  The rapid advance of quantum computing has highlighted the need for scalable
and efficient software infrastructures to fully exploit its potential. While
current quantum processors have significant scalability problems due to the
limited number of qubits on each chip, distributed quantum computing offers a
promising solution by networking multiple Quantum Processing Units (QPUs). To
support this paradigm, robust Intermediate Representations (IRs) are crucial
for translating high-level quantum algorithms into executable instructions
across distributed systems. This paper introduces NetQIR, an extension of
Microsoft's Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR), specifically designed
for distributed quantum computing. NetQIR is designed to meet the specific
needs of distributed quantum systems by incorporating functions to manage
quantum and classical communications between QPUs. The main objective is to
facilitate the development of new distributed compilers by improving the
integration and execution of quantum programmes in a distributed
infrastructure, taking advantage of modular architectures to improve
scalability. By extending QIR to support distributed quantum computing, NetQIR
aims to complement and add capabilities to an already supported quantum IR and,
at the same time, take advantage of the tools previously created for QIR.
Throughout this paper the specification of the intermediate representation is
introduced, including the basic instructions necessary to enable distributed
quantum computing in an abstract form independent of the target machine.
