Generated banner for Doca Version
Generated logo for Doca Version

Doca Version

NVIDIAOfficialCreated by NVIDIA

  • Skill
  • Guidelines
  • Software development
  • Apache-2.0
  • Medium risk

From the author

DOCA version handling: detect the installed release and validate the four-way match across pkg-config doca-common, applications/VERSION, doca_caps --version, and bfver/mlnx-release on BlueField; reason about NGC tags; look up whether a capability exists on this release; diagnose build-vs-runtime drift. Use this skill alongside doca-debug when a symptom smells of version skew: "built but nothing on the wire", "undefined reference to a symbol the docs claim exists", "DOCA_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED at runtime", "what does latest mean for this tag", or "is my LTS still supported". Once all four sources match, the component's build / run workflow belongs to its own library, service or tool skill. Refuse install / package choice (doca-setup), per-library API questions (matching library skill), DOCA_ERROR_* taxonomy (doca-programming-guide), and the general debug ladder (doca-debug).
— the description by NVIDIA

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill serves as the central authority for DOCA version handling. It provides the canonical four-source detection chain and the four-way match rule required to ensure consistency across host packages, BlueField BFB releases, and NGC container tags. It is designed to help users identify and resolve version skew, such as build-time versus runtime mismatches, and provides a structured approach to verifying capability support across different DOCA releases.

What it does

  • Defines the four-source detection chain for verifying DOCA installations.
  • Establishes the four-way match rule for validating version consistency.
  • Provides diagnostic procedures for build-vs-runtime drift and version skew.
  • Outlines rules for reasoning about NGC container tags and version pinning.
  • Offers a lookup procedure for checking capability support across versions.
  • Provides templates for per-library version-compatibility documentation.

When to use it

  • When you need to confirm the exact DOCA version installed on a host.
  • When troubleshooting symptoms like DOCA_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED or undefined symbol references.
  • When investigating why an application builds successfully but fails to function at runtime.
  • When planning an upgrade or downgrade of DOCA components.
  • When verifying if a specific DOCA capability or API is supported in your current release.
  • When checking if apt-source configurations are consistent to prevent accidental upgrades.

Advantages

  • Eliminates ambiguity by providing a single source of truth for version verification.
  • Prevents common errors like hallucinating version strings or misinterpreting 'latest' tags.
  • Standardizes the diagnosis of complex build-vs-runtime drift issues.
  • Ensures consistent version-handling practices across different DOCA library skills.
  • Provides clear, actionable steps for validating complex multi-component environments.

Usage examples

“What DOCA version do I actually have installed?”
The agent initiates the four-source detection chain (pkg-config, applications/VERSION, doca_caps, and bfver/mlnx-release) to provide an accurate, verified version report.
“My program built but does nothing on the wire; is my install consistent?”
The agent applies the four-way match rule to identify potential version skew between build-time dependencies and runtime environment components.
“Is the symmetric-RSS hash mode supported in Flow 2.6.0?”
The agent uses the version-matrix lookup procedure to confirm if the requested capability exists in the specified DOCA release.
“Can I run my host package version 3.5.0 GA against BFB version 3.2.3 LTS?”
The agent routes the query to the official DOCA Compatibility Policy to determine if the specific host and BFB version combination is supported.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/nvidia/doca-version/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip doca-version.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by NVIDIA

DOCA version

Examples

  • "What DOCA version do I actually have installed?" — run the four-source detection chain and require a four-way match.

  • "The program built but does nothing on the wire." — treat mixed-install drift as a version problem before rewriting application code.

Instructions

Follow Loading order below. Open the tasks companion for detect / validate / diagnose, and the capabilities companion for the four-way match and NGC tag rules. Do not open every companion file.

Where to start: This skill is the bundle's single source of truth for DOCA version handling. Open the tasks companion if the user wants to do something with the version (detect / validate / diagnose mismatch); open the capabilities companion when the question is what does version handling cover (the four-way match, the detection chain, NGC semantics, the per-library overlay pattern). Every other skill in the bundle that touches version routes here — they MUST NOT redefine the rules.

