Agent skill · software engineering · nvidia
jetson-optimize-memory
Reclaim DRAM by disabling unused subsystems across MB1 BCT, MB2 BCT, kernel reserved-memory, and SWIOTLB. Use for headless or no-camera Jetson deployments; not for CPU/GPU frequency tuning.
Why this skill is useful
Adds executable scripts and detailed procedures for optimizing memory on Jetson devices, which are not commonly found in public documentation.
What it needs
Requires dtc installed locally. About 4k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 2,816 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
jetson-optimize-memory Memory is reserved across four layers ordered by boot chronology (higher row = earlier in boot, closer to hardware): Layer Content Key files --- --- --- MB1 BCT firmware carveouts per-module misc DTS MB2 BCT firmware loading + AST controls per-module misc DTS Kernel DTS reserved-memory and driver binding per-module DTS SWIOTLB DMA bounce pool size <module>.conf.common (CMDLINEADD) Critical rules: Only the scenarios in Scenario recipes are validated. Refuse any request to disable a carveout/cluster/node not in that table. Zeroing a carveout requires both: disabling the cluster's loading controls AND removing the AST that references it. Emit explicit overrides for every cluster in the recipe, regardless of how the source #ifdef/#else looks. Verify the merged binary. GPU SW stack must match the chip: T234 -> nvgpu, T264 and later -> OpenRM. Follow the shared derived-platform rule in target-platform-contract.md; stop on mismatches instead of guessing. Do not set SWIOTLB to 0 — some peripherals can't use the IOMMU. --- Scenario recipes Keyword MB1 BCT carveouts MB2 BCT Kernel DTS --- --- --- --- headless DCE-family (see chip table) DCE auxpcontrols + DCE AST(s) display@<addr> (and dce@<addr> if exposed) → disabled no-camera RCE/VI/ISP-family RCE auxpcontrols (each instance) + RCE AST(s) recommended: VI/ISP/NVCSI → disabled Chip-specific carveouts Scenario T234 (Orin) T264 (Thor) --- --- --- headless CARVEOUTBPMPDCE, CARVEOUTDCE, CARVEOUTDCETSEC, CARVEOUTTSECDCE, CARVEOUTDISPEARLYBOOTFB CARVEOUTDCE, CARVEOUTTSECDCE, CARVEOUTHPSEDCE, CARVEOUTDISPEARLYBOOTFB no-camera CARVEOUTRCE, CARVEOUTCAMERATASKLIST CARVEOUTRCE, CARVEOUTRCE1, CARVEOUTRCERW, CARVEOUTVITASKLIST, CARVEOUTVI1TASKLIST, CARVEOUTISPTASKLIST, CARVEOUTISP1TASKLIST Post-boot: headless → sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target. --- MB1 BCT carveout overrides File: LinuxforTegra/bootloader/generic/BCT/tegra<chip>-mb1-bct-misc-<module>.dts (e.g. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills nvidia/jetson-optimize-memory