Skills DirectorySearch all skills ↗AI agent skill · by @NVIDIA
Doca Telemetry
Use this skill to read DOCA hardware-counter events from a `doca_dev` through the per-domain Telemetry reader libraries: `doca_telemetry_pcc`, `_dpa`, `_diag`, `_adp_retx`, `_phy`, and `_pci`. It covers capability checks, context creation, startup, and per-domain reads or samples. Trigger for implicit requests such as "read PCC counters from my BlueField app", "sample DPA counter exports", or "expose PHY, PCI, or DIAG counters from this doca_dev". This is the counter-reader surface, not a NetFlow, IPFIX, or local-socket collector. Route publishing and export to `doca-telemetry-exporter`; route deployed DOCA Telemetry Service (DTS), collectors, and plain stdout logging elsewhere.
Archived 2026-10-23 · Source updated 2026-09-30 · License: Apache-2.0. Check the original repository for the latest version.
SKILL.md instructions
# DOCA Telemetry **Where to start:** This skill assumes DOCA is already installed and the user is doing **hands-on hardware-counter-reader work** — opening a per-domain `doca_telemetry_<domain>` context against a `doca_dev` and reading the latest hardware-counter snapshot for that domain. The library is the **counter-READER** half of DOCA telemetry; it is NOT a NetFlow / IPFIX collector and NOT a generic schema-event consumer (the bundle previously framed it that way and that framing was wrong — there is no NetFlow / IPFIX / local-socket transport surface in the public header). Open [`TASKS.md`](TASKS.md) if the user wants to *do* something (configure / build / modify / run / test / debug); open [`CAPABILITIES.md`](CAPABILITIES.md) when the question is *which hardware-counter domains can this device read* on this install (PCC, DPA, DIAG, ADP_RETX, PHY, PCI). If the user has not installed DOCA yet, route to [`doca-setup`](../../doca-setup/SKILL.md) first. If the user is confused about whether they want this library (HW-counter reader on a `doca_dev`) or [`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md) (the publisher / export side, which is a separate library and publishes structured telemetry / labeled metrics / OTLP logs), read the reader-vs-exporter role split in [`CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes`](CAPABILITIES.md#capabilities-and-modes) BEFORE configuring anything; mixing the two is the load-bearing first-app failure for this skill. If the user is asking about **DOCA Telemetry Service (DTS) as deployed**, route to [`doca-public-knowledge-map`](../../doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md) non-goals — DTS is out of scope for this bundle. ## Audience This skill serves **external developers building applications that READ DOCA hardware counters from a `doca_dev` through one or more of the six per-domain DOCA Telemetry reader libraries** (`doca_telemetry_pcc` / `_dpa` / `_diag` / `_adp_retx` / `_phy` / `_pci`) — i.e., users whose application code calls `doca_telemetry_<domain>_*` (directly in C/C++, or through FFI / bindings from another language) to open a per-domain context on a `doca_dev`, configure the per-domain sample window, and read the hardware-counter snapshot for that domain. It is *not* for NVIDIA developers contributing to DOCA Telemetry itself, and it is *not* for users writing the **publishing / export** side — that is [`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md), a separate library and a separate skill. **Language scope.** DOCA Telemetry's per-domain reader libraries ship as a C surface with `pkg-config` module name `doca-telemetry`. The shipped samples are written in C. C and C++ readers are the canonical case; the worked examples in `TASKS.md` assume that path. Other-language readers (Rust, Go, Python, …) consume the same `*.so` through FFI or language-specific bindings; the skill's contribution in that case is to keep the reader-vs-exporter distinction, the per- domain cap-query-first discipline, the per-domain DOCA Core lifecycle on the `doca_dev`, the sample-window discipline, and the error-taxonomy guidance language-neutral, and to route the agent to the public per-domain C ABI as the authoritative surface that any wrapper will eventually call. ## When to load this skill Load this skill when the user is doing hands-on DOCA Telemetry **hardware-counter-reader** work, in any language. Concretely: - Picking the right per-domain header for the counters the user wants (`doca_telemetry_pcc.h` for Programmable Congestion Control counters, `_dpa.h` for DPA counters, `_diag.h` for generic device diagnostic counters, `_adp_retx.h` for ADP retransmit counters, `_phy.h` for physical-layer counters, `_pci.h` for PCI / PCIe counters) and confirming the device supports it via the per-domain `_cap_is_supported(devinfo)` query — **except `_pci`, which has no single `_cap_is_supported` and instead exposes per-feature caps like `doca_telemetry_pci_cap_management_info_is_supported` / `_cap_perf_counters_1_is_supported`.