DOCA programming guide

DOCA programming guide

Where to start: Read ## Audience to confirm the user is consuming DOCA, not contributing to it. Then jump to the H2 that matches the verb (## modify for first-app derivation, ## build for the canonical build pattern, ## test for the test loop, ## debug for the program-class debug ladder).

Example questions this skill answers well

These are the CLASSES of program-class questions the skill is built to answer, each with one worked example. Library-specific overlays (Flow / DMS / Caps / …) live in the matching library skill; this skill answers the library-agnostic shape.

• "How do I write my first DOCA program for <any library>?" — worked example: "I want to write my first DOCA Flow application." Answered by the modify-a-shipped-sample workflow in TASKS.md ## modify plus the canonical build pattern in TASKS.md ## build.
• "What's the right build line for any DOCA library?" — worked example: "How do I compile a program that calls doca_rdma_*?" Answered by the pkg-config doca-<library> pattern in TASKS.md ## build (C/C++ Track 1) and the FFI/bindings pattern in Track 2.
• "What's the lifecycle every DOCA object follows?" — worked example: "What's the right order of doca_flow_pipe_* calls in my program?" Answered by the cfg-create / init / start / use / stop / destroy template in CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes.
• "DOCA_ERROR_* came back — what does it mean and what do I do?" — worked example: "My code got DOCA_ERROR_BAD_STATE." Answered by the cross-library doca_error_get_descr() rule in CAPABILITIES.md ## Error taxonomy
  • the program-class debug order in TASKS.md ## debug.
• "My program built and started, but does nothing on the wire." — worked example: "My Flow program runs cleanly but no traffic is matched." Answered by the validate-before-commit rule in CAPABILITIES.md ## Safety policy and the layered program-class debug ladder in