Launch notes (working draft — not published)

Positioning

One-liner: pytest + Infracost for quantum computing.

The pitch, in the order that lands:

1. Quantum programs return probability distributions, not values. Nothing in the classical CI toolchain can regression-test that. (Problem people recognize.)
2. Qontinuum is a test runner where assertions are statistical tests — with a soundness guard that refuses statistically-flaky test configurations. (Novel core.)
3. Every PR gets a sticky comment: pass/fail + "this suite costs $6 on Rigetti, $961 on IonQ." (The screenshot that gets shared.)
4. Noise-aware mode simulates against real IBM calibration data, offline, free.

Show HN draft

Show HN: Qontinuum – pytest + Infracost for quantum programs

Quantum programs don't return values — they return samples from a probability distribution, executed on hardware where the same job costs $6 on one vendor and $961 on another. I built Qontinuum to make both problems boring: a pytest-style runner whose assertions are statistical tests (TVD with shots-aware soundness floors, chi-squared, two-sample snapshot comparisons), and a GitHub Action that posts hardware cost estimates on every PR before you spend anything.

Everything runs offline on simulators, including noise models built from real IBM device calibration snapshots. Apache-2.0, Python 3.11+.

Channels

• Show HN (weekday morning US time)
• r/QuantumComputing, r/Python
• Qiskit Slack #general / #qiskit-ecosystem (mind community rules on self-promotion)
• Unitary Fund Discord (they fund exactly this category — also a microgrant candidate)

Pre-launch checklist

• [ ] GitHub repo public with topics: quantum-computing, ci, testing, qiskit
• [ ] PyPI package published (trusted publishing configured)
• [ ] Action e2e-verified on a real PR (screenshot for README)
• [ ] README GIF of qont test + failing run
• [ ] Demo repo: small QAOA project using the action, with a PR showing the comment