> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fiddler.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# init

> Initialize the Fiddler client with connection parameters and global configuration.

Initialize the Fiddler client with connection parameters and global configuration.

This function establishes a connection to the Fiddler platform and configures
the global client state. It handles authentication, server compatibility
validation, logging setup, and creates the singleton connection instance
used throughout the client library.

## Parameters

<ParamField path="url" type="str" required={true}>
  The base URL to your Fiddler platform instance
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="token" type="str" required={true}>
  Authentication token obtained from the Fiddler UI Credentials tab
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="proxies" type="dict | None" required={false} default="None">
  Dictionary mapping protocol to proxy URL for HTTP requests
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="timeout" type="float | tuple[float, float] | None" required={false} default="None">
  HTTP request timeout settings (float or tuple of connect/read timeouts)
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="verify" type="bool" required={false} default="True">
  Whether to verify server's TLS certificate (default: True)
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="validate" type="bool" required={false} default="True">
  Whether to validate server/client version compatibility (default: True)
</ParamField>

## Raises

* **ValueError** – If url or token parameters are empty
* **IncompatibleClient** – If server version is incompatible with client version
* **ConnectionError** – If unable to connect to the Fiddler platform

## Examples

Basic initialization:

```python theme={null}
import fiddler as fdl

fdl.init(
    url="https://your-instance.fiddler.ai",
    token="your-api-key"
)
```

Initialization with custom timeout and proxy:

```python theme={null}
fdl.init(
    url="https://your-instance.fiddler.ai",
    token="your-api-key",
    timeout=(10.0, 60.0),  # 10s connect, 60s read timeout
    proxies={"https": "https://proxy.company.com:8080"}
)
```

Initialization for development with relaxed settings:

```python theme={null}
fdl.init(
    url="https://your-instance.fiddler.ai",
    token="dev-token",
    verify=False,  # Skip SSL verification
    validate=False,  # Skip version compatibility check
)
```

<Info>
  The client implements automatic retry strategies for transient failures.
  Configure retry duration via FIDDLER\_CLIENT\_RETRY\_MAX\_DURATION\_SECONDS
  environment variable (default: 300 seconds).
</Info>

Logging is performed under the 'fiddler' namespace at INFO level.
If no root logger is configured, a stderr handler is automatically
attached unless auto\_attach\_log\_handler=False.