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# Triton Client Libraries and Examples

To simplify communication with Triton, the Triton project provides
several client libraries and examples of how to use those
libraries. Ask questions or report problems in the main Triton [issues
page](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/issues).

The provided client libraries are:

* [C++ and Python APIs](#client-library-apis) that make it easy to
  communicate with Triton from your C++ or Python application. Using
  these libraries you can send either HTTP/REST or GRPC requests to
  Triton to access all its capabilities: inferencing, status and
  health, statistics and metrics, model repository management,
  etc. These libraries also support using system and CUDA shared
  memory for passing inputs to and receiving outputs from Triton.

* [Java API](#client-library-apis) (contributed by Alibaba Cloud PAI Team)
  that makes it easy to communicate with Triton from your Java application
  using HTTP/REST requests. For now, only a limited feature subset is supported.

* The [protoc
  compiler](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/tutorials)
  can generate a GRPC API in a large number of programming
  languages.
    * See [src/grpc_generated/go](src/grpc_generated/go) for an example for the
    [Go programming language](https://golang.org/).
    * See [src/grpc_generated/java](src/grpc_generated/java) for an example for
    the Java and Scala programming languages.
    * See [src/grpc_generated/javascript](src/grpc_generated/javascript) for
    an example with JavaScript programming language.

There are also many example applications that show how to use these
libraries. Many of these examples use models from the [example model
repository](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/getting_started/quickstart.md#create-a-model-repository).

* C++ and Python versions of *image_client*, an example application
  that uses the C++ or Python client library to execute image
  classification models on Triton. See [Image Classification
  Example](#image-classification-example).

* Several simple [C++ examples](src/c%2B%2B/examples) show
  how to use the C++ library to communicate with Triton to perform
  inferencing and other task. The C++ examples demonstrating the
  HTTP/REST client are named with a *simple_http_* prefix and the
  examples demonstrating the GRPC client are named with a
  *simple_grpc_* prefix. See [Simple Example
  Applications](#simple-example-applications).

* Several simple [Python examples](src/python/examples)
  show how to use the Python library to communicate with Triton to
  perform inferencing and other task. The Python examples
  demonstrating the HTTP/REST client are named with a *simple_http_*
  prefix and the examples demonstrating the GRPC client are named with
  a *simple_grpc_* prefix. See [Simple Example
  Applications](#simple-example-applications).

* Several simple [Java
  examples](src/java/src/main/java/triton/client/examples) show how to
  use the Java API to communicate with Triton to perform inferencing
  and other task.

* A couple of [Python examples that communicate with Triton using a
  Python GRPC API](src/python/examples) generated by the
  [protoc compiler](https://grpc.io/docs/guides/). *grpc_client.py* is
  a simple example that shows simple API
  usage. *grpc_image_client.py* is functionally equivalent to
  *image_client* but that uses a generated GRPC client stub to
  communicate with Triton.

## Getting the Client Libraries And Examples

The easiest way to get the Python client library is to [use pip to
install the tritonclient
module](#download-using-python-package-installer-pip). You can also
download the C++, Python and Java client libraries from [Triton GitHub
release](#download-from-github), or [download a pre-built Docker image
containing the client libraries](#download-docker-image-from-ngc) from
[NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC)](https://ngc.nvidia.com).

It is also possible to build the client libraries with
[cmake](#build-using-cmake).

