Agent skill · software engineering · nvidia
doca-sta
Use this skill when the user builds an NVMe-over-Fabrics storage target on BlueField with DOCA STA — instantiating doca_sta, declaring doca_sta_subsystem NQNs and namespaces over local NVMe disks via doca_sta_be, validating platform support with doca_sta_cap_is_supported, sizing I/O queue depth, or decoding DOCA_ERROR_* statuses such as IO_FAILED on NVMe reads. Also load it for implied asks like "Identify Controller times out over RoCE", "offload the nvmf target", "NVMe-oF Connect never completes", or "16 I/O queues at depth 1024 — supported?". Refuse and route to the proper owner for raw RDMA movement, packet I/O, steering rules, initiator-side NVMe, or SDK install.
Why this skill is useful
Adds specific commands and workflows for configuring NVMe-over-Fabrics storage targets on BlueField DPUs that are not commonly known.
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 STA (Storage Target Acceleration) Examples "Offload the nvmf target onto the DPU." — this is in scope. Stand up docasta + subsystem/namespaces; do not rewrite the initiator stack here. "Identify Controller times out over RoCE." — check docastacapissupported and queue sizing before changing backend disks. Instructions Follow Loading order below. Open the tasks companion for configure / target / debug. Open the capabilities companion for queue limits and NVMe-oF caps. Do not open every companion file. Where to start: This skill assumes DOCA is already installed and the user is doing hands-on NVMe-over-Fabrics storage-target work on a BlueField-class device with DOCA. Open the tasks companion if the user wants to do something (configure / modify / build / run / test / debug); open the capabilities companion when the question is what can DOCA STA express on this version. If the user has not installed DOCA yet, route to doca-setup/SKILL.md first. If the user is asking "is this an NVMe-oF initiator/host transport?", the answer is no — doca-sta accelerates the target side: it presents NVMe-oF docastasubsystem targets backed by local NVMe-PCI disks; the model lives in the capabilities companion. Example questions this skill answers well The CLASSES of DOCA STA questions this skill is built to answer, each with one worked example. The agent should treat the class as the load-bearing piece — the worked example is a single instance. "How do I bring up an NVMe-oF target that uses the BlueField to accelerate the storage data path?" — worked example: "define a docastasubsystem (NQN) with one namespace backed by a local NVMe-PCI disk (docastabe) and accept NVMe-over-RDMA connections from a remote initiator". Answered by the target-model-and-lifecycle workflow in the tasks companion + the capabilities companion target-object table. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills nvidia/doca-sta