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Introduction to options

You can pass options to primitives to customize them to meet your needs. This section focuses on Qiskit Runtime primitive options. While the interface of the primitives' run() method is common across all implementations, their options are not. Consult the corresponding API references for information about the qiskit.primitives and qiskit_aer.primitives options.


Overview

Structure

When calling the primitives, you can pass in options by using an options class or a dictionary. Commonly used options, such as resilience_level, are at the first level. Other options are grouped into different categories, such as execution. See the Set primitive options topic for full details.

Defaults

If you do not specify a value for an option, it is given a special value of Unset and the server default value is used. Thus, the default value will be the same regardless of your code version.

The tables in the Options classes summary section lists the default values.


Set options

Options can be defined before a primitive is constructed and passed to the primitive, which makes a copy of them. This can be done either as a nested dictionary, or by using the options classes. Additionally, after the primitive is constructed, its options can be changed. Use the workflow that works best for your application. See Specify options for full details.


Options classes summary

  • Resilience: Advanced options for configuring error mitigation methods such as measurement error mitigation, ZNE, and PEC.
  • Dynamical decoupling: Options for dynamical decoupling.
  • Execution: Primitive execution options, including whether to initialize qubits and the repetition delay.
  • Twirling: Twirling options, such as whether to apply two-qubit gate twirling and the number of shots to run for each random sample.
  • Environment: Execution environment options, such as the logging level to set and job tags to add.
  • Simulator: Simulator options, such as the basis gates, simulator seed, and coupling map. Applies to local testing mode only.

Available options

Important

Scroll to see the full table.

OptionSub-optionSub-sub-optionChoicesDefaultOptions
default_shotsInteger in the range[0, backend.max_shots]Nonedefault_shots
default_precisionfloat > 00.015625 (1 / sqrt(4096))default_precision
dynamical_decouplingdynamical_decoupling
enableTrue/FalseFalse
sequence_type'XX'/'XpXm'/'XY4''XX'
extra_slack_distribution'middle'/'edges''middle'
scheduling_method'asap'/'alap''alap'
environmentenvironment
log_levelDEBUG/INFO/WARNING/ERROR/CRITICALWARNING
callbackCallable function that receives Job ID and Job result.None
job_tagsList of tagsNone
executionexecution
init_qubitsTrue/FalseTrue
rep_delayValue in the range supplied by backend.rep_delay_range.Given by backend.default_rep_delay.
max_execution_timeInteger number of seconds in the range [1, 10800]10800 (3 hours)max_execution_time
resilienceresilience
layer_noise_learningTrue/FalseTrue
max_layers_to_learnNone/ integer >= 14
shots_per_randomizationinteger >= 1128
num_randomizationsinteger >= 132
layer_pair_depthslist[int] of 2-10 values in the range [0, 200](0, 1, 2, 4, 16, 32)
measure_mitigationTrue/FalseTrue
measure_noise_learningnum_randomizationsinteger >= 132
shots_per_randomizationinteger'auto'
pec_mitigationTrue/FalseFalse
pecmax_overheadNone/ integer >1100
noise_gainauto/ float in the range [0, 1]auto
zne_mitigationTrue/FalseFalse
znenoise_factorslist of floats; each float >= 1(1, 1.5, 2) for PEA, and (1, 3, 5) otherwise.
amplifiergate_folding, gate_folding_front, gate_folding_back, pea gate_folding
extrapolatorone or more of 'exponential'
'linear'
'double_exponential'
'polynomial_degree_(1 <= k <= 7)'
('exponential', 'linear')
resilience_level0/1/21resilience_level
seed_estimatorintegerNoneseed_estimator
simulatorsimulator
noise_modelQiskit Aer NoiseModel, or its representationNone
seed_simulatorintegerNone
coupling_mapList of directed two-qubit interactionsfull connectivity
basis_gatesList of basis gate names to unroll toThe set of all basis gates supported by Qiskit Aer simulator
twirlingtwirling
enable_gatesTrue/FalseFalse
enable_measureTrue/FalseTrue
num_randomizationsauto/ integer >= 1'auto'
shots_per_randomizationauto/ Integer no larger than backend.max_shots.'auto'
strategy'active'
'active-circuit'
'active-accum'
'all'
'active-accum'
experimental
execution_pathgen3-turbo (see note)None
Note

Setting gen3-turbo enables the next-generation execution path, which provides a great improvement in performance. This option is experimental (subject to change without notice, and stability is not guaranteed) and is only available on ibm_torino.

Options compatibility

Due to differences in the device compilation process, certain runtime features cannot be used together in a single job. Click the appropriate tab for a list of features that are incompatible with the selected feature:

Incompatible with:

  • Gate-folding ZNE
  • PEA
  • PEC
  • Dynamical decoupling
  • Pulse gates

Can be used with gate twirling for non-conditional gates.


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