### Download Using Python Package Installer (pip)

The GRPC and HTTP client libraries are available as a Python package
that can be installed using a recent version of pip.

```
$ pip install tritonclient[all]
```

Using *all* installs both the HTTP/REST and GRPC client
libraries. There are two optional packages available, *grpc* and
*http* that can be used to install support specifically for the
protocol. For example, to install only the HTTP/REST client library
use,

```
$ pip install tritonclient[http]
```

There is another optional package namely *cuda*, that must be installed
in order to use cuda_shared_memory utilities. *all* specification will
install the *cuda* package by default but in other cases *cuda* needs to
be explicitly specified for installing client with cuda_shared_memory
support.

```
$ pip install tritonclient[http, cuda]
```

The components of the install packages are:

* http
* grpc [ `service_pb2`, `service_pb2_grpc`, `model_config_pb2` ]
* utils [ linux distribution will include `shared_memory` and `cuda_shared_memory`]

### Download From GitHub

The client libraries can be downloaded from the [Triton GitHub release
page](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/releases)
corresponding to the release you are interested in. The client
libraries are found in the "Assets" section of the release page in a
tar file named after the version of the release and the OS, for
example, v2.3.0_ubuntu2004.clients.tar.gz.

The pre-built libraries can be used on the corresponding host system
or you can install them into the Triton container to have both the
clients and server in the same container.

```bash
$ mkdir clients
$ cd clients
$ wget https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/releases/download/<tarfile_path>
$ tar xzf <tarfile_name>
```

After installing, the libraries can be found in lib/, the headers in
include/, the Python wheel files in python/, and the jar files in
java/.  The bin/ and python/ directories contain the built examples
that you can learn more about below.

### Download Docker Image From NGC

A Docker image containing the client libraries and examples is
available from [NVIDIA GPU Cloud
(NGC)](https://ngc.nvidia.com). Before attempting to pull the
container ensure you have access to NGC.  For step-by-step
instructions, see the [NGC Getting Started
Guide](http://docs.nvidia.com/ngc/ngc-getting-started-guide/index.html).

Use docker pull to get the client libraries and examples container
from NGC.

```bash
$ docker pull nvcr.io/nvidia/tritonserver:<xx.yy>-py3-sdk
```

Where \<xx.yy\> is the version that you want to pull. Within the
container the client libraries are in /workspace/install/lib, the
corresponding headers in /workspace/install/include, and the Python
wheel files in /workspace/install/python. The image will also contain
the built client examples.

**Important Note:** When running either the server or the client using
Docker containers and using the
[CUDA shared memory feature](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/protocol/extension_shared_memory.md#cuda-shared-memory)
you need to add `--pid host` flag when launching the containers. The reason is
that CUDA IPC APIs require the PID of the source and destination of the exported
pointer to be different. Otherwise, Docker enables PID namespace which may
result in equality between the source and destination PIDs. The error will be
always observed when both of the containers are started in the non-interactive
mode.

### Build Using CMake

The client library build is performed using CMake. To build the client
libraries and examples with all features, first change directory to
the root of this repo and checkout the release version of the branch
that you want to build (or the *main* branch if you want to build the
under-development version).

```bash
$ git checkout main
```

If building the Java client you must first install Maven and a JDK
appropriate for your OS. For example, for Ubuntu you should install
the `default-jdk` package:

```
$ apt-get install default-jdk maven
```

Building on Windows vs. non-Windows requires different invocations
because Triton on Windows does not yet support all the build options.

#### Non-Windows

Use *cmake* to configure the build. You should adjust the flags depending on
the components of Triton Client you are working and would like to build.

If you are building on a release branch (or on a development branch
that is based off of a release branch), then you must also use
additional cmake arguments to point to that release branch for repos
that the client build depends on. For example, if you are building the
r21.10 client branch then you need to use the following additional
cmake flags:

```
-DTRITON_COMMON_REPO_TAG=r21.10
-DTRITON_THIRD_PARTY_REPO_TAG=r21.10
-DTRITON_CORE_REPO_TAG=r21.10
```

Then use *make* to build the clients and examples.

```
$ make cc-clients python-clients java-clients
```

When the build completes the libraries and examples can be found in
the install directory.

