@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ IncludeCategories:
     Priority:        4
   - Regex:           '^"(llvm|llvm-c|clang|clang-c|mlir|mlir-c)/'
     Priority:        3
-  - Regex:           '^"(qoda|\.\.)/'
+  - Regex:           '^"(cudaq|\.\.)/'
     Priority:        2
   - Regex:           '.*'
     Priority:        1
 
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 name: Set up latest stable Xcode
-description: Select the newest non-beta Xcode installed on the macOS runner.
+description: >-
+  Select the newest stable Xcode installed on the macOS runner. Excludes
+  betas and release candidates (matches the "latest-stable" semantics of
+  maxim-lobanov/setup-xcode).
 
 outputs:
   version:
@@ -23,26 +26,53 @@ runs:
       run: |
         set -euo pipefail
 
-        # Mirrors the selection strategy from maxim-lobanov/setup-xcode
-        # (scan installed Xcode apps, ignore beta releases, choose newest
-        # stable), but keeps it local to avoid external-action allowlist issues.
+        # Implements the "latest-stable" selection strategy from
+        # maxim-lobanov/setup-xcode (scan installed Xcode apps, exclude
+        # both betas and release candidates, choose the newest stable),
+        # kept local to avoid external-action allowlist issues.
+        #
+        # Note: LicenseInfo.plist's licenseType is not a reliable signal
+        # for release candidates (Apple commonly sets it to "GM" or
+        # "Release" on RCs, not "Beta"). GitHub-hosted runners do, however,
+        # name pre-release bundles consistently, e.g.
+        #   /Applications/Xcode_<v>_beta_<n>.app
+        #   /Applications/Xcode_<v>_Release_Candidate.app
+        # so we filter on the .app bundle name in addition to the license
+        # type. Without this, an RC's SDK can be selected and its absolute
+        # path baked into cached LLVM CMake imported targets, only to vanish
+        # from the runner image once Apple ships the GA build.
         selection_file=$(mktemp)
         python3 > "$selection_file" <<'PY'
         from pathlib import Path
         import plistlib
         import re
         import sys
 
+        # The "rc" token must be delimited by non-letters on both sides so
+        # it matches "_RC.", "_RC1.", "-rc.", etc. but not substrings of
+        # real words. \b alone is insufficient because "_" is a word char
+        # in Python regex, so "_RC" has no boundary between "_" and "R".
+        PRERELEASE_NAME = re.compile(
+            r"(beta"
+            r"|release[\s_.\-]?candidate"
+            r"|(?<![A-Za-z])rc\d*(?![A-Za-z]))",
+            re.IGNORECASE)
+
         def semver_key(version):
             return tuple(int(part) for part in re.findall(r"\d+", version))
 
         versions = []
-        for app in Path("/Applications").iterdir():
+        for app in sorted(Path("/Applications").iterdir()):
             if not app.is_dir() or app.is_symlink():
                 continue
             if not re.match(r"^Xcode.*\.app$", app.name):
                 continue
 
+            if PRERELEASE_NAME.search(app.name):
+                print(f"Skipping pre-release Xcode (bundle name): {app.name}",
+                      file=sys.stderr)
+                continue
+
             version_plist = app / "Contents" / "version.plist"
             license_plist = app / "Contents" / "Resources" / "LicenseInfo.plist"
             if not version_plist.exists() or not license_plist.exists():
@@ -56,7 +86,11 @@ runs:
             version = str(version_info.get("CFBundleShortVersionString", ""))
             build = str(version_info.get("ProductBuildVersion", ""))
             license_type = str(license_info.get("licenseType", "")).lower()
-            if not version or not license_type or "beta" in license_type:
+            if not version or not license_type:
+                continue
+            if "beta" in license_type:
+                print(f"Skipping pre-release Xcode (license type): {app.name}",
+                      file=sys.stderr)
                 continue
 
             versions.append((semver_key(version), version, build, str(app)))
 
