doca-public-knowledge-map

# DOCA Public Knowledge Map

**Where to start:** Reach for this skill whenever the question is "where does
the authoritative answer live?" — a docs page, the on-disk install layout, a
sample, or an NGC catalog entry. Read [`## Public documentation entry points`](#public-documentation-entry-points)
first; then jump to the routing-table section that matches the user's intent.

## When to load this skill

Load this skill whenever the user asks anything about NVIDIA DOCA where the
agent needs to **locate authoritative information** without access to the
DOCA source tree. That includes **documentation-routing questions** about
installing DOCA, building a sample, learning a DOCA library (Flow, DPA, Comm
Channel, GPUNetIO, …), debugging an error, finding an API or error reference,
finding a sample, release notes, or the developer forum. This skill locates
the authoritative answer; hands-on installation, building, tutorials, and
debugging route to the workflow-owning skills named in the frontmatter and
[`## Related skills`](#related-skills).

This skill is intentionally a **routing table**, not a tutorial. Pick the
entry that matches the user's intent, fetch the URL or inspect the local
install path, and only then answer.

## First-contact discovery — the four questions to ask before any drill-down

When a user opens with an open-ended orientation question (*"I'm new with
DOCA, how do I start?"*, *"can you guide me?"*, *"what's the easiest way to
try DOCA?"*), the agent does **not** have enough information yet to pick a
path. Asking these four questions before drilling avoids wasted recommendations
that the user cannot actually execute on their setup. Ask them as a single
short message; do not interrogate one-at-a-time.

| Question | Why it matters | What it routes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. **What OS are you on?** macOS, Windows, Linux laptop, cloud VM, lab Linux box, BlueField OS itself? | DOCA installs natively only on supported Linux distributions; macOS / Windows users cannot install it at all. | Picks between the four DOCA acquisition paths in [`doca-setup ## no-install`](../doca-setup/TASKS.md#no-install). macOS / Windows / no-Linux → Path 0 (NGC container). Supported Linux → Path A or B per the Installation Guide. |
| 2. **What hardware do you have?** No NVIDIA hardware, ConnectX SmartNIC, BlueField as a SmartNIC in a host, BlueField as a standalone DPU, not sure? | Real-traffic runtime needs a real NIC; build / read / learn does not. The user's hardware decides which DOCA libraries are even relevant. | Picks the runtime story (container is build-only without hardware). Filters which libraries make sense to learn (Flow needs a real port to do anything visible; Comch needs a host ↔ DPU pair). |
| 3. **What's your goal?** Just exploring, building a small first app on a specific library (Flow / RDMA / Comch / Telemetry / GPUNetIO / DPA / …), running an existing reference application, operating a service (DMS / DTS / BlueMan / Firefly), or something else? | The bundle's first-app workflow (`doca-programming-guide ## modify`) starts from a **shipped C sample** and edits down. The right sample depends on the library the user is targeting. | Picks which library skill (if any) to load next. If the user does not yet know which library — that itself is a routing answer (see the *Library- and module-specific guides* table above and let the user pick). |
| 4. **Which language do you plan to write the program in?** C / C++, Rust, Go, Python, other? | DOCA's public surface is a C ABI. Non-C consumers go through FFI / language bindings (`doca-programming-guide CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes` and the per-library skill). The C samples are the reference even when the user's language is not C. | Picks whether the agent's first-app guidance is *direct C build* or *FFI / bindings against the C ABI*. Does **not** change which sample the agent points at first. |

The four-question gate applies when an open-ended orientation, install,
build, or run recommendation depends on the user's environment. For that
class, **never recommend a specific install path, container tag, or runnable
sample without first having the answers to questions 1–3** (question 4 is
needed for the first-app workflow but not for orientation itself). Pure
documentation lookups — a URL, API reference, sample location, version
reference, or stale-link recovery — skip this gate and route directly.
If the user cannot or will not answer a required question, state which
environment-dependent recommendation cannot be made, give only the safe
version-agnostic umbrella documentation route, and do not guess the missing
value. Volunteering specific commands before this is the single most common
failure mode for DOCA orientation.

If the user has already volunteered some of the information in their first
message, mark those questions answered and only ask the rest. Do not re-ask
what the user has already told you.

## Topic to "where to look first" routing table

When the user asks something, route as follows:

| User intent | First place to look |
| --- | --- |
| "How do I install DOCA?" | Installation Guide + Downloads page (Public documentation entry points). |
| "How do I start with DOCA — what's the very first thing?" | Developer Quick Start Guide *if* the user has BlueField + host hardware; otherwise [`doca-setup ## no-install`](../doca-setup/TASKS.md#no-install) Path 0 (NGC container). Use the four questions in [*First-contact discovery*](#first-contact-discovery--the-four-questions-to-ask-before-any-drill-down) to pick. |
| "Do I need a BlueField? A SmartNIC? Or just DOCA-Host?" | Overview page (`doca-overview/index.html`) plus the Installation Guide's *DOCA installation profiles* section. The bundle does not pick the hardware for the user — these two pages do. |
| "Which package gives me library X?" | Installation Guide section on package matrix; then verify on the user's system with `pkg-config --list-all`. |
| "Show me a sample th