#### Windows

To build the clients you must install an appropriate C++ compiler and
other dependencies required for the build. The easiest way to do this
is to create the [Windows min Docker
image](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/customization_guide/build.md#windows-10-min-image)
and the perform the build within a container launched from that image.

```
> docker run  -it --rm win10-py3-min powershell
```

It is not necessary to use Docker or the win10-py3-min container for
the build, but if you do not you must install the appropriate
dependencies onto your host system.

Next use *cmake* to configure the build. If you are not building
within the win10-py3-min container then you will likely need to adjust
the CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE location in the following command.

```
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=x64-windows -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE='/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake' -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install -DTRITON_ENABLE_CC_GRPC=ON -DTRITON_ENABLE_PYTHON_GRPC=ON -DTRITON_ENABLE_GPU=OFF -DTRITON_ENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON -DTRITON_ENABLE_TESTS=ON ..
```

If you are building on a release branch (or on a development branch
that is based off of a release branch), then you must also use
additional cmake arguments to point to that release branch for repos
that the client build depends on. For example, if you are building the
r21.10 client branch then you need to use the following additional
cmake flags:

```
-DTRITON_COMMON_REPO_TAG=r21.10
-DTRITON_THIRD_PARTY_REPO_TAG=r21.10
-DTRITON_CORE_REPO_TAG=r21.10
```

Then use msbuild.exe to build.

```
$ msbuild.exe cc-clients.vcxproj -p:Configuration=Release -clp:ErrorsOnly
$ msbuild.exe python-clients.vcxproj -p:Configuration=Release -clp:ErrorsOnly
```

When the build completes the libraries and examples can be found in
the install directory.

## Client Library APIs

The C++ client API exposes a class-based interface. The commented
interface is available in
[grpc_client.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/grpc_client.h),
[http_client.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/http_client.h),
[common.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/common.h).

The Python client API provides similar capabilities as the C++
API. The commented interface is available in
[grpc](src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/__init__.py)
and
[http](src/python/library/tritonclient/http/__init__.py).

The Java client API provides similar capabilities as the Python API
with similar classes and methods.  For more information please refer
to the [Java client directory](src/java).

### HTTP Options

#### SSL/TLS

The client library allows communication across a secured channel using HTTPS protocol. Just setting these SSL options do not ensure the secure communication. Triton server should be running behind `https://` proxy such as nginx. The client can then establish a secure channel to the proxy. The [`qa/L0_https`](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/qa/L0_https/test.sh) in the server repository demonstrates how this can be achieved.

For C++ client, see `HttpSslOptions` struct that encapsulates these options in [http_client.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/http_client.h).

For Python client, look for the following options in [http/\_\_init\_\_.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/http/__init__.py):

* ssl
* ssl_options
* ssl_context_factory
* insecure

The [C++](src/c%2B%2B/examples/simple_http_infer_client.cc) and [Python](src/python/examples/simple_http_infer_client.py) examples
demonstrates how to use SSL/TLS settings on client side.


#### Compression

The client library enables on-wire compression for HTTP transactions.

For C++ client, see `request_compression_algorithm` and `response_compression_algorithm` parameters in the `Infer` and `AsyncInfer` functions in [http_client.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/http_client.h). By default, the parameter is set as `CompressionType::NONE`.

Similarly, for Python client, see `request_compression_algorithm` and `response_compression_algorithm` parameters in `infer` and `async_infer` functions in [http/\_\_init\_\_.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/http/__init__.py).

The [C++](src/c%2B%2B/examples/simple_http_infer_client.cc) and [Python](src/python/examples/simple_http_infer_client.py) examples demonstrates how to use compression options.

#### Python AsyncIO Support (Beta)

*This feature is currently in beta and may be subject to change.*

Advanced users may call the Python client via `async` and `await` syntax. The
[infer](src/python/examples/simple_http_aio_infer_client.py) example
demonstrates how to infer with AsyncIO.