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ matrix:
 - name: cxx_headers
   sources:
   # Exclude test directories, third-party code (tpls/), vendored nlopt, and build artifacts
-  - '**/*.h|!test/**/*.h|!targettests/**/*.h|!tpls/**/*.h|!runtime/cudaq/algorithms/optimizers/nlopt/nlopt-src/**/*.h|!_skbuild/**/*.h|!build/**/*.h|!build_*/**/*.h'
+  - '**/*.h|!cudaq/test/**/*.h|!targettests/**/*.h|!tpls/**/*.h|!runtime/cudaq/algorithms/optimizers/nlopt/nlopt-src/**/*.h|!_skbuild/**/*.h|!build/**/*.h|!build_*/**/*.h'
   glob_flags: N|G|B
   expect_match: false
   aspell:
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ matrix:
   sources:
   # Exclude test directories, third-party code (tpls/), build artifacts, sphinx config,
   # and files with f-string syntax that pyspelling's parser can't handle
-  - '**/*.py|!python/tests/**/*.py|!test/**/*.py|!targettests/**/*.py|!tpls/**/*.py|!_skbuild/**/*.py|!build/**/*.py|!build_*/**/*.py|!_version.py|!docs/sphinx/conf.py|!utils/mock_qpu/qci/__init__.py'
+  - '**/*.py|!python/tests/**/*.py|!cudaq/test/**/*.py|!targettests/**/*.py|!tpls/**/*.py|!_skbuild/**/*.py|!build/**/*.py|!build_*/**/*.py|!_version.py|!docs/sphinx/conf.py|!utils/mock_qpu/qci/__init__.py'
   glob_flags: N|G|B
   expect_match: false
   aspell:
 
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ Photonics
 PyPI
 Pygments
 QAOA
+QASM
+QBRAID
 QCI
 QCaaS
 QEC
@@ -169,6 +171,7 @@ amongst
 ancilla
 ansatz
 ansatzes
+api
 archiver
 arity
 auxillary
@@ -302,6 +305,7 @@ lossy
 lvalue
 macOS
 makefiles
+measurementCounts
 merchantability
 mps
 multinomial
@@ -314,6 +318,7 @@ natively
 normalization
 nullary
 nvcc
+nvq
 observables
 optimizer
 optimizers
@@ -334,22 +339,26 @@ prepend
 preprocessor
 probability
 programmatically
-pybind
+qBraid
 qaoa
+qbraid
 qed
 qio
+qrn
 quantize
 quantized
 qubit
 qubits
 qudit
 qudits
+queryable
 qumode
 qumodes
 reStructuredText
 realtime
 reconfigurable
 reproducibility
+resultData
 reusability
 runtime
 runtimes
 
@@ -78,8 +78,9 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Pull images
         run: |
-          docker pull "${{ steps.images.outputs.base_image }}"
-          docker pull "${{ steps.images.outputs.target_image }}"
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
+          retry docker pull "${{ steps.images.outputs.base_image }}"
+          retry docker pull "${{ steps.images.outputs.target_image }}"
 