** - Opening a per-domain `doca_telemetry_<domain>` context on a `doca_dev`, walking the per-domain lifecycle (`doca_telemetry_<domain>_create(dev)` → per-domain setters → `doca_telemetry_<domain>_start`), configuring the per-domain sample window, and reading the hardware-counter snapshot for that domain. Note this is a per-domain `_create`/`_start` surface, not the generic `doca_ctx_*` progress-engine lifecycle. - Reading the device + library capability surface before assuming a counter family is available: use `doca_telemetry_<domain>_cap_is_supported` only for `pcc`, `dpa`, `diag`, `adp_retx`, and `phy`; use the matching per-feature `doca_telemetry_pci_cap_*_is_supported` query for PCI. - Handling per-domain `DOCA_ERROR_*` returns from a counter read (lifecycle vs. device-doesn't-support-this-domain vs. per-domain `AGAIN`-means-snapshot-not-ready vs. permission / driver) and the per-read status reported back to the application. - Choosing between DOCA Telemetry (hardware-counter READER) and an adjacent option: [`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md) when the user actually wants to PUBLISH / EXPORT the counter values (OTLP / Prometheus / labeled metrics); `doca-log` when plain structured stdout logging is enough; a generic Prometheus / OpenTelemetry client library when the counter source is a non-DOCA program; the externally- productized DOCA Telemetry Service (DTS, out of scope) when the user wants a turnkey aggregator. - Designing or extending non-C bindings (Rust, Go, Python, …) that wrap the per-domain reader C ABI — for the reader-vs- exporter distinction, the per-domain cap-query-first rule, the per-domain `doca_dev` lifecycle, the sample-window discipline, and the error rules the wrapper must honor. Do **not** load this skill for general DOCA orientation, install of DOCA itself, the **publishing / export** side ([`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md) has its own skill), the externally-productized DOCA Telemetry Service (DTS — out of scope), or non-reader library questions. For those, use [`doca-public-knowledge-map`](../../doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md). ## What this skill provides This is a **thin loader**. The body keeps only the orientation needed to pick the right next file. The substantive hardware-counter-reader material lives in two companion files: - `CAPABILITIES.md` — what the per-domain readers can express on this install: the reader-vs-exporter role-split rule, the six shipped sub-libraries (`doca_telemetry_pcc` / `_dpa` / `_diag` / `_adp_retx` / `_phy` / `_pci`) and which counter family each one exposes, the per-domain DOCA Core lifecycle on a `doca_dev`, the domain-level capability query for PCC / DPA / DIAG / ADP_RETX / PHY and the per-feature capability queries for PCI, the reader error taxonomy (mapped onto the cross-library `DOCA_ERROR_*` set, with the `NOT_SUPPORTED`-means-domain- not-exposed-on-this-device rule and the `AGAIN`-means- snapshot-not-ready rule called out explicitly), the observability surface (per-read status + per-domain cap- query snapshot at configure time), the safety policy that gates per-domain reads behind the cap-query result, and the path-selection rule against [`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md), `doca-log`, and standalone Prometheus / OpenTelemetry / DTS. - `TASKS.md` — step-by-step workflows for the six in-scope reader verbs: `configure`, `build`, `modify`, `run`, `test`, `debug`. Plus a `Deferred task verbs` block that points out-of-scope questions at the right next skill. The skill assumes a host where DOCA is already installed at the standard location and a target BlueField DPU or ConnectX NIC is available. The [`TASKS.md ## run`](TASKS.md#run) workflow opens the corresponding `doca_dev` and requires the per-domain cap-query to return `DOCA_SUCCESS`. It does not cover installing DOCA — that path goes through [`doca-setup`](../../doca-setup/SKILL.md) — and it does not cover writing the publishing / export side, which is [`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md). ## Loading order 1. Read this `SKILL.md` first to confirm the user's question is in scope (specifically, that the user wants to READ a per-domain hardware counter via the per-domain reader API on a `doca_dev` — not PUBLISH counters, which is [`doca-telemetry-exporter`](../doca-telemetry-exporter/SKILL.md); not deploy DTS, which is out of scope; and not stand up a NetFlow / IPFIX collector, which this library does not expose a surface for). 2. **For the reader-vs-exporter rule, the six per-domain sub-libraries, the per-domain DOCA Core lifecycle on a `doca_dev`, the per-domain capability query, the error taxonomy (including the `NOT_SUPPORTED`-means-domain- not-exposed-on-this-device rule and the `AGAIN`-means- snapshot-not-ready rule), observability, the safety policy, and the path-selection rule, see [CAPABILITIES.md](CAPABILITIES.md).** 3. **For step-by-step workflows — configure, build, modify, run, test, debug — see [TASKS.md](TASKS.md).** Both companion files cross-link to each other, [`doca-version`](../../doca-version/SKILL.md) for the canonical version-handling rules, and [`doca-public-knowledge-map`](../../doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md) whenever the right answer is "look it up in the public docs or the installed package layout" rather than "reader-specific guidance". ## Example questions this skill answers well See [`references/details.md`](references/details.md#example-questions-this-skill-answers-well). ## What this skill deliberately does not ship See [`references/details.md`](references/details.md#what-this-skill-deliberately-does-not-ship). ## Related skills See [`references/details.md`](references/details.md#related-skills).