Generated Clients

Load when: Working on dagger client install, implementing ClientGenerator, or adding client support to an SDK.

What It Is

Generated clients let regular programs (not modules) use Dagger APIs with full dependency support.

Command: dagger client install (experimental, hidden)

Supported: Go, TypeScript only

vs In-Module Bindings

Aspect	In-Module	Generated Client
Context	Inside module function	Regular program
Connection	Automatic	`Connect()` / `Close()`
Dependencies	Engine resolves	`serveModuleDependencies()`
Command	`dagger develop`	`dagger client install`

Interface

At core/sdk.go:20:

type ClientGenerator interface {
    GenerateClient(ctx, deps, outputDir, dev) error
}

Output (Go)

output/
├── dagger/
│   ├── dagger.gen.go    # Types + Connect() + Close()
│   └── dag/
│       └── dag.gen.go   # Global dag.* helpers

Key Code

In _dagger.gen.go/client.go.tmpl:

func Connect(ctx context.Context, opts ...ClientOpt) (*Client, error) {
    // Start engine connection
    // Call serveModuleDependencies()
}

func (c *Client) Close() error { ... }

Usage

client, _ := dagger.Connect(ctx)
defer client.Close()

out, _ := client.Container().
    From("alpine").
    WithExec([]string{"echo", "hello"}).
    Stdout(ctx)

Limitations

Only Go and TypeScript implement ClientGenerator
Experimental/hidden command
Dependency serving may have edge cases