---
title: Install
description: Install the managed workflows client package, authenticate to IBM Quantum Platform, and verify your setup.
source: https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/docs/en/managed-workflows/install-managed-workflows
---

# Install

## Prerequisites

- Managed workflows enabled on your [IBM Quantum® Platform instances](/instances). Contact your administrator to enable it.
- An API key and the CRN of your instance. See [Find your access credentials](/docs/ibm-quantum-compute/save-credentials#find-credentials).
- Python 3.10 or later, in an active virtual environment. See [Install Qiskit](/docs/qiskit/install-qiskit#local) for how to set up an environment.

## Quick start with AI skills

You can use the AI skills in the [Qiskit Function templates repository](https://github.com/qiskit-community/qiskit-function-templates) to help you install `qiskit-ibm-catalog`, package your existing local code, and deploy it as a managed workflow.

## Install the client package

Install the `qiskit-ibm-catalog` package:

```bash
pip install qiskit-ibm-catalog
```

This command also installs `qiskit-serverless`, `qiskit`, and `qiskit-ibm-runtime` as dependencies. You do not need to install `qiskit-serverless` separately. The examples in these guides require `qiskit-ibm-catalog` 0.22.0 or later, which installs `qiskit-serverless` 0.38 and `qiskit-ibm-runtime` 0.51.

You use two of these packages directly, in different places:

- `qiskit-ibm-catalog` is the client that you use on your local computer to upload workflows, run them, and get their results.
- `qiskit-serverless` runs inside your workflow code. It provides helpers such as `get_arguments()`, `update_status()`, and `save_result()`.

### Update the client package

Because managed workflows is in beta, the client package changes often. To check which version you have, run the following command:

```bash
pip show qiskit-ibm-catalog
```

Or, in Python:

```python
import qiskit_ibm_catalog

print(qiskit_ibm_catalog.__version__)
```

To update to the latest version, run the following command:

```bash
pip install --upgrade qiskit-ibm-catalog
```

If the new version of `qiskit-ibm-catalog` requires a newer version of `qiskit-serverless`, this command also updates `qiskit-serverless`.

## Authenticate

> **Protect your API key**
>
> Do not include your API key in your workflow code, in scripts, or in notebook files. A running workflow uses the credentials and instance that you used to call `run()`.

The managed workflows client uses the same credentials as `qiskit-ibm-runtime`. If you already saved an account with `QiskitRuntimeService.save_account()`, the client loads your default saved account, and you can skip to [Verify your setup](#verify-your-setup).

If you have not saved an account, save your API key and instance CRN one time in a trusted environment:

```python
from qiskit_ibm_catalog import ManagedWorkflowClient

ManagedWorkflowClient.save_account(
    token="<your-api-key>",
    instance="<your-instance-crn>",
)
```

This method writes your credentials to the same file as [`QiskitRuntimeService.save_account()`](/docs/api/qiskit-ibm-runtime/qiskit-runtime-service#save_account). The client uses the `ibm_quantum_platform` channel by default, so you do not need to set `channel`. To save more than one account, set `name`, and pass the same `name` when you create the client.

For more options, such as saving several accounts or selecting an instance automatically, see [Save your login credentials](/docs/ibm-quantum-compute/save-credentials). If you work on a public computer or another untrusted environment, do not save your credentials. Instead, follow [Initialize the service in an untrusted environment](/docs/guides/cloud-setup-untrusted).

## Verify your setup

Connect to managed workflows with your saved account, and list the workflows that you uploaded:

```python
from qiskit_ibm_catalog import ManagedWorkflowClient

client = ManagedWorkflowClient()
client.list()
```

If you have not uploaded a workflow yet, the output is an empty list (`[]`). If you see an authentication error, the client did not find valid credentials. Check the account that you saved in the [Authenticate](#authenticate) section.

## Next steps

> **Recommendations**
>
> - [Deploy your first managed workflow](/docs/managed-workflows/deploy-first-managed-workflow) to upload a workflow, run it, and get its result.
> - To start from working code, deploy one of the [Qiskit Function templates](/docs/managed-workflows/qiskit-function-templates), or adapt a base template for your own workflow.