AbstractPurposeThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the dose characteristic for patient examinations at the first clinical X‐ray dark‐field chest radiography system and to determine whether the effective patient dose is within a clinically acceptable dose range.MethodsA clinical setup for grating‐based dark‐field chest radiography was constructed and commissioned, operating at a tube voltage of 70 kVp. Thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) measurements were conducted using an anthropomorphic phantom modeling the reference person to obtain a conversion coefficient relating dose area product (DAP) to effective patient dose at the dark‐field system. For 92 patients, the DAP values for posterior–anterior measurements were collected at the dark‐field system. Using the previously determined conversion coefficient, the effective dose was calculated.ResultsA reference person, modeled by an anthropomorphic phantom, receives an effective dose of 35 µSv. For the examined patients, a mean effective dose of 39 µSv was found.ConclusionsThe effective dose at the clinical dark‐field radiography system, generating both attenuation and dark‐field images, is within the range of reported standard dose values for chest radiography.