions for new features and enhancements, and even links to cool projects or applications built on PennyLane.

See our contributions page and our Development guide for more details.

Support

If you are having issues, please let us know by posting the issue on our GitHub issue tracker.

Join the PennyLane Discussion Forum to connect with the quantum community, get support, and engage directly with our team. It’s the perfect place to share ideas, ask questions, and collaborate with fellow researchers and developers!

Note that we are committed to providing a friendly, safe, and welcoming environment for all. Please read and respect the Code of Conduct.

Authors

PennyLane is the work of many contributors.

If you are doing research using PennyLane, please cite our paper:

Ville Bergholm et al. PennyLane: Automatic differentiation of hybrid quantum-classical computations. 2018. arXiv:1811.04968

License

PennyLane is free and open source, released under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Read on GitHub

Activity

Latest release

—

Watchers

47

Python support

>=3.11

Key dependencies

scipy, networkx, rustworkx, autograd, appdirs, autoray, cachetools, pennylane-lightning, requests, tomlkit, typing_extensions, packaging

How this relates to Qtangl

Qtangl is not a quantum ML product, but PennyLane is still useful because it embodies a pragmatic hybrid mindset. It is a good reference for how classical optimization, bounded quantum experimentation, and developer-facing abstractions can coexist inside one readable workflow.

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