Example questions this skill answers well

The CLASSES of version-handling 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.

  • "What DOCA version do I actually have installed?" — worked example: "the docs say 3.3 but I'm not sure what's on this host". Answered by the canonical detection chain in

    configure +

    Capabilities and modes

    source-of-truth table.

  • "My program built but does nothing on the wire — is my install consistent?" — worked example: "pkg-config --modversion says 3.3.0; doca_caps --version says 3.2.0". Answered by the four-way match rule in

    Version compatibility

    • the partial-install diagnosis in

    debug.

  • "Is this DOCA capability / API / sample on the version I have?" — worked example: "is the symmetric-RSS hash mode in Flow 2.6.0". Answered by the version-matrix lookup procedure in

    test (which uses the

    version-matrix.json schema defined in doca-structured-tools-contract/SKILL.md#schemas with fallback to per-library docs via doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md).

  • "Can I run my host package version X against BFB version Y?" — worked example: "host is 3.5.0 GA, BlueField BFB is 3.2.3 LTS". Answered by the routing to the DOCA Compatibility Policy documented in

    Version compatibility.

  • "I'm inside the NGC DOCA container — what does the version match look like?" — worked example: "do I still need to check pkg-config / applications/VERSION / doca_caps separately?". Answered by the NGC container rule in

    Version compatibility

    • the container path in

    configure.

  • "How do I write a per-library version-compatibility section for a new skill?" — worked example: "adding doca-comch to the bundle, what does its ## Version compatibility look like?". Answered by the per-library overlay pattern in

    Safety policy

    • the worked-example template in

    modify.

  • "My apt list shows DOCA 3.3.0109, but /etc/apt/sources.list.d/doca.list is pinned at latest / a different release — is the next apt install doca-* going to silently upgrade me?" — worked example: "I rolled back BFB to 3.1.0105 but my sources still point at the latest channel." Answered by the apt-source consistency precheck in

    apt-source consistency,

    which enumerates the three legitimate shapes of a configured DOCA apt source (network URL, local file-repo, RHEL/OEL equivalent) and the do-not-install-until-the-source-matches rule that protects pinned installs from accidental drift.

When to load this skill

Load this skill whenever version handling is the load-bearing concern. The decision must be made before the agent composes its first sentence — the activation checklist below is the same one referenced from AGENTS.md ## Cross-cutting overlay activation triggers (bundle AGENTS.md#cross-cutting-overlay-activation-triggers), mirrored here so the activation rule is at hand whenever this skill is consulted.

Agent activation checklist — load this skill at the START of the answer when any cell below is true

Trigger classConcrete prompt-side signals (any one fires the overlay)
Direct version question"what DOCA version do I have", "is X consistent", "is feature Y supported on version Z", "can I mix host package version A with BFB version B", "is my LTS still supported", "what does the version string mean"
Container tag questionany prompt that mentions a specific NGC container tag, or asks about latest, or asks how to pin a tag in a Dockerfile / pod spec / Compose file. The agent MUST also cite the "never invent a tag string from memory, never quote latest without confirming it" rule from ## Safety policy.
Build vs runtime driftany debug session where the symptom is "the program built fine but DOCA_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED at runtime", "undefined reference to a symbol the docs say exists", "my code does nothing on the wire", "counter didn't increment" — these are the canonical partial-install symptoms
Upgrade / downgrade planthe user is planning to upgrade or downgrade DOCA on a host already running other DOCA workloads, or to refresh the BFB on a BlueField pair already attached to a host
Per-artifact cross-linka per-artifact skill's ## Version compatibility section cross-links here for the rule body, OR the agent is about to author a new per-artifact skill and needs the overlay template

When any cell above fires, the agent MUST:

  1. Cite the four-source detection chain from ## Capabilities and modes explicitly in the answer — pkg-config --modversion doca-common → cat /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/VERSION → doca_caps --version → bfver plus cat /etc/mlnx-release (BlueField hosts). Do not paraphrase or summarize the chain; cite the commands by name. Do NOT substitute mlxprivhost or bfb-info for the BFB leg — those are common hallucinations and the bundle explicitly bans them in ## Capabilities and modes.