       - name: Diff package lists
         run: |
@@ -164,14 +165,15 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install wheel
         run: |
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           whl=$(find wheel -name '*.whl' 2>/dev/null | head -1)
           if [ -z "$whl" ]; then
             echo "No .whl file found under wheel/"
             find wheel -type f
             exit 1
           fi
           echo "Installing $whl"
-          pip install "$whl"
+          retry pip install "$whl"
           # Capture package name (PEP 427: name-version-...); normalize to pip form (dashes)
           installed_pkg=$(basename "$whl" .whl | sed -E 's/-[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?.*//' | tr '_' '-')
           echo "$installed_pkg" > installed_wheel_package.txt
@@ -356,6 +358,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Download CUDA-Q prerequisite sources
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           # Generate cudaq_prereqs.lock for the current configuration
           bash scripts/install_prerequisites.sh -l
           cat cudaq_prereqs.lock
@@ -397,24 +400,24 @@ jobs:
                 fname="$(basename "$url")"
                 dest="prereqs/${name}/${fname}"
                 echo "Downloading tar archive for $name from $url -> $dest"
-                curl -L "$url" -o "$dest"
+                retry curl -L "$url" -o "$dest"
                 ;;
               sh)
                 fname="$(basename "$url")"
                 dest="prereqs/${name}/${fname}"
                 echo "Downloading shell installer for $name from $url -> $dest"
-                curl -L "$url" -o "$dest"
+                retry curl -L "$url" -o "$dest"
                 chmod +x "$dest"
                 ;;
               pem)
                 dest="prereqs/${name}/${name}.pem"
                 echo "Downloading PEM bundle for $name from $url -> $dest"
-                curl -L "$url" -o "$dest"
+                retry curl -L "$url" -o "$dest"
                 ;;
               git)
                 dest_dir="prereqs/${name}"
                 echo "Cloning git repo for $name from $url (ref=${ref:-HEAD}) -> $dest_dir"
-                git clone "$url" "$dest_dir"
+                retry git clone "$url" "$dest_dir"
                 if [ -n "${ref:-}" ]; then
                   git -C "$dest_dir" checkout "$ref"
                 fi
 
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ jobs:
       pull_request_base: ${{ steps.pr_info.outputs.pr_base }}
       cache_base: ${{ steps.pr_info.outputs.pr_base }}
       llvm_commit: ${{ steps.repo_info.outputs.llvm_commit }}
-      pybind11_commit: ${{ steps.repo_info.outputs.pybind11_commit }}
       nanobind_commit: ${{ steps.repo_info.outputs.nanobind_commit }}
       platform_config: ${{ steps.config.outputs.platforms }}
       build_test_matrix: ${{ steps.config.outputs.build_test_matrix }}
@@ -111,7 +110,6 @@ jobs:
       - id: repo_info
         run: |
           echo "llvm_commit=$(git rev-parse @:./tpls/llvm)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "pybind11_commit=$(git rev-parse @:./tpls/pybind11)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           echo "nanobind_commit=$(git rev-parse @:./tpls/nanobind)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
   devdeps:
@@ -160,7 +158,6 @@ jobs:
         toolchain=gcc12
         distro=rhel8
         llvm_commit=${{ needs.metadata.outputs.llvm_commit }}
-        pybind11_commit=${{ needs.metadata.outputs.pybind11_commit }}
         nanobind_commit=${{ needs.metadata.outputs.nanobind_commit }}
       registry_cache_from: ${{ inputs.cache_base || needs.metadata.outputs.cache_base }}
       environment: ghcr-ci
@@ -254,7 +251,7 @@ jobs:
   gen_code_coverage:
     name: Gen code coverage
     needs: [metadata, config_devdeps]
-    if: github.event_name != 'push'
+    if: false
     strategy:
       matrix:
         platform: [amd64]
@@ -444,9 +441,10 @@ jobs:
             esac
           }
 
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           # All sub-jobs (with names + html_url + conclusion). Paginate; this
           # workflow can have hundreds of matrix legs across reusable workflows.
-          gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/actions/runs/$RUN_ID/jobs" \
+          retry gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/actions/runs/$RUN_ID/jobs" \
             --jq '.jobs[] | {name, html_url, conclusion, status, started_at, completed_at}' \
             | jq -s '.' > /tmp/jobs.json
 
@@ -630,14 +628,15 @@ jobs:
         if: env.PR_NUMBER != ''
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           marker="<!-- ci-summary:${{ github.workflow }}:${EVENT_NAME} -->"
-          existing=$(gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$PR_NUMBER/comments" \
+          existing=$(retry gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$PR_NUMBER/comments" \
             --jq ".[] | select(.body | startswith(\"$marker\")) | .id" | head -1 || true)
           if [ -n "$existing" ]; then
             jq -Rs '{body: .}' < /tmp/comment.md \
-              | gh api "repos/$REPO/issues/comments/$existing" -X PATCH --input -
+              | retry gh api "repos/$REPO/issues/comments/$existing" -X PATCH --input -
           else
-            gh pr comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body-file /tmp/comment.md
+            retry gh pr comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body-file /tmp/comment.md
           fi
         continue-on-error: true
 
