Add centralized documentation for third-party connector libraries

[Copilot]

Third-party connector libraries (ScoreP, Timemory, Caliper) lacked centralized documentation in the repository. External maintainers had no clear path to contribute documentation for their connectors.

Changes

Documentation Structure

• Created docs/ directory following kokkos-kernels pattern
• docs/README.md - Index with contribution guidelines
• docs/connectors/TEMPLATE.md - Template for external maintainers

Connector Documentation

• ScoreP - Profiling/tracing infrastructure with links to official resources and OLCF tutorial
• Timemory - Modular analysis library covering roofline analysis, custom components, hardware counters
• Caliper - LLNL framework with ConfigManager examples and Hatchet integration

Main README Updates

• New "Documentation" section linking to docs/
• Reference to connector docs in "3rd Party Profiling Tool Hooks"

Each connector doc includes: overview, installation, configuration, usage examples, and links to official documentation. Template provides structure for future connector maintainers to follow.

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>User Documentation of Kokkos Tools TPL Connectors</issue_title>
<issue_description>This issue aims to lay groundwork on the centralized documentation of Kokkos Tools vendor aTPL connectors, i.e., advanced TPL connectors.

Documentation of aTPLs is different from the documentation for basic Kokkos Tools in-house tooling libraries that are being documented. These are well-established external libaries that are maintained by third parties developing their own connectors. They don't operate on Kokkos project timelines. They do need an centralized/common location to come to for providing users information on how to use their tooling library within the Kokkos ecosystem.

Of immediate importance: ScoreP needs to be part a third-party library subsection in the Wiki, alongside timemory, given its importance of profiling+tracing in HPC. Though it is not in the category of so-called 'sophisticated tools' with intelligent analysis and/or tuning, e.g., Apex, it does provide advanced capabilities needed for tracing from a third-party library. It is also not as heavily used as nvtx-connector. It doesn't need to be in the top-level README.md of Kokkos Tools. At the same time, there are a number of Kokkos users using it.

In time, this documentation could propagate up the Kokkos Tools Wiki and the kokkos.org webpage, perhaps as a blog post or within tools documentation itself.

</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

@vlkale I have put the Wiki page for ScoreP here: https://github.com/kokkos/kokkos-tools/wiki/ScoreP

The page contains a starter description of the tool connector and links to pertinent documentation.\

@wrwilliams Are you able to pull and push to this repository to make changes?

We will probably want to integrate scoreP Kokkos Tools library into the Kokkos Tools repository in some form, either as a git submodule or simply redirecting users to download the scoreP Kokkos Tools library from the scoreP GitHub repo. </comment_new>
<comment_new>@masterleinad
You should still be able to open pull requests, though.</comment_new>
<comment_new>@vlkale
@wrwilliams

Yes, as @masterleinad suggested, you can open a PR to the wiki page for ScoreP here:

https://github.com/kokkos/kokkos-tools/wiki/ScoreP

It will be reviewed and merged once it's there.

It would be useful to get some content on that page in the next month or so if possible. It will help to have a common ground / go-to guide on building and running with ScoreP Kokkos Tool for Kokkos programmers. Let me know if I can help with writing.

See https://github.com/kokkos/kokkos-tools/wiki/Timemory as a reference.

@vlkale > Actually I cannot presently open a PR, as the wiki repo is not accessible to non-collaborators. > > > > https://github.com/kokkos/kokkos-tools.wiki.git leads to the GitHub 404 page for me, and the wiki pages are not visible in the Kokkos-tools repo either here or on my fork.

Thanks for bringing this up - this should be fixed, especially given the number of external Kokkos Tools connector libraries like the ScoreP Kokkos Tools connector.

I will look into this and get back to you next week.

@crtrott @dalg24

Does it make sense to create a new Team in the Kokkos project called something like 'Kokkos Tools connector developers'?

@vlkale @wrwilliams To follow-up, I don't have an easy solution for the moment on the wiki. However, you do have the ability to create a PR to the Kokkos Tools repo.

Perhaps you can also put documentation in a README.md in a scoreP folder for your specific documentation, similar to what was done for the caliper connector.

I think a non-urgent but important action item that follows from this is for me/us to create a git submodule for the Kokkos Tools ScoreP connector, and also potentially allow building it via a new Spack package for Kokkos Tools that has already been started (just today) here: https://github.com/spack/spack/pull/45382/files .

As for this github issue, I have put up the basic documentation here https://github.com/kokkos/kokkos-tools/wiki/ScoreP and have mentioned documentation for the Kokkos Tools ScoreP connector on your webpage. I will close this github issue.

@dalg24 What prevents you to create a docs/ directory and document in a markdown file? @vlkale > What prevents you to create a docs/ directory and document in a markdown file?

This is a good idea, and it could complement or replace having a README.md file per tool library mentioned above.

The reason for not creating...

• Fixes User Documentation of Kokkos Tools TPL Connectors #255

---

💬 We'd love your input! Share your thoughts on Copilot coding agent in our 2 minute survey.