A method for offloading network operations is described. The method includes receiving an offload service capabilities request message from a first application to request information from an offload service regarding capabilities of the offload service that meet a set of requirements; transmitting a response to the application that includes a set of offload service templates that are (1) selected based on the application requirements and (2) possible templates to be modified for performing operations of the application; evaluating the network resources for the program code of the application to select a set of network resources for offloading the operations of the first application to the network resources; and installing the program code, which was generated based on a set of offload service templates, on the set of network resources such that the set of network resources process packets from a second application that are addressed to the first application.