Common Options

The following options can be run with all knife subcommands and plug-ins:

-c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE

The configuration file to use. For example, when knife is run from a node that is configured to be managed by the Chef server, this option is used to allow knife to use the same credentials as the chef-client when communicating with the Chef server.

--chef-zero-port PORT

The port on which chef-zero listens.

-d, --disable-editing

Prevent the $EDITOR from being opened and accept data as-is.

--defaults

Cause knife to use the default value instead of asking a user to provide one.

-e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR

The $EDITOR that is used for all interactive commands.

-E ENVIRONMENT, --environment ENVIRONMENT

The name of the environment. When this option is added to a command, the command will run only against the named environment. This option is ignored during search queries made using the knife search subcommand.

-F FORMAT, --format FORMAT

The output format: summary (default), text, json, yaml, and pp.

-h, --help

Show help for the command.

-k KEY, --key KEY

The USER.pem file that knife uses to sign requests made by the API client to the Chef server.

--[no-]color

View colored output.

--[no-]fips

Allows OpenSSL to enforce FIPS-validated security during the chef-client run.

--print-after

Show data after a destructive operation.

-s URL, --server-url URL

The URL for the Chef server.

-u USER, --user USER

The user name used by knife to sign requests made by the API client to the Chef server. Authentication fails if the user name does not match the private key.

-v, --version

The version of the chef-client.

-V, --verbose

Set for more verbose outputs. Use -VV for maximum verbosity.

-y, --yes

Respond to all confirmation prompts with “Yes”.

-z, --local-mode

Run the chef-client in local mode. This allows all commands that work against the Chef server to also work against the local chef-repo.