The reliability of quantum computers critically depends on the ability to detect and correct errors arising from imperfect hardware and environmental noise. The field of quantum error correction provides the tools to achieve this by encoding quantum information according to specific rules, so that redundancy in the encoding allows the original information to be restored in case of errors. Among the various codes, the surface code represents the state of the art due to its unique features. The central problem in quantum error correction is decoding, which refers to choosing the most appropriate correction based on non-destructive measurements of the encoded state, called syndromes.