The first version of the Quantum Protocol Zoo began in 2018 as a research project under the pan-European consortium Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) (quantuminternetalliance.org). It was the result of a collaboration between LIP6 at Sorbonne Université, the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, TU Delft, the classical Internet security group at ENS Paris, the Security and Privacy Groups at the University of Edinburgh, VeriQloud, and the SAP Security Group.

The first version of the website was hosted by VeriQloud. The Zoo was co-created by Shraddha Singh and Elham Kashefi. Other core members of the initial Quantum Protocol Zoo team included Mina Doosti, Mahshid Delavar, and Atul Mantri. The aim of the project was to build a comprehensive library of quantum communication protocols, helping to bridge the gap between theoretical research and real-world implementation in the pursuit of developing the world’s first full-stack quantum internet prototype.

The Quantum Protocol Zoo serves as an open repository of protocols for quantum networks. It offers a compact and canonical way to explore these protocols and facilitates communication between computer scientists, engineers, and physicists on a shared platform.

As the project evolved, the core team began asking fundamental questions: What is a quantum protocol? What are its building blocks? How can we modularize it? What is the best way to represent a protocol to make the knowledge accessible to different types of users? The framework of the Quantum Protocol Zoo [Singh, Shraddha, et al. “Towards a unified quantum protocol framework: Classification, implementation, and use cases.” ] emerged from these questions. It represents a collective effort by the core team as well as many contributors over the years. In this way, the Zoo evolved from a simple library into a structured and standardized framework for quantum communication protocols. It has remained a community-driven, open-source resource ever since.

A full list of contributors and sponsors can be found here.

In 2025, the Quantum Protocol Zoo became the first zoo to join the QAgora project, aiming to enhance community involvement and streamline the protocol review process. New features were added to the website, and the submission process was significantly simplified and unified. Joining the QAgora platform also aimed to synergize with other zoos and resources, creating a growing body of structured quantum knowledge.

Quantum Protocol Zoo 2.0 was developed by Julia Miklas and jointly redesigned by Julia Miklas and Mina Doosti.