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dpm is the command-line interface for Canton development. It manages SDK installation, project scaffolding, compilation, testing, code generation, and local development environments. Most Canton development workflows start with a dpm command.

Pre-requisites

Dpm runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. For full functionality, you must have installed:
  1. VS Code download
  2. JDK 17 or greater, installed and part of your JAVA_HOME. If you do not already have a JDK installed, try OpenJDK or Eclipse Adoptium.

Installation

Install dpm usually involves downloading a single binary and adding it to your PATH. When installing dpm, you can set the DPM_HOME environment variable to change the location where the SDK and any future updates are installed. The default is:
  • ${HOME}/.dpm/ on Mac and Linux
  • %APPDATA%/.dpm/ on Windows
To install the latest version:

Mac/Linux Installation

Windows Installation

Download and run the windows installer, which will install the dpm sdk and set up the PATH variable for you.

Manual Installation

If you prefer a more manual installation process, see Manual Installation Instructions.

Installing dpm without an SDK

You can download the dpm binary which doesn’t have any SDK bundled with it from the releases page. You can then run dpm install or dpm install package described in the next section.

Verifying the Installation

Once installed, verify the installation:

Command Reference

Project Management

dpm init — Initialize a new Daml project in the current directory. Creates a daml.yaml configuration file and a basic project structure. You can manage SDK versions manually by using dpm install. To install the SDK version specified in the daml.yaml, run:
To install a specific SDK version, for example version 3.4.11, run:
To see the active SDK version:
To list the installed SDK versions, including the currently active one (marked with *):
To additionally list all the SDK versions that can be installed, as well as the installed versions:
To get the list in a machine readable format:
dpm new — Create a new project from a template. Templates provide working examples that you can modify.
dpm add — Add a dependency to your project. Updates daml.yaml with the new package reference.

Building and Testing

dpm build — Compile Daml source files into a DAR (Daml Archive) file. The output goes to .daml/dist/.
For multi-package projects, build all sub-packages:
dpm test — Run all Daml Script tests in the current package. Produces a summary with pass/fail status and coverage report.
dpm install — Download and install the Daml SDK version specified in daml.yaml.

Code Generation

dpm codegen-js — Generate TypeScript/JavaScript bindings from a compiled DAR file.
dpm codegen-java — Generate Java bindings from a compiled DAR file.

Development Environment

dpm sandbox — Start a local Canton sandbox node. This runs a single-participant Canton instance with an in-memory ledger for testing.
dpm studio — Open Daml Studio (the VS Code extension) for the current project. This launches VS Code with the Daml extension activated.

Exploration

Use --help on any command to see available options:

Summary of dpm Commands

  • dpm build: Build a Daml package or project This builds the Daml project according to the project config file daml.yaml (see configuration files). In particular, it will use the dpm SDK (specified in the sdk-version field in daml.yaml) to resolve dependencies and compile the Daml project. Given a daml.yaml and .daml source files, the dpm build command will generate a .dar for this package. See How to build Daml Archives for how to define a package and build it to a DAR.
  • dpm test: Test the current Daml project or the given files by running all test declarations. This runs all daml scripts defined within a package. Daml Scripts are top level values of type Script (), from the daml-script package. This package mimics a Canton Ledger Client for quick iterative testing, and direct support within Daml Studio. The command runs these scripts against a reference Ledger called the IDE Ledger, which implements the core functionality of the Canton Ledger without the complexity of multi-participant setups. It is most useful for verifying the fundamentals of your ledger model, before moving onto integration testing via the Ledger API directly, or the Daml Codegen. dpm test also provides code coverage information for templates and choices used.
  • dpm clean: Clean a Daml package or project This removes any Daml artifact files created in your package during a daml build, including DARs.
  • dpm codegen-alpha-java: codegen (alpha) for java
  • dpm codegen-alpha-scala: codegen (alpha) for scala
  • dpm codegen-alpha-typescript: codegen (alpha) for typescript
  • dpm codegen-java: Daml to Java compiler
  • dpm codegen-js: Daml to JavaScript compiler
  • dpm canton-console: Canton console client
  • dpm daml-shell: daml-shell client for PQS
  • dpm damlc: Compiler and IDE backend for the Daml programming language
  • dpm docs: Generate documentation for a daml package from its documentation comments
  • dpm init: Initialize a daml.yaml project configuration file in the current directory
  • dpm install: Install new SDK versions manually
  • dpm install package: Install the SDK(s) or opt-in components used by current project
  • dpm inspect-dar: Inspect a DAR archive
  • dpm new: Create a new Daml package
  • dpm pqs: participant query store
  • dpm sandbox: Run full Canton installation in a single process
  • dpm script: Daml Script Binary
  • dpm studio: Launch Daml Studio
  • dpm upgrade-check: Check upgrade validity between package versions
To specify additional options for sandbox/navigator/the HTTP JSON API you can use --sandbox-option=opt, --navigator-option=opt and --json-api-option=opt.
  • dpm validate-dar Validate a DAR archive Note that you need to update your project config file to use the new version.

