NVIDIA logo

Skill

nvshmem-tune-performance

tune NVSHMEM performance

Published by NVIDIA Updated Aug 31
Covers Performance NVIDIA Engineering

Description

Route NVSHMEM tuning to data collection, remote transport, NIC-to-PE mapping, or TMA. Do not use for unrelated CUDA, NCCL, or application tuning.

SKILL.md

Tune NVSHMEM Performance

Purpose

Guide the user to the smallest applicable NVSHMEM performance workflow. Offer optional baseline collection and three focused optimization services while preserving each specialist's inputs, execution boundary, and safety rules.

Do not reproduce the specialists' technical guidance in this router. Invoke:

User goalSpecialist
Collect a baseline, run perftests, or package system and benchmark evidence$nvshmem-collect-performance-data
Select an inter-node remote transport$nvshmem-select-remote-transport
Select HCAs or optimize NIC-to-PE mapping$nvshmem-configure-nic-pe-mapping
Assess, prepare, review, or debug NVSHMEM TMA use$nvshmem-enable-tma

Requirements

  • Make the four specialist skills listed above available; this router delegates all technical work to them.
  • Require no API keys, cluster access, NVSHMEM installation, or benchmark tools to select a route. The selected specialist establishes any environment-specific prerequisites before acting.

Inputs

Required

  • Obtain the user's NVSHMEM performance goal or selected service. When the request is vague, obtain the user's choice from the menu in the instructions before invoking a specialist.

Optional

  • Reuse any supplied performance report, raw logs, exact NVSHMEM version and installation prefix, source or kernel path, fabric and provider, job scale, PE-to-GPU binding, GPU/NIC topology, selected transport, tuning constraints, and optimization goal.
  • Reuse relevant results and unresolved conditions from an earlier specialist in the same workflow.
  • Ask only for information needed to choose the route. Let the selected specialist inspect the environment or request its own required inputs.

Prefer the current explicit user request, then explicit invocation arguments, then non-conflicting context and prior specialist output. Report conflicting values instead of choosing silently.

Instructions

1. Choose a Route

Honor an explicitly named specialist or workflow. Otherwise classify the concrete objective:

  • Route requests for performance baselines, benchmark curves, latency or bandwidth perftests, performance sanity checks, or packaged system evidence to performance data collection.
  • Route requests about NVSHMEM_REMOTE_TRANSPORT, IBRC, IBDevX, IBGDA, GPUNetIO, UCX, libfabric, remote-network compatibility, or choosing an inter-node data path to remote transport selection.
  • Route requests about HCA selection, NIC ports, GPU-to-NIC affinity, multi-NIC use, NVSHMEM_HCA_*, or PE-to-NIC assignment to NIC-to-PE mapping.
  • Route requests about TMA, NVSHMEM_TMA_POLICY, CTA shared-memory registration, direct shared-memory transfers, or preparing a CUDA kernel for TMA to TMA enablement.

Invoke one specialist for a single concrete request. State which specialist is being invoked and why.

2. Present the Menu for a Vague Request

When the user asks only to improve or tune NVSHMEM performance, do not choose a specialist or run anything. Present these paths and ask the user to select one:

  1. Baseline first: collect initial performance and system data, then choose an optimization workflow.
  2. Optimize directly: skip collection and choose one of:
    • remote transport selection for inter-node communication;
    • NIC-to-PE mapping for topology-aware remote-transport placement;
    • TMA assessment or enablement for eligible peer GPU/NVLink kernel paths.

Allow the user to collect data only and stop. Briefly distinguish the three optimization choices without recommending one from absent evidence.

3. Sequence Explicit Multi-Stage Workflows

  1. Invoke performance data collection first only when the user requests it, selects it from the menu, or explicitly chooses a baseline-first sequence. Let that skill obtain its required benchmark selection before any run.
  2. Invoke remote transport selection before NIC-to-PE mapping when both are requested. Pass the selected transport, version, provider, topology evidence, and unresolved conditions into the mapping workflow.
  3. Invoke TMA separately. Do not treat TMA as a remote-transport optimization or infer that inter-node benchmark evidence establishes TMA eligibility.
  4. Invoke no unrequested specialist. Let the active specialist resolve its own prerequisites instead of filling them in.

After data collection completes, invoke an optimizer already selected by the user. If none was selected, present the three optimization choices again and wait.

4. Preserve the Handoff

  • Pass the original request, explicit constraints, exact paths, commands, logs, configuration values, source scope, raw artifacts, resolved facts, and relevant prior specialist output.
  • Preserve the user's transport settings and tuning constraints during collection and later comparison.
  • Return the specialist's result without replacing its confidence, unknowns, validation status, or requested follow-up.
  • Keep benchmark execution, system inspection, source edits, and configuration changes inside the selected specialist's authorization and guardrails.

5. Handle an Unavailable Specialist

If a required skill is unavailable, name it, explain which requested service cannot proceed, and ask the user to make it available or choose another service. Do not imitate or reconstruct the missing skill.

Limitations

  • Do not run benchmarks, collectors, launchers, or target applications directly from this router.
  • Do not edit CUDA source, generate transport exports, or synthesize NIC mappings directly from this router.
  • Do not make data collection an implicit prerequisite merely because an optimization might benefit from later measurement.
  • Do not promise a performance improvement or declare a regression without the evidence required by the selected specialist.
  • Do not treat TMA as useful for remote-network traffic; route it only as a separate peer GPU/NVLink optimization workflow.
  • Do not route unrelated NCCL, CUDA-only, operating-system, or general application-performance questions to these NVSHMEM skills.

Examples

Route a request to collect evidence before choosing an optimization:

User: Collect a baseline for our two-node NVSHMEM all-to-all before tuning it.
Action: Invoke $nvshmem-collect-performance-data and preserve the two-node and all-to-all constraints.

Route an explicit network-configuration request directly:

User: Which NVSHMEM remote transport should we use with this InfiniBand cluster?
Action: Invoke $nvshmem-select-remote-transport because the request concerns an inter-node data path.

Troubleshooting

Error or conditionCauseSolution
No route can be selectedThe request says only to improve performance.Present the baseline-first and three direct-optimization options; wait for the user to choose.
A requested specialist is unavailableIts skill is not installed or enabled.Name the unavailable specialist and ask the user to enable it or choose another route.
Supplied settings conflictThe request and earlier context specify different topology, transport, or constraints.Report the conflict and ask which value to preserve before handing off.

© 2026 YourAI.tools. Every skill from an identity-verified publisher.

Independent catalog. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic or any listed publisher. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.