# Reading your results

> A guide to the Qsolve run page: the answer, the verdict against the classical baseline, fidelity and shots kept, circuits, cost, receipt and failed runs.

Source: https://qsolve.omlabs.co/docs/use/reading-your-results
Updated: 2026-11-12

The run page answers three questions in order: what is the answer, how does it compare with the best classical method, and how much can you trust the quantum part. Read the verdict first, then the quality card, then the circuits if you need to check the work.

## The header

The title is the workflow, with its family, version, target and run time. A status pill shows the state: **Sizing**, **Needs your OK**, **Queued**, **Running**, **Done**, **Failed** or **Stopped**. Three buttons sit at the top right: **Stop** (while the run is in progress), **Report** (downloads the run and its events as JSON) and **Run again**.

## Answer

The **Answer** card starts with a one-sentence summary written by the workflow, then the answer in the workflow's own terms. Single figures appear as large numbers, lists of names as chips and lists of records as tables.

| Workflow | Answer |
|---|---|
| `max-cut` | Group A, Group B, the weight of the cut and the total edge weight |
| `generic-qubo` | The 0 or 1 assigned to each variable, the variables set to 1 and the objective value |
| `portfolio-optimization` | The selected assets, their weights, expected return, risk and whether the constraint was satisfied |
| `molecular-ground-state` | The energy in Hartree, kcal/mol, kJ/mol and eV with its error bar, the error against the exact reference, and whether chemical accuracy (1.6 mHa) is met |
| `quantum-kernel-classifier` | Test accuracy with a 95% interval, the best classical test accuracy, cross-validation accuracy and a confusion matrix |

## Quantum vs classical

This card is the verdict. It names the classical baseline and shows both objective values on one axis.

| Verdict | Meaning | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Matched the classical answer | The two values are equal | Green |
| x% better than classical | The quantum value is lower (better) than the baseline's. Possible when the baseline is a heuristic | Green |
| x% from the classical answer, under 1% | Slightly worse than the baseline | Amber |
| x% from the classical answer, 1% or more | Clearly worse than the baseline | Red |

The percentage is the quantum objective minus the baseline, divided by the baseline's magnitude. A lower objective is better. An information icon beside the classical value says how sure that value is: exact, a heuristic, or a sampled estimate with an error bar. In the **My runs** list the same comparison appears in the **Result** column as "Matched classical", "x% better" or "x% off".

For chemistry the objective is an energy, a large number, so a gap of a few thousandths of a percent can still be several millihartree. Read the error in mHa as well: 1.6 mHa is chemical accuracy. For the classifier the objective is the test error rate, and a small test set gives a wide interval.

## Quality of the quantum run

This card appears when the run sent circuits to a noisy target or reported mitigation figures.

- **Fidelity.** How close the quantum output is to the ideal noise-free output. The label shows where the number comes from: "Fidelity (measured)" when no mitigation was reported, or "Fidelity after mitigation (reported)" with the raw measured figure beside it. A note gives the best fidelity shot noise alone allows.
- **Shots kept.** The share of shots that passed the workflow's error-detection checks.
- **Circuit.** Depth, number of two-qubit gates and qubits.

The workflow page's **On quantum hardware** table shows real-device runs. They are added only when the workflow's developer chooses to run them (from their own credits), so a workflow can have an excellent simulator record and no device results yet. Each row is marked with its workflow version when it comes from an earlier one.

A line below the figures says what was measured on: real hardware, a device noise model or an ideal simulator. On an ideal simulator there is no noise to mitigate, so these figures say little about hardware. [Accuracy, fidelity and noise](/docs/use/accuracy-fidelity-and-noise) explains why a correct answer can come with low fidelity.

## Error mitigation, step by step

For chemistry workflows on a noisy target, a table shows the error against the exact answer in millihartree after each step, all from the same measured shots: raw, after readout and electron-count correction (with the share of shots kept), and after the final correction (zero-noise extrapolation or similar, or "not applied" with the reason), plus the error bar.

## Circuits

Every distinct circuit the run sent is listed with its qubits, depth, two-qubit gates, how many times it was sent and with how many shots. Select a row to draw it. On hardware, a switch shows the circuit "As written" or "As run on the chip". See [Run records](/docs/use/run-records).

## The side column

| Card | Contents |
|---|---|
| **Cost** | Credits charged (or quoted, while running), your limit, the quote, the amount held and the amount returned |
| **Execution** | Target, device, qubits, circuits, shots, quantum seconds (hardware), expected time, wall time and seed |
| **Receipt** | Workflow and version, code commit, SDK version, and hashes of the input and the result |

The receipt lets you check a run later. See [Reproducibility](/docs/use/reproducibility).

## When a run fails

A failed or stopped run shows the reason in a red card, for example "The run hit the workflow's time limit and was stopped" or "Your balance is too low for this run. Nothing was charged." **Technical log** expands to the end of the workflow's error output. **Edit input and retry** reopens the workflow with the same input. The **Cost** card shows what you were charged; [Credits and pricing](/docs/use/credits-and-pricing) lists the rules.

One failure is specific to Qsolve's measuring. If a run used more quantum work than its result accounts for, it is stopped as an integrity mismatch, because its numbers cannot be trusted. You pay only for what ran.