Quantum Framework

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Getting Started ​

Welcome to Quantum! This guide will help you get up and running with the Quantum framework in just a few minutes.

What is Quantum? ​

Quantum is a full-stack declarative framework for web applications written in XML. It's designed with the philosophy of "simplicity over configuration" - making complex tasks simple while keeping the language clean and readable.

Key Benefits ​

  • No JavaScript Required - Build interactive apps using only XML and SQL
  • AI as tags - Model calls, RAG and agents with tools, without Python glue
  • Full-Stack - Database queries, forms, sessions and authentication built in
  • Validated input - Declared parameters are type-checked before your code runs

Prerequisites ​

  • Python 3.12+
  • pip

Installation ​

bash
pip install quantum-framework
quantum --version

Optional extras (PostgreSQL/MySQL, RAG, jobs, websockets) and the desktop target's extra dependency are listed in Installation.

Your First Component ​

Create a file called hello.q:

xml
<q:component name="HelloWorld" xmlns:q="https://quantum.lang/ns">
  <q:return value="Hello World!" />
</q:component>

Run it:

bash
quantum run hello.q

Adding Dynamic Content ​

Let's make it more interesting with variables and loops:

xml
<q:component name="Greetings" xmlns:q="https://quantum.lang/ns">
  <!-- Define a variable -->
  <q:set name="greeting" value="Hello" />

  <!-- Loop through a list -->
  <q:loop type="list" var="name" items="Alice,Bob,Charlie">
    <q:return value="{greeting} {name}!" />
  </q:loop>
</q:component>

Output:

["Hello Alice!", "Hello Bob!", "Hello Charlie!"]

Using Conditionals ​

xml
<q:component name="AgeCheck" xmlns:q="https://quantum.lang/ns">
  <q:set name="age" value="25" />

  <q:if condition="age >= 18">
    <q:return value="You are an adult" />
  </q:if>
  <q:else>
    <q:return value="You are a minor" />
  </q:else>
</q:component>

Creating Functions ​

xml
<q:component name="Calculator" xmlns:q="https://quantum.lang/ns">
  <q:function name="add" returnType="number">
    <q:param name="a" type="number" required="true" />
    <q:param name="b" type="number" required="true" />
    <q:set name="result" value="{a + b}" />
    <q:return value="{result}" />
  </q:function>

  <q:set name="sum" value="{add(5, 3)}" />
  <q:return value="5 + 3 = {sum}" />
</q:component>

Web Applications ​

Pages are components in a components/ folder, and the file name is the URL. Create components/index.q:

xml
<q:component name="index" xmlns:q="https://quantum.lang/ns">
  <html><body>
    <h1>Welcome to My App</h1>
    <p>Now: {dateFormat(now(), '%H:%M')}</p>
  </body></html>
</q:component>

Start the server from the folder that contains components/:

bash
quantum start

Open http://localhost:8080. The Quick Start continues with a database and a form.

q:application type="html"

Older pages describe web apps as a q:application type="html" with q:route blocks. That form never ran its routes and was removed in 0.11 — use components/ as above. See q:application.

Debug Mode ​

For detailed execution information:

bash
quantum run hello.q --debug

This shows:

  • File parsing details
  • AST generation info
  • Validation steps
  • Execution flow

Next Steps ​

Quantum Framework - Simplicity over configuration

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