Configuration Files

daml.yaml

Every Daml project has a daml.yaml file at its root. If a daml.yaml file doesn’t exist in your project, you can create one with:
It specifies the SDK version, project metadata, source directory, and dependencies.
Key fields:
  • sdk-version — The Daml SDK version to use. dpm install downloads this version.
  • name — The package name, used in the output DAR filename
  • source — Directory containing Daml source files (typically daml)
  • dependencies — List of Daml library dependencies
  • build-options — Compiler flags (e.g., target LF version)

multi-package.yaml

For projects with multiple Daml packages, a multi-package.yaml at the project root lists all sub-packages:
Running dpm build --all from the root builds all listed packages in dependency order.

dpm-config.yaml

The dpm-config.yaml file stores global dpm configuration such as SDK installation paths and registry settings. It is typically located in your home directory and rarely needs manual editing.

dpm Global configuration (dpm-config.yaml)

Global configuration is stored at ${DPM_HOME}/dpm-config.yaml and is optional. It can be used for purposes such as:
  • Registry URL — Override the default OCI registry for SDK components.
  • Authentication — Point to registry credentials.
  • Insecure registry — Allow HTTP connections to a registry.

Variable interpolation

Both daml.yaml and dpm-config.yaml support variable interpolation, which lets you avoid hardcoded values (such as registry URLs or credentials paths) and reference environment variables or other dynamic values.

daml assistant to dpm migration steps

This section provides a step-by-step guide for projects originally built with the Daml assistant.

Migration steps

  1. Install Dpm Follow the installation instructions above.
  2. Verify Dpm is in your PATH
  1. Remove ~/.daml/bin from your PATH Edit your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, ~/.profile) and remove any line that adds ~/.daml/bin to your PATH
  2. Remove the Daml assistant
  1. Create a project configuration if needed If a daml.yaml file doesn’t already exist in your project, generate one:
  1. Replace daml commands with dpm Most commands map directly. See the command migration table below. Six daml commands have been removed and replaced with Declarative API, Canton Console, JSON API, and/or gRPC API calls. See removed command replacements for full details.
  2. Review project configuration Review your daml.yaml to ensure it is compatible with dpm. Audit parent directories for stale daml.yaml files. Delete orphan or invalid files.
  3. Review global configuration (optional) Review or create ${DPM_HOME}/dpm-config.yaml if you need to customize registry, authentication, or other global settings.
  4. Set up variable interpolation (optional) Use variable interpolation in your configuration files to avoid hardcoded values.
  5. Update CI/CD pipelines (if applicable) Update any CI/CD pipeline scripts that reference daml commands to use the corresponding dpm commands instead.

Command migration table

Removed command replacements

The following daml commands have no direct dpm equivalent. Use the Declarative API, Canton Console, JSON API, or gRPC API instead.

daml ledger allocate-parties

daml ledger list-parties

daml ledger upload-dar

daml ledger fetch-dar

daml packages

daml start

Replace with dpm sandbox combined with dpm build. Use the Declarative API or JSON/gRPC API to upload DARs and allocate parties as needed. See dpm sandbox for details on running a local Canton installation.