If using SSL/TLS with AsyncIO, look for the `ssl` and `ssl_context` options in
[http/aio/\_\_init\_\_.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/http/aio/__init__.py)

#### Python Client Plugin API (Beta)

*This feature is currently in beta and may be subject to change.*


The Triton Client Plugin API lets you register custom plugins to add or modify
request headers. This is useful if you have gateway in front of Triton Server
that requires extra headers for each request, such as HTTP Authorization. By
registering the plugin, your gateway will work with Python clients without
additional configuration. Note that Triton Server does not implement
authentication or authorization mechanisms  and similarly,
Triton Server is not the direct consumer of the additional headers.

The plugin must implement the `__call__` method. The signature
of the `__call__` method should look like below:

```python
class MyPlugin:
  def __call__(self, request):
       """This method will be called for every HTTP request. Currently, the only
       field that can be accessed by the request object is the `request.headers`
       field. This field must be updated in-place.
       """
       request.headers['my-header-key'] = 'my-header-value'
```

After the plugin implementation is complete, you can register the
plugin by calling `register` on the `InferenceServerClient` object.

```python
from tritonclient.http import InferenceServerClient

client = InferenceServerClient(...)

# Register the plugin
my_plugin = MyPlugin()
client.register_plugin(my_plugin)

# All the method calls will update the headers according to the plugin
# implementation.
client.infer(...)
```

To unregister the plugin, you can call the `client.unregister_plugin()`
function.

##### Basic Auth

You can register the `BasicAuth` plugin that implements
[Basic Authentication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication).


```python
from tritonclient.grpc.auth import BasicAuth
from tritonclient.grpc import InferenceServerClient

basic_auth = BasicAuth('username', 'password')
client = InferenceServerClient('...')

client.register_plugin(basic_auth)
```

The example above shows how to register the plugin for
gRPC client. The `BasicAuth` plugin can be registered
similarly for HTTP and
[AsyncIO](#python-asyncio-support-beta)
clients.
### GRPC Options

#### SSL/TLS

The client library allows communication across a secured channel using gRPC protocol.

For C++ client, see `SslOptions` struct that encapsulates these options in [grpc_client.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/grpc_client.h).

For Python client, look for the following options in [grpc/\_\_init\_\_.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/__init__.py):

* ssl
* root_certificates
* private_key
* certificate_chain

The [C++](src/c%2B%2B/examples/simple_grpc_infer_client.cc) and [Python](src/python/examples/simple_grpc_infer_client.py) examples
demonstrates how to use SSL/TLS settings on client side. For information on the corresponding server-side parameters, refer to the
[server documentation](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/customization_guide/inference_protocols.md#ssltls)

#### Compression

The client library also exposes options to use on-wire compression for gRPC transactions.

For C++ client, see `compression_algorithm` parameter in the `Infer`, `AsyncInfer` and `StartStream` functions in [grpc_client.h](src/c%2B%2B/library/grpc_client.h). By default, the parameter is set as `GRPC_COMPRESS_NONE`.

Similarly, for Python client, see `compression_algorithm` parameter in `infer`, `async_infer` and `start_stream` functions in [grpc/\_\_init\_\_.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/__init__.py).

The [C++](src/c%2B%2B/examples/simple_grpc_infer_client.cc) and [Python](src/python/examples/simple_grpc_infer_client.py) examples demonstrates how to configure compression for clients. For information on the corresponding server-side parameters, refer to the [server documentation](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/customization_guide/inference_protocols.md#compression).

#### GRPC KeepAlive

Triton exposes GRPC KeepAlive parameters with the default values for both
client and server described [here](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/doc/keepalive.md).

You can find a `KeepAliveOptions` struct/class that encapsulates these
parameters in both the [C++](src/c%2B%2B/library/grpc_client.h) and
[Python](src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/__init__.py) client libraries.

