Agent skill · NVIDIA
holoscan-install-source
Build Holoscan SDK from source via the in-tree ./run script. Use only when published packages don't meet the user's needs.
What it needs
About 3k tokens when loaded.
What this skill does
Holoscan SDK — Build from Source Purpose Build the Holoscan SDK from the nvidia-holoscan/holoscan-sdk source tree using its ./run script (which builds inside a Docker container), producing a local install tree consumable as a CMake dependency. Prerequisites Linux host with NVIDIA GPU + driver (nvidia-smi). git, Docker with NVIDIA Container Toolkit (docker run --gpus all works), and docker-buildx-plugin. ~20 GB free disk for the build container + build/install trees. 10–30 min for a clean first build. Limitations Only recommended when published packages (Conda / container / apt / wheel) don't fit — debug symbols, custom CMake options, or unsupported configs. Still requires Docker — the ./run script builds inside a container; this is not a true bare-metal build. Cross-compiling to aarch64 needs qemu-user-static on the host. Step 0: Consult the Official Install Instructions Always fetch the "Build from Source" section of https://docs.nvidia.com/holoscan/sdk-user-guide/sdkinstallation.html (and the linked GitHub README.md / DEVELOP.md for the chosen tag) before building. Extract: required ./run flags for the target architecture and CUDA major, supported branches/tags, any Dockerfile patches called out for the release, and the test names recommended for verification. If the doc disagrees with anything below, the doc wins. Step 1: Prerequisites Check that git and Docker (with GPU passthrough) are available: If Docker is missing → help install from https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ If GPU passthrough fails → install NVIDIA Container Toolkit: If Docker buildx is missing: sudo apt-get install docker-buildx-plugin Step 2: Clone the Repository Clone repo to ~/holoscan/holoscan-sdk if needed To build a specific release tag (recommended for stability): Step 3: Build The ./run build script handles container creation, CMake configuration, compilation, and install in one step. Warn the user this takes 10–30 minutes on first run (downloads base image + compiles). …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills NVIDIA/holoscan-install-source