Publishing Components

This functionality is available in DPM version 1.0.13 or later (or bundled with SDK 3.5 or later).
To share or use your Component in various projects, you can publish it to a repository:
For example:
This publishes version 1.0.0 of foo as OCI to example.com/my/components/foo:1.0.0. For multi-platform components, provide a directory for each platform:
See the dpm publish component --help command for more available options. You can also view the published versions and tags of a component:

Typical Workflow

A common development cycle with dpm:
  • Daml SDK — What the SDK includes and how versions work
  • Sandbox — Local testing environment started by dpm sandbox
  • Daml Studio — VS Code extension launched by dpm studio
  • Daml Script — Writing and running tests with dpm test

Sandbox

Sandbox is a program for running a Canton ledger with your Daml code. The ledger uses the simplest topology possible: a single Participant Node connected to a Synchronizer Node. Use the sandbox when you need access to a Canton ledger running your Daml code and matching the target Participant Node topology is not required.

Install

Install the Sandbox by installing dpm.

Configure

To configure the Sandbox, use the command line.

Command line configuration

To view all available command line configuration options for Sandbox, run dpm sandbox --help in your terminal:
Any unrecognized command-line arguments will be treated as arguments to be supplied to the underlying Canton JAR. Display these options by running dpm sandbox --canton-help in your terminal.

Canton configuration

Behind the scenes, Sandbox runs an underlying Canton ledger with a default configuration file to initialize a participant named sandbox, a sequencer named sequencer1, and a mediator named mediator1. Configure the underlying Canton ledger further in one of two ways:
  • Specify additional configuration file(s) to apply on top of the default configuration using --config filepath. If several configuration files assign to the same key, the last value is taken.
  • Set the value of a specific key with -C key=value. For example, to override the ledger-api port of the sandbox participant, the command would be:

Canton Declarative API

The declarative API allows specifying DARs, Parties and Users desired to be present on the Canton ledger. The ledger will automatically take care of uploading the DARs, and creating the parties and users.
  • upload local DARs

Operate

Start Canton with a single participant:

Interacting with Sandbox’s ledger

Once the sandbox is running, you may interact with it the same way you would for any Canton instance. For example, you may upload dars to it, or run scripts against it:
Because dpm sandbox is a Canton instance, all documentation for using Canton applies.

Connecting to Sandbox’s console

Once you have a Sandbox running locally (i.e. after running dpm sandbox) you may connect to Sandbox remotely by running the dpm canton-console command in a separate terminal:
You can quit the session by running the exit command.

Built-in documentation

The Canton console comes with built-in documentation. You can use the help command to get online documentation for top-level commands. Many objects in the console also have built-in help that you can access by invoking the help method on them. For example, you can ask for help on the health object by typing:
Or go more in-depth about specific items within that object, as in the following example:

Interact with the Sandbox

One of the objects available in the Canton console represents the Sandbox itself. The object is called sandbox and you can use it to interact with the Sandbox. For example, you can list the DARs loaded on the Sandbox by running the following command:
Among the various features available as part of the console, you can manage parties and packages, check the health of the Sandbox, perform pruning operations, and more. Consult the built-in documentation mentioned above and the main documentation for the Canton console to learn about further capabilities.

How it works

Canton offers a console where you can run administrative or debugging commands. When you run the Sandbox using dpm sandbox, you are effectively starting an in-memory instance of Canton with a single sync domain and a single participant. As such, you can interact with the running Sandbox using the console, just like you would in a production environment. For an in-depth guide on how to use this tool against a production, staging or testing environment, consult the main documentation for the Canton console.

