RESOURCES

Laco vs hydra-zen

Quick mapping of hydra-zen APIs to their Laco counterparts.

hydra-zen	Laco	Notes
`builds(Cls, **kw)`	`L.call(Cls)(**kw)`	Both produce `DictConfig{_target_: …}`. Laco validates kwargs against the signature by default (`strict=True`).
`partial(builds(fn, **kw))`	`L.partial(fn)(**kw)`	Emits `_partial_: true`. Laco returns `functools.partial[R]` statically.
`just(obj)`	`L.just(obj)`	Wrap a non-instantiable value. Both emit an identity node.
`MISSING`	`L.required[T]()`	`L.required[float]()` types as `float`; `MISSING` types as `str`.
`make_config(a=1, b=2)`	`@L.config class S: a: int = 1; b: int = 2`	`@L.config` is a dataclass; pyright gives accurate field types.
`ZenStore` / `store(Cls)`	`class G(L.Group[T])`	Entries are class attributes; typos caught at edit time.
`zen(fn)`	`@L.task`	Instantiates only requested config fields; leaves defaults untouched.
`@hydra.main`	`@laco.main(config_name=…)`	Thin wrapper; applies `@L.task` implicitly if the function is not yet wrapped.
`instantiate(cfg)`	`laco.instantiate(cfg)`	Delegates to `hydra.utils.instantiate`; passes through `_PASSTHROUGH_TYPES` unchanged.
`to_yaml(cfg)`	`laco.dump(cfg)`	Strips `name`/`version` meta keys; adds `_laco_: 1` version marker.
`store.add_to_hydra_store()`	implicit on class declaration	`Group.__init_subclass__` registers to `ConfigStore` on class creation.
`@hydra.main` + `ZenStore.add_to_hydra_store()`	`@laco.main(config_name=…)`	Full app loop: compose + override + instantiate + call.

Key differences

Lie-typing contract. Laco's L.call(T)(**kw) statically types as T (not DictConfig) so nested composition stays type-safe. hydra-zen returns DictConfig everywhere and relies on builds's populate_full_signature for validation.
No magic strings. Group names, entry names, packages, and interpolation paths are Python identities validated by pyright. hydra-zen still uses string keys in several places.
Tracing. L.trace(lambda: Model(encoder=Encoder(depth=24))) records a config tree from ordinary Python. hydra-zen has no direct equivalent.
CLI. laco compose / run / show are built-in. hydra-zen defers entirely to Hydra's CLI.

Migration guide: Laco 0.x → 1.0

API Reference