Digital Asset Package Manager (Dpm)

dpm is a command-line tool that does a lot of useful things related to the SDK

Install

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:

> curl https://get.digitalasset.com/install/install.sh | sh

• windows:

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

Managing and Upgrading SDK Versions

You can manage SDK versions manually by using dpm install.

To download and install the latest stable SDK version:

> dpm install latest

To install the SDK version specified in the daml.yaml, run:

> dpm install package

To install a specific SDK version, for example version 3.4.0-snapshot.20251002.1372.4055ddd, run:

> dpm install 3.4.0-snapshot.20251002.1372.4055ddd

To see the active SDK version

> dpm version --active
3.4.0-snapshot.20251002.1372.4055ddd

To list the installed SDK versions, including the currently active one (marked with *):

> dpm version
  3.4.0-snapshot.20251003.1412.3fe167f
* 3.4.0-snapshot.20251006.1451.85eca5a

To also include in the list all the SDK versions that are available and can be installed:

> dpm version --all

To get the list in a machine readable format:

> dpm version --all -o json
[
  {
      "version": "3.4.0-snapshot.20251006.1453.77c932d",
      "remote": true
  },
  {
      "version": "3.4.0-snapshot.20251006.1451.85eca5a",
      "installed": true,
      "remote": true,
      "active": true
  }
]

Unstable releases

To install unstable SDKs you need to configure dpm to look for them by setting the registry configuration field or DPM_REGISTRY environment variable to europe-docker.pkg.dev/da-images/public-unstable, then you can use the same dpm install command:

> dpm install <unstable SDK version>

Operate

• dpm build: Build a Daml package or project

  This builds the Daml project according to the project config file daml.yaml (see configuration files <dpm-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 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 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 validate-dar Validate a DAR archive

• dpm install: Install new SDK versions manually

  Note that you need to update your project config file <#configuration-files> to use the new version.

daml assistant to dpm command migration

daml command	dpm command	purpose
daml new	dpm new	Create a new Daml project
daml build	dpm build	Compile the Daml project
daml test	dpm test	Run tests for the Daml project
daml install	dpm install	Install Daml SDK components
daml codegen java	dpm codegen-java	Java code generation
daml codegen ts	dpm codegen-ts	TypeScript code generation
daml damlc	dpm damlc	Invoke the daml compiler
daml studio	dpm studio	Open project in Visual Studio
daml sandbox	dpm sandbox	Launch a Daml Sandbox
daml ledger allocate-parties	Use Declarative API – OR – JSON / gRPC API	Allocate parties on a ledger
daml ledger list-parties	JSON / gRPC API	list parties on a ledger
daml ledger upload-dar	Use Declarative API – OR – JSON / gRPC API	Upload (and vet) dars on a ledger
daml ledger fetch-dar	gRPC API	Fetch a Dar from a ledger.
daml start	dpm sandbox dpm build Use Declarative API – OR – JSON / gRPC to upload/allocate	Start a local Daml Ledger
daml packages	JSON / gRPC API	Package a Daml project

Command Help

To see information about any command, run it with --help.

• Configuration