Qanary

Qanary simplifies measurement workflows and replaces QCoDeS for handling measurements.

Installation

Qanary requires Python 3.13. Install the latest release from PyPI:

uv add qanary

pip install qanary

Migrating from QCUtils

Qanary is the renamed successor to QCUtils. Replace the qcutils dependency with qanary, change imports from qcutils... to qanary..., and rename QCUTILS_HOME to QANARY_HOME. The default application directory has likewise changed from ~/.qcutils to ~/.qanary.

Preparing a measurement project

We manage and run our measurements using the tool uv. To get started, follow the official Astral installation guide to install uv. It handles virtual environments and package dependencies for you, simplifying Python package management.

Initializing a Measurement

To start a measurement, first initialize a uv project with the desired measurement name:

uv init measurement_name
cd measurement_name

Add Qanary to the project with:

uv add qanary

[!note] NOTE
Qanary installs its QCoDeS, Zurich Instruments, live-visualization, and driver dependencies, so there is no need to add them separately.

Running Commands

Instead of manually activating a virtual environment and running python -m package.method, you can use uv to streamline this:

uv run -m package.method

Using pyproject.toml

If you prefer to skip the add commands, you can set up the project directly with a pyproject.toml file. Here's an example:

[project]
name = "example"
version = "0.1.0"
description = "Add your description here"
readme = "README.md"
requires-python = ">=3.13"
dependencies = [
    "qanary",
]

After updating the pyproject.toml file, you can sync the dependencies with:

uv sync

This will automatically fetch and install the required packages.

Measurement

For complete measurement scripts, see the examples directory.

Live & Disk Format

qanary uses a split data path:

• Live visualization: in-memory Zarr snapshots published through qimchi-connect, with a temporary disk checkpoint for recovery
• Completed measurement: a netCDF (.nc) file in the configured data directory

Qimchi discovers a Qanary measurement automatically while it runs. After a successful final export, Qanary removes the temporary Zarr checkpoint and the netCDF file remains as the measurement record.

Development

We welcome contributions to qanary! To get started with development, clone the repository:

git clone https://gitlab.com/squad-lab/qanary

Navigate into the cloned directory and install the package in development mode:

cd qanary
uv sync --extra dev
uv run pre-commit install

Authors

• Spandan Anupam: s.anupam@fz-juelich.de