D-Wave Example Applications

This guide walks you through using Visual Studio Code (VS Code) to run and explore D-Wave’s official sample applications. D-Wave maintains an active GitHub collection (dwave-examples) containing beginner notebooks, basic script implementations, and industry-specific optimization applications.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following installed on your machine:

  • Visual Studio Code

  • Python 3.8+ and Git

  • VS Code Extensions:

    • Python (ms-python.python)

    • Jupyter (ms-toolsai.jupyter) — required for notebook-based samples

  • D-Wave Leap Account: Sign up at cloud.dwavesys.com/leap to get your API token.

Step-by-Step Guide to Running D-Wave Samples in VS Code

1.Clone the Sample Repository:Clone a D-Wave sample repository from GitHub.

Open VS Code and launch the terminal (Ctrl+\`` or Cmd+``).

For beginners, clone the simple-ocean-programs repository:

Bash

git clone https://github.com/dwave-examples/simple-ocean-programs.git
cd simple-ocean-programs

Then, open this folder in VS Code via File > Open Folder... (or run code . in your terminal).

2.Create & Activate Virtual Environment:Isolate dependencies within the VS Code workspace.

In the VS Code terminal, create a local Python virtual environment:

macOS/Linux:

Bash

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Windows (PowerShell):

PowerShell

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P), search for Python: Select Interpreter, and select .venv/bin/python (or .venv\Scripts\python.exe).

3.Install Project Dependencies:Install Ocean SDK and requirements.

Upgrade pip and install the repository requirements (or standard Ocean SDK):

Bash

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt

(If no requirements.txt exists in the repository, simply run pip install dwave-ocean-sdk dwave-inspector).

4.Authenticate with D-Wave Leap:Connect local environment to D-Wave Leap hardware.

Run the interactive configuration CLI inside the VS Code terminal:

Bash

dwave setup

Paste your D-Wave Leap API Token when prompted and accept the defaults. Verify connectivity to quantum hardware by running:

Bash

dwave ping

5.Run Sample Applications:Run Python scripts or interactive Jupyter notebooks.

Choose how you want to execute your sample:

  • Python Script (.py): Open a sample file (e.g., Basic_Programs/minimum_vertex_cover.py), click the Play icon (▷) in the upper-right corner of the editor window, or press F5 to debug.

  • Jupyter Notebook (.ipynb): Open any .ipynb file in VS Code. Ensure the top-right kernel selector points to your .venv environment, then click Run All.

Exploring Key D-Wave Sample Repositories

D-Wave provides starter templates and notebooks tailored to different skill levels:

Repository Name Description Best For
simple-ocean-programs Basic QUBO and Ising formulations, graph embedding, and BQM basics. Absolute Beginners
hybrid-computing-notebook Tutorials on using Leap's hybrid solvers for large-scale constraint problems. Intermediate Developers
maximum-cut Solving the Max-Cut problem on graphs using dwave-networkx and QPU samplers. Graph Optimization
portfolio-optimization Financial portfolio balancing using Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO). Industry Applications

Visualizing QPU Embeddings with D-Wave Inspector

When running QPU-native samples, you can launch the interactive D-Wave Inspector directly from VS Code.

Add the inspector call to any script after sampling:

Python

import dimod
import dwave.inspector
from dwave.system import DWaveSampler, EmbeddingComposite

# Generate a random BQM problem
bqm = dimod.generators.ran_r(1, 10)
sampler = EmbeddingComposite(DWaveSampler())
sampleset = sampler.sample(bqm, num_reads=100)

# Opens the interactive graph/QPU embedding visualizer in your web browser
dwave.inspector.show(sampleset)

Running this script in VS Code automatically launches a local web browser interface showing physical qubit allocations, chain breaks, and energy landscapes on the QPU hardware.

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