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

# Networks skill

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

The Networks skill teaches agents to work with [Galactic VPC](/docs/galactic-vpc/overview) networks and [network services](/docs/galactic-vpc/network-services) 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.

## Install

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash Claude Code theme={null}
  /plugin marketplace add datum-cloud/skills
  /plugin install datum-cloud@datum-cloud
  ```

  ```bash npx skills theme={null}
  npx skills add https://github.com/datum-cloud/skills
  ```

  ```bash Cursor theme={null}
  # Settings → Rules → Add Rule → Remote Rule (GitHub)
  # Repository: datum-cloud/skills
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<Note>
  Once installed, the skill activates automatically when you ask an agent to work with networks on Datum.
</Note>

<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
  ```
</Warning>

## 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:** [Galactic VPC](/docs/galactic-vpc/overview) and [Manage networks with datumctl](/docs/galactic-vpc/datumctl) — the human-facing reference
* **Datum MCP:** [Datum MCP](/docs/datum-mcp) — for agents that need to read and write Datum resources during a session
* **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 in the portal without anything being installed; this skill is for driving `datumctl` yourself
* **[Application Load Balancer skill](/docs/agents/skills/alb)** — for putting a network service on the internet

## View the full skill

The canonical SKILL.md lives in the [datum-cloud/skills](https://github.com/datum-cloud/skills) repo:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="On GitHub" icon="github" href="https://github.com/datum-cloud/skills/blob/main/skills/networks/SKILL.md">
    Browse the skill source, including frontmatter and full instructions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Raw SKILL.md" icon="file-code" href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datum-cloud/skills/main/skills/networks/SKILL.md">
    Direct URL for agents that fetch skills by URL.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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