Automatic Qiskit Code Refactoring Using Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Suárez, José Manuel, Bibbó, Luis Mariano, Bogado, Joaquin, Fernandez, Alejandro
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Suárez, José Manuel
Bibbó, Luis Mariano
Bogado, Joaquin
Fernandez, Alejandro
author_facet Suárez, José Manuel
Bibbó, Luis Mariano
Bogado, Joaquin
Fernandez, Alejandro
contents As quantum software frameworks evolve, developers face increasing challenges in maintaining compatibility with rapidly changing APIs. In this work, we present a novel methodology for refactoring Qiskit code using large language models (LLMs). We begin by extracting a taxonomy of migration scenarios from the different sources of official Qiskit documentation (such as release notes), capturing common patterns such as migration of functionality to different modules and deprecated usage. This taxonomy, along with the original Python source code, is provided as input to an LLM, which is then tasked with identifying instances of migration scenarios in the code and suggesting appropriate refactoring solutions. Our approach is designed to address the context length limitations of current LLMs by structuring the input and reasoning process in a targeted, efficient manner. The results demonstrate that LLMs, when guided by domain-specific migration knowledge, can effectively assist in automating Qiskit code migration. This work contributes both a set of proven prompts and taxonomy for Qiskit code migration from earlier versions to version 0.46 and a methodology to asses the capabilities of LLMs to assist in the migration of quantum code.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14535
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Automatic Qiskit Code Refactoring Using Large Language Models
Suárez, José Manuel
Bibbó, Luis Mariano
Bogado, Joaquin
Fernandez, Alejandro
Software Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Emerging Technologies
As quantum software frameworks evolve, developers face increasing challenges in maintaining compatibility with rapidly changing APIs. In this work, we present a novel methodology for refactoring Qiskit code using large language models (LLMs). We begin by extracting a taxonomy of migration scenarios from the different sources of official Qiskit documentation (such as release notes), capturing common patterns such as migration of functionality to different modules and deprecated usage. This taxonomy, along with the original Python source code, is provided as input to an LLM, which is then tasked with identifying instances of migration scenarios in the code and suggesting appropriate refactoring solutions. Our approach is designed to address the context length limitations of current LLMs by structuring the input and reasoning process in a targeted, efficient manner. The results demonstrate that LLMs, when guided by domain-specific migration knowledge, can effectively assist in automating Qiskit code migration. This work contributes both a set of proven prompts and taxonomy for Qiskit code migration from earlier versions to version 0.46 and a methodology to asses the capabilities of LLMs to assist in the migration of quantum code.
title Automatic Qiskit Code Refactoring Using Large Language Models
topic Software Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Emerging Technologies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14535