> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.datum.net/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> Agent home for Datum, with what it is, pricing, and how to act: https://agents.datum.net
> If you can only fetch URLs: read https://www.datum.net/docs/llms.txt in full and open the most specific page for the task. Commands, limits, and field paths are on task, operations, and limits pages, not on section overviews. Pages described as "Documentation is coming soon" are placeholders.
> If you have a shell or can save files: download https://www.datum.net/docs/llms-full.txt (every page, about 740 KB) once and search it with grep, instead of fetching pages one at a time.
> datumctl describes itself: `datumctl api-resources` lists resource types and `datumctl explain <resource>` shows a schema. To act on live resources, use Datum MCP or datumctl. To search the docs, use the Docs MCP server at https://www.datum.net/docs/mcp.

# Networks skill

> Teach agents to create and manage gVPC networks and network services with datumctl, and to read why one is not working.

The Networks skill teaches agents to work with [gVPC](https://www.datum.net/docs/galactic-vpc/overview.md) networks and [network services](https://www.datum.net/docs/galactic-vpc/networks/network-services.md) through `datumctl network`: create a network, attach workloads to it, give a workload a stable name and named ports for a load balancer, release addresses kept after an Instance is gone, and delete a network without surprising anyone.

The skill ships in the `datum-networking` Claude Code plugin, alongside procedures for diagnosing a load balancer that isn't serving and for creating networks, using the same diagnosis Datum's own assistant runs.

## Install

```bash Claude Code theme={null}
/plugin marketplace add datum-cloud/claude-code-plugins
/plugin install datum-networking@datum-claude-code-plugins
```

Installing it also installs the `datum-cloud` base plugin, which runs [Datum MCP](https://www.datum.net/docs/agents/datum-mcp.md). For other agents, copy the [skill folder](https://github.com/datum-cloud/network-services-operator/tree/main/claude-plugin/skills/networks) into your agent's skills directory.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Once installed, the skill activates automatically when you ask an agent to work with networks on Datum.

> [!WARNING]
>
> The skill teaches the `datumctl network` commands, which come from a plugin that is not installed by default. Install it before an agent follows this skill, or every command it runs will fail:
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> datumctl plugin install network
> datumctl network version
> ```

## Capabilities

* Create, list, describe, change and delete networks
* Create network services for a workload and point a load balancer at them
* Change what a network service selects, or its ports
* List Instances' network interfaces and release the ones kept after their Instance went away
* Read why a network or a network service is not working, and who has to act
* Preview every change before applying it

It also teaches the readings that trip up a naive agent: a new network with no locations is normal, a service with no ready Instances is a workload problem rather than a network one, and networks never carry IPv4 — including for a workload that asks for a public IPv4 address.

## How it relates to other Datum surfaces

* **Product docs:** [gVPC](https://www.datum.net/docs/galactic-vpc/overview.md) and [gVPC operations](https://www.datum.net/docs/galactic-vpc/operations.md) — the human-facing reference
* **Datum MCP:** [Datum MCP](https://www.datum.net/docs/agents/datum-mcp.md) — its `network` and `vpc` toolsets give an agent live access to networks during a session
* **[Patch](https://www.datum.net/docs/operations/datum-assistant.md)**, Datum's own assistant — a separate surface with read-only network tools of its own, entitled through the platform catalog. It answers questions about a network directly; this skill is for driving `datumctl` yourself
* **[Application Load Balancer skill](https://www.datum.net/docs/agents/skills/alb.md)** — for putting a network service on the internet

## View the full skill

The canonical SKILL.md lives in the `datum-networking` plugin in the [datum-cloud/network-services-operator](https://github.com/datum-cloud/network-services-operator/tree/main/claude-plugin) repo:

> [card] [On GitHub](https://github.com/datum-cloud/network-services-operator/blob/main/claude-plugin/skills/networks/SKILL.md)
>
> Browse the skill source, including frontmatter and full instructions.

> [card] [Raw SKILL.md](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datum-cloud/network-services-operator/main/claude-plugin/skills/networks/SKILL.md)
>
> Direct URL for agents that fetch skills by URL.


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