There is also a [C++](src/c%2B%2B/examples/simple_grpc_keepalive_client.cc) and
[Python](src/python/examples/simple_grpc_keepalive_client.py) example
demonstrating how to setup these parameters on the client-side. For information
on the corresponding server-side parameters, refer to the
[server documentation](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/customization_guide/inference_protocols.md#grpc-keepalive)

#### Custom GRPC Channel Arguments

Advanced users may require specific client-side GRPC Channel Arguments that are
not currently exposed by Triton through direct means. To support this, Triton
allows users to pass custom channel arguments upon creating a GRPC client. When
using this option, it is up to the user to pass a valid combination of arguments
for their use case; Triton cannot feasibly test every possible combination of
channel arguments.

There is a [C++](src/c%2B%2B/examples/simple_grpc_custom_args_client.cc) and
[Python](src/python/examples/simple_grpc_custom_args_client.py) example
demonstrating how to construct and pass these custom arguments upon creating
a GRPC client.

You can find a comprehensive list of possible GRPC Channel Arguments
[here](https://grpc.github.io/grpc/core/group__grpc__arg__keys.html).

#### Python AsyncIO Support (Beta)

*This feature is currently in beta and may be subject to change.*

Advanced users may call the Python client via `async` and `await` syntax. The
[infer](src/python/examples/simple_grpc_aio_infer_client.py) and
[stream](src/python/examples/simple_grpc_aio_sequence_stream_infer_client.py)
examples demonstrate how to infer with AsyncIO.


### Request Cancellation

Starting from r23.10, triton python gRPC client can issue cancellation
to inflight requests. This can be done by calling `cancel()` on the
CallContext object returned by `async_infer()` API.

```python
  ctx = client.async_infer(...)
  ctx.cancel()
```

For streaming requests, `cancel_requests=True` can be sent to
`stop_stream()` API to terminate all the inflight requests
sent via this stream.

```python
  client.start_stream()
  for _ in range(10):
    client.async_stream_infer(...)

  # Cancels all pending requests on stream closure rather than blocking until requests complete
  client.stop_stream(cancel_requests=True)
```

See more details about these APIs in
[grpc/\_client.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/_client.py).

For gRPC AsyncIO requests, an AsyncIO task wrapping an `infer()` coroutine can
be safely cancelled.

```python
  infer_task = asyncio.create_task(aio_client.infer(...))
  infer_task.cancel()
```

For gRPC AsyncIO streaming requests, `cancel()` can be called on the
asynchronous iterator returned by `stream_infer()` API.

```python
  responses_iterator = aio_client.stream_infer(...)
  responses_iterator.cancel()
```

See more details about these APIs in
[grpc/aio/\__init__.py](src/python/library/tritonclient/grpc/aio/__init__.py).

See [request_cancellation](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/user_guide/request_cancellation.md)
in the server user-guide to learn about how this is handled on the
server side.
If writing your own gRPC clients in the language of choice consult
gRPC guide on [cancellation](https://grpc.io/docs/guides/cancellation/#cancelling-an-rpc-call-on-the-client-side).

### GRPC Status Codes

Starting from release 24.08, Triton server introduces support for gRPC error
codes in streaming mode for all clients enhancing error reporting capabilities. When
this feature is enabled, the Triton server will return standard gRPC error codes
and subsequently close the stream after delivering the error. This feature is
optional can be enabled by adding header with `triton_grpc_error` key and `true` as
value. See [grpc error
codes](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/tree/main#GRPC-Status-Codes) in the server to learn about how this is handled on the server side. See gRPC
guide on [status-codes](https://grpc.io/docs/guides/status-codes/) for more details.
Below is a Python snippet to enable the feature. Without this header Triton server
will continue streaming in default mode returning error message and status inside
`InferenceServerException` object within the callback provided.

```python
  triton_client = grpcclient.InferenceServerClient(triton_server_url)
  # New added header key value
  metadata = {"triton_grpc_error": "true"}
  triton_client.start_stream(
    callback=partial(callback, user_data), headers=metadata
  )
```
## Simple Example Applications

This section describes several of the simple example applications and
the features that they illustrate.