Testing your Daml contracts

Sandbox is primarily used as the first step in testing your Daml contracts in isolation

Run with authorization

By default, Sandbox accepts all valid Ledger API requests without performing any request authorization. To start Sandbox with authorization using JWT-based access tokens as described in the Authorization documentation, create a config file that specifies the type of authorization service and the path to the certificate, then supply that config file to Sandbox with dpm sandbox --config auth.conf.
The settings under auth-services are described in detail in Authorization documentation

Generate JSON web tokens (JWT)

To generate access tokens for testing purposes, use the jwt.io web site.

Generate RSA keys

To generate RSA keys for testing purposes, use the following command
which generates the following files:
  • sandbox.key: the private key in PEM/DER/PKCS#1 format
  • sandbox.crt: a self-signed certificate containing the public key, in PEM/DER/X.509 Certificate format

Generate EC keys

To generate keys to be used with ES256 for testing purposes, use the following command
which generates the following files:
  • ecdsa256.key: the private key in PEM/DER/PKCS#1 format
  • ecdsa256.crt: a self-signed certificate containing the public key, in PEM/DER/X.509 Certificate format
Similarly, you can use the following command for ES512 keys:

Run with TLS

To enable TLS, you need to specify the private key for your server and the certificate chain. This enables TLS for both the gRPC Ledger API and the Canton Admin API. When enabling client authentication, you also need to specify client certificates which can be used by Canton’s internal processes. Note that the identity of the application will not be proven by using this method, i.e. the application_id field in the request is not necessarily correlated with the CN (Common Name) in the certificate. Below, you can see an example config. For more details on TLS, refer to Canton’s documentation on TLS configuration.

Dev Protocol

To enable the canton dev protocol:

Troubleshoot

Failed to bind to address

By default, Sandbox reserves five ports for its Canton services:
  • 6865 for the participant’s Ledger API
  • 6866 for the participant’s Admin API
  • 6867 for the sequencer’s public API
  • 6868 for the sequencer’s admin API
  • 6869 for the mediator’s admin API
The Sandbox will also bind to the port specified in the --json-api-port, if any. When one of these ports is already used by an existing process, Sandbox will emit an error that contains the following text:
This is most commonly either caused by an existing process that is already listening on that port, or if you do not have the permissions to bind to that address. On Linux, the lsof -n -i command lists what processes are already listening to a port. For example, if an existing Java program is already listening to 6865, lsof would look as follows:
If killing the existing process isn’t an option, or if you don’t have the permission to bind to a given port, you can reconfigure the ports of a given node using the top-level options described below:
  • Use —port= to override binding to 6865
  • Use —admin-api-port= to override binding to 6866
  • Use —sequencer-public-port= to override binding to 6867
  • Use —sequencer-admin-port= to override binding to 6868
  • Use —mediator-admin-port= to override binding to 6869
  • Use --json-api-port to change the port to which the JSON API binds.

SDK not installed

If the daml.yaml file of the project you are currently in specifies a version of the dpm SDK that is not installed, you may get the following error message:
To fix this, you can:
  • Install the SDK as instructed to by the error, or
  • Change the SDK version in the project’s daml.yaml file, or
  • Change directories to be outside of the project, where the default Daml version that is already installed on your system will be used.

Manual Installation Instructions

Manual Mac/Linux Installation

If you cannot / wish not to use the shell script to install for Linux or OSX, you can alternatively install dpm manually by running this set of commands in your terminal: The latest stable release version can be found by hitting the following URL:
And you can then use this to retrieve the tarball of the full installation, extract, and install, as outlined in the full instructions below.

Manual Windows Installation

Download and unpack the windows dpm-sdk archive (.zip), then:

Unstable Version Manual Installation

Preview / unstable versions are also available for experimentation, though it is always recommended to use the stable versions listed above instead.

Unstable Mac / Linux

Follow the Mac/Linux installation instructions to install an unstable version, but note the differences in VERSION and TARBALL_URL. The latest unstable release version can be found by hitting the following URL:
The unstable tarball can be retrieved from the following URL:

Unstable Windows

Download and unpack the latest windows unstable dpm-sdk archive (.zip), then follow Windows Installation instructions.