Background <p>Open-heart surgery is considered as a major treatment for severe coronary artery stenosis with some possible post-operative complications. The successful implementation of the first phase of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program can make a fall in incidence of these clinical complications. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of the first phase of cardiac rehabilitation program on quality of recovery (QoR) in patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) based on augmented reality techniques.</p> Methods <p>The clinical trial, conducted from April 2020 to January 2021 at Ghaem Hospital in Iran, involved 60 ICU patients post-open-heart surgery, divided into treatment and control groups. The treatment group used a software-based phase-1 cardiac rehabilitation program featuring videos and images, while the control group followed a standard rehabilitation routine. Data was analyzed using SPSS, employing descriptive statistics and tests such as the Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Chi-square test.</p> Results <p>According to the findings of this study, the mean overall QoR score indicated an increase for both treatment and control groups in ICU admission/discharge time. But, patients in the treatment group had a statistically significant increase in comparison with non-significant changes in the control group (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.001).</p> Conclusion <p>The study found that using augmented reality for early-stage rehabilitation in the ICU can enhance recovery quality for patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Hence, AR technology could be integrated into various stages of cardiac rehabilitation.</p> <i>Trial registration</i> <p>This study was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (no. IRCT20200203046361N1) on 16/02/2020.</p>