IBM Releases Qiskit SDK v2.6 with C API Pass-Manager Framework, Native QPY Serialization, and Custom Operations

IBM Quantum has released Qiskit SDK v2.6, significantly enhancing its C API layer with a new pass-manager framework and native QPY serialization. This update allows for custom compiler passes and hardware-native quantum operations in C, C++, and Julia without a Python runtime, moving towards Python-optional execution in high-performance computing. The release also updates the Qiskit GitHub Roadmap, outlining future versions that will focus on C ABI/API stability, fault-tolerant compilation, and