Agent skill · NVIDIA
doca-dpa-hl-tracer
Use this skill when the user runs doca_dpa_hl_tracer to capture/decode DPA-side traces at the programming-events layer (kernel entry/exit, sync points, comm primitive calls, RDMA WR submission, completion drain) — picking TRACE vs CRIT, tuning the JSON config (file-size limits + file_size_limit_policy, thread priorities/cores), decoding against the matching DPA-side ELF, or diagnosing empty/noisy captures. Trigger even when the user does not explicitly mention "DOCA DPA tracer" or "high-level tracer" — typical implicit phrasings include "DPA kernel returns wrong result but host completions look clean", "kernel-entry to first-comm latency is huge", "RDMA WR to drain gap on the DPA", "trace file truncated mid-run", "TRACE doubled my DPA latency", or "tracer wrote a file but parser shows zero events". Refuse and route elsewhere for writing DPA kernels, DPA-Comms/DPA-Verbs programming, raw per-cycle DPA profiling, host-side doca-dpa debugging, or production DPA telemetry — those belong to other skills.
What it needs
About 9k tokens when loaded.
What this skill does
DOCA DPA High-Level Tracer Where to start: This is a tool skill for invoking docadpahltracer — the documented host-side CLI that captures DPA-side execution traces in higher-level terms (DPA programming events: kernel entry / exit, sync points, comm primitive calls, RDMA WR submission, completions) rather than raw cycle counts. Open TASKS.md and start at configure for the mode-vs-overhead decision and the JSON config layout, then run for the capture → decode → render pipeline. Open CAPABILITIES.md when the question is what does this tool actually trace, which DPA programming events does it expose, what is the trace-overhead vs fidelity tradeoff, or how does it slot into a DPA debug loop alongside doca-dpa and doca-debug. If DPA is not the right surface for the user's question (e.g. the bug is host-side, the bug is in the DPACC-produced image, the user wants raw cycle counts), the path-selection rule in CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes routes the agent before any capture is attempted. Example questions this skill answers well The CLASSES of docadpahltracer questions this skill is built to answer, each with one worked example. The class is the load-bearing piece; the worked example is one instance. "My DPA kernel is doing the wrong thing — where do I look?" — worked example: "my host-side docadpakernellaunchupdate completes, but the kernel's reported result is wrong; no host-side DOCAERROR". Answered by the when DPA-side high-level tracing is the right surface gate in CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes the capture → decode → render flow in TASKS.md ## run + the which DPA programming events to focus on rule in TASKS.md ## debug. "My DPA kernel is slow at a granularity that doesn't show up in cycle profiles — how do I see kernel-entry to first-comm-call latency?" — worked example: "my DPA kernel runs but the time between launch and the first RDMA WR submission is bigger than I expected". …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills NVIDIA/doca-dpa-hl-tracer