name: Dagger Vocabulary
description: >-
  Controlled vocabulary describing the core concepts of the Dagger
  programmable CI/CD engine: Engine, GraphQL API, Modules, Functions,
  Containers, Directories, Files, Secrets, Caches, Daggerverse, and
  Dagger Cloud.
modified: '2026-04-28'
terms:
  - term: DaggerEngine
    description: The Dagger runtime that executes pipelines as containerized GraphQL operations on a content-addressed store.
  - term: GraphQLAPI
    description: The unified, introspectable GraphQL type system exposed by the Dagger Engine and dynamically extended by Modules.
  - term: Module
    description: A versioned, language-agnostic package of Dagger Functions published to a Git repository or the Daggerverse.
    properties:
      - ref
      - sdk
      - dependencies
  - term: Function
    description: A typed unit of work in a Module callable via the GraphQL API or CLI.
    properties:
      - name
      - arguments
      - returnType
  - term: Container
    description: An OCI container as a first-class GraphQL type built and manipulated through composable steps.
    properties:
      - imageRef
      - exec
      - withFile
      - withDirectory
      - withEnvVariable
  - term: Directory
    description: An immutable directory tree as a first-class GraphQL type, content-addressed by the Dagger Engine.
  - term: File
    description: An immutable file as a first-class GraphQL type, content-addressed by the Dagger Engine.
  - term: Secret
    description: A first-class GraphQL type for confidential values that are never logged or persisted to traces.
  - term: CacheVolume
    description: A persistent cache volume mountable into containers across pipeline runs.
  - term: Daggerverse
    description: The free Dagger module index at daggerverse.dev for searching and consuming public Dagger Modules.
  - term: DaggerCloud
    description: The hosted control plane providing observability, traces, and checks for Dagger pipelines.