Use Qiskit Code Assistant in JupyterLab

Learn how to install, use, configure, and uninstall the official Qiskit Code Assistant extension in JupyterLab.

Install the JupyterLab extension

To install the JupyterLab extension, run the following command from a terminal:

pip install qiskit-code-assistant-jupyterlab

After installing the extension, start JupyterLab:

jupyter lab

The extension loads automatically and is listed on the bottom of the JupyterLab window.

Refer to the JupyterLab documentation. for help working with JupyterLab

Configure extension settings

It is recommended that you edit the following JupyterLab settings by going to Settings -> Settings Editor:

• Click Inline Completer, find "Show widget" and choose Always. This means that the the inline completer widget will always be shown so you can cycle through and select a completion item.

• Click Code Completion and increase the value for "Default timeout for a provider." to 10000 or 10 seconds. The default value is 1 second, but the Qiskit Code Assistant API might take longer than this to find a suggestion. This setting only applies to the standard context menu that is invoked with Tab. The inline completer has a default of 10 seconds.

Other settings you might want to change:

• Keyboard shortcuts can be changed from Settings > Settings Editor > Keyboard Shortcuts.

• You can change the IBM Quantum API token to use in the JupyterLab command palette. To do that, type Alt + Shift + C, search for qiskit, select the Qiskit Code Assistant: Set IBM Quantum API token command, and paste in your token.

• [Advanced] To change the instance of the Qiskit Code Assistant service that the extension should use, edit Qiskit Code Assistant serviceUrl setting.

• [Advanced] Keyboard shortcuts can be changed by searching for completer in the Keyboard Shortcuts settings (Settings -> Settings Editor -> Keyboard Shortcuts) and adding new shortcuts for the relevant commands.

Get started using the Qiskit Code Assistant extension for JupyterLab

Authentication and setup

After installing the extension, it tries to authenticate you. By default, the package tries to authenticate to IBM Quantum services with the defined Qiskit API token, and uses your token from the QISKIT_IBM_TOKEN environment variable or from the file ~/.qiskit/qiskit-ibm.json (under the section default-ibm-quantum). If you need help configuring your account, follow the instructions in Set up to use IBM Quantum Platform.

By default, the extension uses the granite-8b-qiskit model, which is listed in the Model Picker in the bottom status bar.

The first time you use the granite-8b-qiskit model a modal opens, listing some major restrictions that you should be aware of when using the model. Clicking Accept will accept the disclaimer and enable the model for code generation.

Generate code

While you develop your code using Qiskit, you can ask to Qiskit Code Assistant to help you. In general, the assistant suggests better code as response to Python comments or docstrings, but you can use the assistant anywhere in your file.

To get a code suggestion, type a prompt, then type Alt + . or Alt + \. There are two types of prompts you can use:

• Enter partial code and get a suggestion to finish the code. Example:
  from qiskit.circuit import QuantumCircuit
  from qiskit.transpiler.preset_passmanagers import generate_preset_pass_manager
  from qiskit_ibm_runtime import SamplerV2 as Sampler
  from qiskit_ibm_runtime.fake_provider import FakeManilaV2
   
  # Bell Circuit
  qc = QuantumCircuit(2)
  qc.h(0)
  qc.cx(0, 1)
   
  qc.mea # Type Ctrl + . for a code suggestion.

• Type a pound (#) sign, then type your prompt. Example: # Give me a random circuit of 5 qubits and a depth of 4.

Work with code suggestions

Use the following to accept, reject, and cycle through suggestions:

• Alt + [ and Alt + ] can be used to cycle through the list of suggestions (if there are more than one).
• Alt + Tab or Alt + END accepts the suggested code and inserts it at the current cursor location.

Additionally, after the assistant runs, you can use the buttons on the widget to cycle or accept the suggestion:

Jupyterlab also includes a traditional suggestion context menu. Use the Tab key to run and display the context menu.

The context menu includes suggestions from JupyterLab in addition to suggestions made by Qiskit Code Assistant. The context menu also sanitizes and trims the suggestions, making it less useful for reviewing the code suggestion before inserting it.

Uninstall the JupyterLab extension

To remove the Qiskit Code Assistant extension from JupyterLab, run:

pip uninstall qiskit_code_assistant_jupyterlab

Troubleshooting

If you see the frontend extension but it is not working, check that the server extension is enabled:

jupyter server extension list

If the server extension is installed and enabled, but you don't see the frontend extension, check that the frontend extension is installed:

jupyter labextension list

Contribute to the JupyterLab extension

The code for this extension is publicly available and open source. Check it out in GitHub.

Next steps