Directed execution: same performance, more control | IBM Quantum Computing Blog

Key takeaways:

• IBM Quantum's directed execution model runs your circuits exactly as directed, giving explicit client-side control over the error correction stack—from mitigation to correction—without sacrificing 100+ qubit performance.
• Error mitigation routines that once ran hidden on IBM servers now runs client-side, so you can inspect, customize, and extend it.
• It's the same framework behind IBM's quantum advantage demonstrations, and a foundation for the error-correction research already underway on IBM hardware—from postselected QEC to distance-5 surface codes that cut the logical error rate per round by up to 2.8x.
• A new Executor primitive powers the model, scaling to thousands of circuit variants and letting you compose custom error mitigation and error correction pipelines by hand.
• Already using Qiskit's Sampler and Estimator primitives? Upgrading is low-friction: update your provider and your existing code keeps working.

Today's most demanding quantum experiments rarely begin and end with a single circuit execution. Instead, workloads typically involve large families of closely related circuit variants, built on multi-stage workflows for noise, randomization, and post-processing—and assembling them by hand takes considerable time and effort.