📝 Improve developer documentation

[denialhaag]

Note

This issue is part of unitaryDESIGN 2026; note that you have to be registered to complete this issue. Learn more about the PR review process here. 

A message from unitaryDESIGN about AI Slop: "While we are open to collaboration with LLMs for unitaryDESIGN, please note that fully AI-generated PRs are not acceptable. It is up to the discretion of the individual maintainers whether or not LLM-generated PRs are the right fit for their issues, and they have the right to reject those that appear fully AI-generated."

Learn more about unitaryDESIGN rules and opportunities here!

The installation and development documentation of MQT Core has become outdated in some aspects and needs a revamp. This issue collects several relevant points.

• The Installation page should explain how MLIR can be installed via setup-mlir, as MLIR has been activated by default in 📦️ Enable MLIR by default #1356. Documentation shall include how to download the MLIR distribution and how to make it available to the C++ and Python builds. Descriptions should work on all supported operating systems. It might be beneficial, in addition to documentation updates, to provide CMake Presets for common scenarios.
• The Contributing page still references pybind11, even though we have switched to nanobind in ♻️ Replace pybind11 with nanobind #1383. The section should also mention that the stub files are auto-generated and can be updated via a nox session (nox -s stubs).
• The Contributing page still references mypy, even though we have switched to ty in 🚨 Enable Astral's type checker ty #1333 and ⬆️🪝 Update patch updates #1437.
• The Contributing page should have a section that explains how contributors should interact with CodeRabbit and its review comments. It should include best practices that may be inspired by the following list:
  • CodeRabbit runs on every push of non-draft PRs. If you are still experimenting, mark your PR as draft.
  • Do not simply dismiss its comments. CodeRabbit learns from your replies and gets better over time. If a suggestion does not make sense, take the time to respond.
  • CodeRabbit performs significantly worse in the presence of other AI Review Bots. If you want to get the best quality, do not tag Copilot unless you have iterated with CodeRabbit and want an extra pair of AI-eyes.
  • If you tag a human in a message to Copilot, make sure to also tag @coderabbitai. This prevents CodeRabbit from just replying with boilerplate, but will actually prompt an updated response
  • Do not resolve comments manually before the CodeRabbit run of your next push has run through. CodeRabbit is getting better at resolving completed comments.
  • You can tag CodeRabbit manually to trigger a review even on draft PRs with “@coderabbitai full review”
• The Contributing page should have a subsection on the use of AI and LLMs for contributions stating that AI Slop is not acceptable.
• A new "Tooling" (or similarly named) page could be added that summarizes the tools, software, and standards that we use throughout the MQT, including a brief description, a link, and some other useful information. This would serve as a reference for new people to learn about the things being used.

Important

As most of the developer documentation is largely shared between MQT projects, it is generated by a templating tool, which is hosted at munich-quantum-toolkit/templates. Therefore, any updates shall be submitted to that repository before they can be integrated here.