socat - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: socat description: | Socket relay tool for VM console access and port relays (eth0 to loopback). Use when working with port relays, socat, or loopback service exposure.

socat -- Socket relay tool

Candy Properties

Property	Value
Install files	`charly.yml`, `task:`

Packages

RPM: socat, iproute

Cross-distro coverage

rpm: (Fedora), pac: (Arch), deb: (Debian/Ubuntu — socat, iproute2). Full parity.

Usage

# charly.yml
my-image:
  candy:
    - socat

Typically not added directly. Auto-included when a candy uses port_relay: in its charly.yml.

Note: Chrome no longer uses socat for its DevTools port relay. Chrome now uses a cdp-proxy Python supervisord service (see /charly-selkies:chrome). Socat is still used by other port_relay consumers.

Used In Boxes

Part of the charly candy's full toolchain (used in githubrunner)

Related Candies

/charly-infrastructure:virtualization -- part of the charly candy alongside socat
/charly-infrastructure:gocryptfs -- part of the charly candy alongside socat

When to Use This Skill

Use when the user asks about:

Port relay setup (eth0 to loopback)
socat configuration
Exposing loopback-only services
The socat candy or port_relay field

Author + Test References

/charly-image:layer — candy authoring reference (tasks, vars, env_provide, tests block syntax)
/charly-check:check — declarative testing framework for the check: block