| license | Apache-2.0 |
| name | doca-dpa-hl-tracer |
| description | 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.
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| metadata | {"kind":"tool"} |
| compatibility | Requires DOCA SDK installed at /opt/mellanox/doca on Linux (Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or RHEL/SLES) with a BlueField device whose DPA processor is exposed to the host, plus the DOCA DPA Tools optional component (binary at /opt/mellanox/doca/tools/doca_dpa_hl_tracer). Requires a DPACC-built DPA-side ELF and a live doca-dpa-launched workload for events to fire.
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DOCA DPA High-Level Tracer
Where to start: This is a tool skill for invoking
doca_dpa_hl_tracer — 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 doca_dpa_hl_tracer 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
doca_dpa_kernel_launch_update_* completes, but the
kernel's reported result is wrong; no host-side
DOCA_ERROR_*". Answered by the when DPA-side
high-level tracing is the right surface gate in
CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes
- "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". Answered
by the event-taxonomy table in