  2. State the four-way match rule from ## Version compatibility verbatim if the prompt could possibly involve a mismatch (every deploy-shape question and every debug-shape question can; orientation-shape questions usually cannot).

  3. Refuse to invent a version string. If the agent doesn't have the actual pkg-config --modversion output from the user's host, the answer must say so and route to the detection chain — not assert a version from training-data recall.

Universal version-coherence trigger

Whenever ANOTHER overlay (e.g. doca-setup/SKILL.md, doca-hardware-safety/SKILL.md, doca-container-deployment/SKILL.md, doca-bare-metal-deployment/SKILL.md) calls a ## test / ## configure / ## modify step that requires "the install is healthy" or "versions are consistent", that step MUST resolve to a citation of this skill's four-source detection chain and four-way match rule. The agent does NOT redefine the rule per-overlay — every step that needs a version verification must route here. This is the only place in the bundle that owns the rule body.

Do not load this skill for general DOCA orientation, for install procedures (use doca-setup/SKILL.md), or for library-specific API questions (use the matching library skill).

What this skill provides

This is a thin loader. The body keeps only the orientation needed to pick the right next file. The substantive version-handling material lives in two companion files:

  • the capabilities companion — the version-handling surface: the canonical source-of-truth table for version detection, the four-way match rule, NGC container semantics, the per-library overlay pattern, the routing to the DOCA Compatibility Policy, the error taxonomy for version-related failures (pkg-config missing, partial install, BFB/host mismatch, NGC mixing), the observability surface (which command to read for which version source), and the safety policy ("never invent a version, never quote latest").

  • the tasks companion — step-by-step workflows for the six in-scope version verbs: configure (detect on this host), build (build-time match), modify (update a version pin in a build manifest), run (runtime check), test (four-way validation + version-matrix lookup), debug (diagnose mismatch / partial install). Plus a Deferred task verbs block.

Loading order

  1. Read this skill first to confirm the user's question is in scope.

  2. For the version-detection sources, four-way match rule, NGC semantics, per-library overlay pattern, error taxonomy, observability, and safety policy, see the capabilities companion.

  3. For step-by-step workflows — configure, build, modify, run, test, debug — see the tasks companion.

  • doca-structured-tools-contract/SKILL.md — the JSON schemas for the helper tools the agent should prefer when present. This skill's ## test workflow uses the version-matrix.json schema defined there; do not redefine the schema here.

  • doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md — the routing table to public DOCA docs, including the Compatibility Policy. This skill cites the Compatibility Policy URL once via that map; it does not duplicate the routing.

  • doca-setup/SKILL.md — env-side install / verify / NGC container path. This skill assumes its preconditions are satisfied (i.e., something is installed somewhere; the version question is what was installed and is it consistent).

  • doca-programming-guide/SKILL.md — program-side guidance (quote the version observed, header-wins, capability-discovery rules). The program-side ## Version compatibility section there is now a 3-5 line redirect to this skill plus the program-side overlay (quote vs assume; never use agent-memory version).

  • doca-debug/SKILL.md — the cross-cutting debug ladder. Layer 2 (version mismatch) of that ladder is owned by this skill's ## debug workflow.

Files

LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.


                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

   APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.

      To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
      boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
      replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
      the brackets!)  The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
      comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
      file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
      same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
      identification within third-party archives.

   Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]

   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   You may obtain a copy of the License at

       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   limitations under the License.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

The author says: No DOCA install required to read this skill (it is an overlay loaded against any DOCA artifact skill); the validation steps within DO require a live DOCA install at /opt/mellanox/doca.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Medium risk

  • Large base64-encoded blobs

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
NVIDIA
Publisher
NVIDIA (Official)
Source
NVIDIA/skills · skills/doca-version · commit fce3cca
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE-APACHE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by NVIDIA.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download doca-version.zip