Current categorical models of quantum computation are based on compact closed categories with some additional structure, which typically are freely constructed based on the basic elements of the putative computing device or programming language. Free models based on polycategories give a very general framework for constructing such models, and may be profitably used to reason about the behaviour of multipartite entangled systems. In this talk I'll describe the basic ideas and give an application to the one-way model of quantum computation.