### Bytes/String Datatype

Some frameworks support tensors where each element in the tensor is
variable-length binary data. Each element can hold a string or an
arbitrary sequence of bytes. On the client this datatype is BYTES (see
[Datatypes](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/user_guide/model_configuration.md#datatypes)
for information on supported datatypes).

The Python client library uses numpy to represent input and output
tensors. For BYTES tensors the dtype of the numpy array should be
'np.object_' as shown in the examples. For backwards compatibility
with previous versions of the client library, 'np.bytes_' can also be
used for BYTES tensors. However, using 'np.bytes_' is not recommended
because using this dtype will cause numpy to remove all trailing zeros
from each array element. As a result, binary sequences ending in
zero(s) will not be represented correctly.

BYTES tensors are demonstrated in the C++ example applications
simple_http_string_infer_client.cc and
simple_grpc_string_infer_client.cc.  String tensors are demonstrated
in the Python example application simple_http_string_infer_client.py
and simple_grpc_string_infer_client.py.

### System Shared Memory

Using system shared memory to communicate tensors between the client
library and Triton can significantly improve performance in some
cases.

Using system shared memory is demonstrated in the C++ example
applications simple_http_shm_client.cc and simple_grpc_shm_client.cc.
Using system shared memory is demonstrated in the Python example
application simple_http_shm_client.py and simple_grpc_shm_client.py.

Python does not have a standard way of allocating and accessing shared
memory so as an example a simple [system shared memory
module](src/python/library/tritonclient/utils/shared_memory)
is provided that can be used with the Python client library to create,
set and destroy system shared memory.

### CUDA Shared Memory

Using CUDA shared memory to communicate tensors between the client
library and Triton can significantly improve performance in some
cases.

Using CUDA shared memory is demonstrated in the C++ example
applications simple_http_cudashm_client.cc and
simple_grpc_cudashm_client.cc.  Using CUDA shared memory is
demonstrated in the Python example application
simple_http_cudashm_client.py and simple_grpc_cudashm_client.py.

Python does not have a standard way of allocating and accessing shared
memory so as an example a simple [CUDA shared memory
module](src/python/library/tritonclient/utils/cuda_shared_memory)
is provided that can be used with the Python client library to create,
set and destroy CUDA shared memory. The module currently supports
numpy arrays ([example usage](src/python/examples/simple_http_cudashm_client.py))
and DLPack tensors ([example usage](src/python/library/tests/test_dlpack.py)).

### Client API for Stateful Models

When performing inference using a [stateful
model](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/user_guide/architecture.md#stateful-models),
a client must identify which inference requests belong to the same
sequence and also when a sequence starts and ends.

Each sequence is identified with a sequence ID that is provided when
an inference request is made. It is up to the clients to create a
unique sequence ID. For each sequence the first inference request
should be marked as the start of the sequence and the last inference
requests should be marked as the end of the sequence.

The use of sequence ID and start and end flags are demonstrated in the
C++ example applications simple_grpc_sequence_stream_infer_client.cc.
The use of sequence ID and start and end flags are demonstrated in the
Python example application simple_grpc_sequence_stream_infer_client.py.

## Image Classification Example

The image classification example that uses the C++ client API is
available at
[src/c++/examples/image_client.cc](src/c%2B%2B/examples/image_client.cc). The
Python version of the image classification client is available at
[src/python/examples/image_client.py](src/python/examples/image_client.py).

To use image_client (or image_client.py) you must first have a running
Triton that is serving one or more image classification models. The
image_client application requires that the model have a single image
input and produce a single classification output. If you don't have a
model repository with image classification models see
[QuickStart](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/blob/main/docs/getting_started/quickstart.md)
for instructions on how to create one.

