chef-shell (executable)¶

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chef-shell is a recipe debugging tool that allows the use of breakpoints within recipes. chef-shell runs as an Interactive Ruby (IRb) session. chef-shell supports both recipe and attribute file syntax, as well as interactive debugging features.

The chef-shell executable is run as a command-line tool.

Modes¶

chef-shell is tool that is run using an Interactive Ruby (IRb) session. chef-shell currently supports recipe and attribute file syntax, as well as interactive debugging features. chef-shell has three run modes:

Mode	Description
Standalone	Default. No cookbooks are loaded, and the run-list is empty.
Solo	chef-shell acts as a chef-solo client. It attempts to load the chef-solo configuration file and JSON attributes. If the JSON attributes set a run-list, it will be honored. Cookbooks will be loaded in the same way that chef-solo loads them. chef-solo mode is activated with the `-s` or `--solo` command line option, and JSON attributes are specified in the same way as for chef-solo, with `-j /path/to/chef-solo.json`.
Client	chef-shell acts as a chef-client. During startup, it reads the chef-client configuration file and contacts the Chef server to get attributes and cookbooks. The run-list will be set in the same way as normal chef-client runs. chef-client mode is activated with the `-z` or `--client` options. You can also specify the configuration file with `-c CONFIG` and the server URL with `-S SERVER_URL`.

Options¶

This command has the following syntax:

chef-shell OPTION VALUE OPTION VALUE ...

This command has the following options:

-a, --standalone

Run chef-shell in standalone mode.

-c CONFIG, --config CONFIG

The configuration file to use.

-h, --help

Show help for the command.

-j PATH, --json-attributes PATH

The path to a file that contains JSON data.

Use this option to define a run_list object. For example, a JSON file similar to:

"run_list": [
  "recipe[base]",
  "recipe[foo]",
  "recipe[bar]",
  "role[webserver]"
],

may be used by running chef-client -j path/to/file.json.

In certain situations this option may be used to update normal attributes.

Warning

Any other attribute type that is contained in this JSON file will be treated as a normal attribute. Setting attributes at other precedence levels is not possible. For example, attempting to update override attributes using the -j option:

{
  "name": "dev-99",
  "description": "Install some stuff",
  "override_attributes": {
    "apptastic": {
      "enable_apptastic": "false",
      "apptastic_tier_name": "dev-99.bomb.com"
    }
  }
}

will result in a node object similar to:

{
  "name": "maybe-dev-99",
  "normal": {
    "name": "dev-99",
    "description": "Install some stuff",
    "override_attributes": {
      "apptastic": {
        "enable_apptastic": "false",
        "apptastic_tier_name": "dev-99.bomb.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

-l LEVEL, --log-level LEVEL

The level of logging to be stored in a log file.

-s, --solo

Run chef-shell in chef-solo mode.

-S CHEF_SERVER_URL, --server CHEF_SERVER_URL

The URL for the Chef server.

-v, --version

The version of the chef-client.

-z, --client

Run chef-shell in chef-client mode.

Configure¶

chef-shell determines which configuration file to load based on the following:

If a configuration file is specified using the -c option, chef-shell will use the specified configuration file
When chef-shell is started using a named configuration as an argument, chef-shell will search for a chef-shell.rb file in that directory under ~/.chef. For example, if chef-shell is started using production as the named configuration, the chef-shell will load a configuration file from ~/.chef/production/chef_shell.rb
If a named configuration is not provided, chef-shell will attempt to load the chef-shell.rb file from the .chef directory. For example: ~/.chef/chef_shell.rb
If a chef-shell.rb file is not found, chef-shell will attempt to load the client.rb file
If a chef-shell.rb file is not found, chef-shell will attempt to load the solo.rb file

chef-shell.rb¶

The chef-shell.rb file can be used to configure chef-shell in the same way as the client.rb file is used to configure the chef-client. For example, to configure chef-shell to authenticate to the Chef server, copy the node_name, client_key, and chef_server_url settings from the config.rb file:

node_name                'your-knife-clientname'
client_key               File.expand_path('~/.chef/my-client.pem')
chef_server_url          'https://api.opscode.com/organizations/myorg'

and then add them to the chef-shell.rb file. Other configuration possibilities include disabling Ohai plugins (which will speed up the chef-shell boot process) or including arbitrary Ruby code in the chef-shell.rb file.

Run as a chef-client¶

By default, chef-shell loads in standalone mode and does not connect to the Chef server. The chef-shell can be run as a chef-client to verify functionality that is only available when the chef-client connects to the Chef server, such as search functionality or accessing data stored in data bags.

chef-shell can use the same credentials as knife when connecting to a Chef server. Make sure that the settings in chef-shell.rb are the same as those in config.rb, and then use the -z option as part of the command. For example:

$ chef-shell -z

Manage¶

When chef-shell is configured to access a Chef server, chef-shell can list, show, search for and edit cookbooks, clients, nodes, roles, environments, and data bags.

The syntax for managing objects on the Chef server is as follows:

$ chef-shell -z named_configuration

where:

named_configuration is an existing configuration file in ~/.chef/named_configuration/chef_shell.rb, such as production, staging, or test

Once in chef-shell, commands can be run against objects as follows:

$ chef (preprod) > items.command

items is the type of item to search for: cookbooks, clients, nodes, roles, environments or a data bag
command is the command: list, show, find, or edit

For example, to list all of the nodes in a configuration named “preprod”:

$ chef (preprod) > nodes.list