 
@@ -145,8 +145,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Restore prerequisites from GHCR
         run: |
           set -e  # Exit on error
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           echo "${{ github.token }}" | oras login ghcr.io -u ${{ github.actor }} --password-stdin
-          oras pull ${{ needs.devdeps.outputs.image_hash }}
+          retry oras pull ${{ needs.devdeps.outputs.image_hash }}
 
           tar -xzf macos-artifacts.tar.gz -C $HOME
           rm macos-artifacts.tar.gz
@@ -163,7 +164,9 @@ jobs:
           registry-token: ${{ github.token }}
 
       - name: Install Python dependencies
-        run: CCACHE_DISABLE=1 pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+        run: |
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
+          CCACHE_DISABLE=1 retry pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
 
       - name: Build MLIR Python bindings
         run: |
@@ -236,8 +239,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Restore prerequisites from GHCR
         run: |
           set -e  # Exit on error
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           echo "${{ github.token }}" | oras login ghcr.io -u ${{ github.actor }} --password-stdin
-          oras pull ${{ needs.devdeps.outputs.image_hash }}
+          retry oras pull ${{ needs.devdeps.outputs.image_hash }}
 
           tar -xzf macos-artifacts.tar.gz -C $HOME
           rm macos-artifacts.tar.gz
@@ -250,7 +254,9 @@ jobs:
           registry-token: ${{ github.token }}
 
       - name: Install Python dependencies
-        run: CCACHE_DISABLE=1 pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+        run: |
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
+          CCACHE_DISABLE=1 retry pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
 
       - name: Build MLIR Python bindings
         run: |
@@ -387,8 +393,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Restore prerequisites from GHCR
         run: |
           set -e  # Exit on error
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           echo "${{ github.token }}" | oras login ghcr.io -u ${{ github.actor }} --password-stdin
-          oras pull ${{ needs.devdeps.outputs.image_hash }}
+          retry oras pull ${{ needs.devdeps.outputs.image_hash }}
 
           tar -xzf macos-artifacts.tar.gz -C $HOME
           rm macos-artifacts.tar.gz
@@ -402,8 +409,9 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
-          CCACHE_DISABLE=1 pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
-          brew install makeself pigz
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
+          CCACHE_DISABLE=1 retry pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+          retry brew install makeself pigz
 
       - name: Build MLIR Python bindings
         run: |
@@ -498,8 +506,9 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install CUDA-Q (Python via wheel)
         run: |
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           sudo -u cudaqtest -H python3 -m venv /Users/cudaqtest/venv
-          sudo -u cudaqtest -H /Users/cudaqtest/venv/bin/pip install wheel/*.whl
+          retry sudo -u cudaqtest -H /Users/cudaqtest/venv/bin/pip install wheel/*.whl
 
       - name: Validate installation
         run: |
 
@@ -38,14 +38,15 @@ jobs:
       - name: Download cache keys
         id: artifacts
         run: |
+          retry() { for n in 1 2 3; do "$@" && return 0; [ $n -lt 3 ] && sleep $((15*n*n)); done; return 1; }
           artifacts_url=${{ github.event.workflow_run.artifacts_url }}
-          artifacts=$(gh api $artifacts_url -q '.artifacts[] | {name: .name, url: .archive_download_url}')
+          artifacts=$(retry gh api $artifacts_url -q '.artifacts[] | {name: .name, url: .archive_download_url}')
 
           for artifact in `echo "$artifacts"`; do
             name=`echo $artifact | jq -r '.name'`
             if [ "${name#cache_key}" != "${name}" ]; then
               url=`echo $artifact | jq -r '.url'`
-              gh api $url > cache_keys.zip
+              retry gh api $url > cache_keys.zip
               unzip -d cache_keys cache_keys.zip
               for file in `find cache_keys/ -type f`; do
                 keys+=" `cat $file`"