Marketable Securities - Summary of Available for Sale Securities (Details) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2021 USD ($) security	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) security
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	$ 964,265	$ 995,147
Unrealized Holding Gains	37	130
Unrealized Holding Losses	(208)	(25)
Aggregate Fair Value	964,094	995,252
Short-term marketable securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	644,627	962,439
Unrealized Holding Gains	18	128
Unrealized Holding Losses	(23)	(14)
Aggregate Fair Value	644,622	962,553
Short-term marketable securities \| U.S. government treasuries
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	472,214	878,906
Unrealized Holding Gains	13	44
Unrealized Holding Losses	(13)	(12)
Aggregate Fair Value	$ 472,214	$ 878,938
Number of securities held in unrealized holding loss position \| security	7	19
Aggregate fair value, unrealized holding loss position	$ 271,800	$ 369,900
Short-term marketable securities \| U.S. government agency securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	15,003	25,214
Unrealized Holding Gains	0	5
Unrealized Holding Losses	0	(2)
Aggregate Fair Value	15,003	$ 25,217
Number of securities held in unrealized holding loss position \| security		2
Aggregate fair value, unrealized holding loss position		$ 10,100
Short-term marketable securities \| Corporate debt securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	61,187	27,101
Unrealized Holding Gains	5	79
Unrealized Holding Losses	(10)	0
Aggregate Fair Value	$ 61,182	27,180
Number of securities held in unrealized holding loss position \| security	8
Aggregate fair value, unrealized holding loss position	$ 27,800
Short-term marketable securities \| Commercial paper
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	96,223	31,218
Unrealized Holding Gains	0	0
Unrealized Holding Losses	0	0
Aggregate Fair Value	96,223	31,218
Long-term marketable securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	319,638	32,708
Unrealized Holding Gains	19	2
Unrealized Holding Losses	(185)	(11)
Aggregate Fair Value	319,472	32,699
Long-term marketable securities \| U.S. government treasuries
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	299,225	2,561
Unrealized Holding Gains	17	0
Unrealized Holding Losses	(173)	0
Aggregate Fair Value	$ 299,069	2,561
Number of securities held in unrealized holding loss position \| security	11
Aggregate fair value, unrealized holding loss position	$ 251,500
Long-term marketable securities \| Corporate debt securities
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	20,413	30,147
Unrealized Holding Gains	2	2
Unrealized Holding Losses	(12)	(11)
Aggregate Fair Value	$ 20,403	$ 30,138
Number of securities held in unrealized holding loss position \| security	5	1
Aggregate fair value, unrealized holding loss position	$ 16,800	$ 20,100

Amount, before tax, of unrealized gain in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123581744&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedGainBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount, before tax, of unrealized loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123581744&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedLossBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amortized cost of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123581744&loc=d3e27161-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=124258926&loc=SL82898722-210454

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleDebtSecuritiesAmortizedCostBasis
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(6))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120398452&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=124258926&loc=SL82898722-210454

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=124260329&loc=d3e26610-111562

Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (aa)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123581744&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesDebtSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale), in unrealized loss position without allowance for credit loss.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123581744&loc=d3e27290-111563

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=124269663&loc=SL82922888-210455

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 55
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121590138&loc=SL82922954-210456

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesAvailableForSaleUnrealizedLossPosition
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of investments in debt securities measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale), in unrealized loss position, without allowance for credit loss. Includes beneficial interest in securitized financial asset.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesAvailableForSaleUnrealizedLossPositionNumberOfPositions
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfAvailableForSaleSecuritiesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=dnli_ShortTermMarketableSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_USTreasurySecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_USGovernmentAgenciesDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CorporateDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialPaperNotIncludedWithCashAndCashEquivalentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=dnli_LongTermMarketableSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: