---
title: QuantumProgramItem (dev version)
description: API reference for qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem in the dev version of qiskit-ibm-runtime
source: https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/docs/en/api/qiskit-ibm-runtime/dev/quantum-program-quantum-program-item
---

# QuantumProgramItem

*class* `QuantumProgramItem(circuit, chunk_size=None)`

Bases: `ABC`

An item of a [`QuantumProgram`](/docs/api/qiskit-ibm-runtime/dev/quantum-program-quantum-program "qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgram").

Each item has a [`shape`](#qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem.shape "qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem.shape") that determines the number of circuit executions. This shape is computed by broadcasting the *extrinsic* shapes of all input arrays. Input arrays have both extrinsic axes (leftmost, defining the sweep grid) and intrinsic axes (rightmost, determined by the data type). For example, `circuit_arguments` for a circuit with `n` parameters has intrinsic shape `(n,)`, so an array of shape `(5, 3, n)` has extrinsic shape `(5, 3)`.

Output arrays should follow the same convention: extrinsic axes match the item’s [`shape`](#qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem.shape "qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem.shape"), and intrinsic axes are determined by the output type (e.g., `(num_shots, creg_size)` for classical register data).

**Parameters**

- **circuit** ([*QuantumCircuit*](/docs/api/qiskit/qiskit.circuit.QuantumCircuit)) – The circuit to be executed.
- **chunk\_size** (*int | None*) – The maximum number of bound circuits in each shot loop execution, or `None` to use a server-side heuristic to optimize speed. When not executing in a session, the server-side heuristic is always used and this value is ignored.

## Attributes

### shape

The extrinsic shape of this item, i.e. the broadcasted extrinsic shapes of all inputs.

## Methods

### size

`size()`

Return the total number elements in this item.

The size is calculated as the product of the entries of [`shape`](#qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem.shape "qiskit_ibm_runtime.quantum_program.QuantumProgramItem.shape").

**Return type**

int