Agent skill · software engineering · nvidia
doca-socket-relay
Use this skill when the operator is driving the DOCA Socket Relay to bridge a socket-oriented host application onto a BlueField DPU peer without rewriting it — picking the deployment shape (in-process, sidecar, or BlueField service container), configuring the host-side socket and the DPU-side forwarding endpoint, walking the bind → connect → round-trip → admit-fleet smoke, or diagnosing a stuck/silent relay. Trigger even when the user does not explicitly mention "DOCA Socket Relay" — typical implicit phrasings include "move my socket app onto the BlueField without rewriting it", "host app gets ECONNREFUSED on the relay", "relay accepts the connection but bytes never arrive on the DPU side", "first round-trip works, the rest hang", "bridge an AF_UNIX (UDS) socket to a DPU peer over Comch", or "I want a sidecar that forwards my socket to the BlueField". Refuse and route elsewhere for the comch programming API, line-rate raw packet I/O via doca-eth, and DOCA install/bring-up — those belong to other skills.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific deployment patterns and troubleshooting steps for the DOCA Socket Relay that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires doca installed locally. About 9k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 2,816 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
DOCA Socket Relay Examples "Can I move my socket app onto BlueField without rewriting it?" — this is in scope. Pick deployment shape first; do not port the app onto comch here. "The relay is up but the host app gets ECONNREFUSED." — walk bind / listen before assuming the DPU peer is down. Quick facts The authoritative source for the binary name, flags and paths is the public DOCA Socket Relay guide for your release; confirm them with the installed tool's --help before quoting any of them. As that guide describes it: One relay instance per AFUNIX server application; SOCKSTREAM only; at most 512 client connections. The BlueField instance takes a socket path, a Comch service name, the device PCI address and the representor PCI address, and connects to your AFUNIX server; the host instance takes the same without the representor and binds the socket path your clients connect to. Both sides use the same Comch name. ECONNREFUSED on the socket path: nothing is listening there: the host relay is not running, its socket path differs from the one the client uses, or a stale socket file is left over. Then check the BlueField instance is up and both Comch names match; raise the log level (see --help). Only the host-side application may terminate connections. Instructions Follow Loading order below. Open the tasks companion for configure / run / debug. Open the capabilities companion for what the relay carries. Do not open every companion file. Where to start: This is a tool skill for invoking the DOCA Socket Relay — the host ↔ BlueField bridge that lets a socket-oriented host application terminate its sockets locally while the relay forwards the traffic to a DPU-side terminator across the DOCA fabric. Open the tasks companion and start at ## configure for the deployment-shape × socket-type × forwarding-endpoint decision, then ## run for the bind → connect → round-trip flow. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills nvidia/doca-socket-relay