Once Triton is running you can use the image_client application to
send inference requests. You can specify a single image or a directory
holding images. Here we send a request for the inception_graphdef
model for an image from the
[qa/images](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/server/tree/main/qa/images).

```bash
$ image_client -m inception_graphdef -s INCEPTION qa/images/mug.jpg
Request 0, batch size 1
Image 'qa/images/mug.jpg':
    0.754130 (505) = COFFEE MUG
```

The Python version of the application accepts the same command-line
arguments.

```bash
$ python image_client.py -m inception_graphdef -s INCEPTION qa/images/mug.jpg
Request 0, batch size 1
Image 'qa/images/mug.jpg':
     0.826384 (505) = COFFEE MUG
```

The image_client and image_client.py applications use the client
libraries to talk to Triton. By default image_client instructs the
client library to use HTTP/REST protocol, but you can use the GRPC
protocol by providing the -i flag. You must also use the -u flag to
point at the GRPC endpoint on Triton.

```bash
$ image_client -i grpc -u localhost:8001 -m inception_graphdef -s INCEPTION qa/images/mug.jpg
Request 0, batch size 1
Image 'qa/images/mug.jpg':
    0.754130 (505) = COFFEE MUG
```

By default the client prints the most probable classification for the
image. Use the -c flag to see more classifications.

```bash
$ image_client -m inception_graphdef -s INCEPTION -c 3 qa/images/mug.jpg
Request 0, batch size 1
Image 'qa/images/mug.jpg':
    0.754130 (505) = COFFEE MUG
    0.157077 (969) = CUP
    0.002880 (968) = ESPRESSO
```

The -b flag allows you to send a batch of images for inferencing.
The image_client application will form the batch from the image or
images that you specified. If the batch is bigger than the number of
images then image_client will just repeat the images to fill the
batch.

```bash
$ image_client -m inception_graphdef -s INCEPTION -c 3 -b 2 qa/images/mug.jpg
Request 0, batch size 2
Image 'qa/images/mug.jpg':
    0.754130 (505) = COFFEE MUG
    0.157077 (969) = CUP
    0.002880 (968) = ESPRESSO
Image 'qa/images/mug.jpg':
    0.754130 (505) = COFFEE MUG
    0.157077 (969) = CUP
    0.002880 (968) = ESPRESSO
```

Provide a directory instead of a single image to perform inferencing
on all images in the directory.

```
$ image_client -m inception_graphdef -s INCEPTION -c 3 -b 2 qa/images
Request 0, batch size 2
Image '/opt/tritonserver/qa/images/car.jpg':
    0.819196 (818) = SPORTS CAR
    0.033457 (437) = BEACH WAGON
    0.031232 (480) = CAR WHEEL
Image '/opt/tritonserver/qa/images/mug.jpg':
    0.754130 (505) = COFFEE MUG
    0.157077 (969) = CUP
    0.002880 (968) = ESPRESSO
Request 1, batch size 2
Image '/opt/tritonserver/qa/images/vulture.jpeg':
    0.977632 (24) = VULTURE
    0.000613 (9) = HEN
    0.000560 (137) = EUROPEAN GALLINULE
Image '/opt/tritonserver/qa/images/car.jpg':
    0.819196 (818) = SPORTS CAR
    0.033457 (437) = BEACH WAGON
    0.031232 (480) = CAR WHEEL
```

The [grpc_image_client.py](src/python/examples/grpc_image_client.py)
application behaves the same as the image_client except that instead
of using the client library it uses the GRPC generated library to
communicate with Triton.

## Ensemble Image Classification Example Application

In comparison to the image classification example above, this example
uses an ensemble of an image-preprocessing model implemented as a
[DALI
backend](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/dali_backend) and
a TensorFlow Inception model. The ensemble model allows you to send
the raw image binaries in the request and receive classification
results without preprocessing the images on the client.

To try this example you should follow the [DALI ensemble example
instructions](https://github.com/triton-inference-server/dali_backend/tree/main/docs/examples/inception_ensemble).
