.. _cli:

CLI commands
************

For the latest list of subcommands and arguments use ``cloud-init``'s
``--help`` option. This can be used against ``cloud-init`` itself, or on any
of its subcommands.

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init --help

Example output:

.. code-block::

   usage: cloud-init [-h] [--version] [--debug] [--force] [--all-stages] {init,modules,single,query,features,analyze,devel,collect-logs,clean,status,schema} ...

    options:
      -h, --help            show this help message and exit
      --version, -v         Show program's version number and exit.
      --debug, -d           Show additional pre-action logging (default: False).
      --force               Force running even if no datasource is found (use at your own risk).
      --all-stages          Run cloud-init's stages under a single process using a syncronization protocol. This is not intended for CLI usage.

    Subcommands:
      {init,modules,single,query,features,analyze,devel,collect-logs,clean,status,schema}
        init                DEPRECATED: Initialize cloud-init and perform initial modules.
        modules             DEPRECATED: Activate modules using a given configuration key.
        single              Manually run a single module. Useful for testing during development.
        query               Query standardized instance metadata from the command line.
        features            List defined features.
        analyze             Devel tool: Analyze cloud-init logs and data.
        devel               Run development tools.
        collect-logs        Collect and tar all cloud-init debug info.
        clean               Remove logs and artifacts so cloud-init can re-run.
        status              Report cloud-init status or wait on completion.
        schema              Validate cloud-config files using jsonschema.


The rest of this document will give an overview of each of the subcommands.

.. _cli_analyze:

:command:`analyze`
==================

Get detailed reports of where ``cloud-init`` spends its time during the boot
process. For more complete reference see :ref:`analyze`.

Possible subcommands include:

* :command:`blame`: report ordered by most costly operations.
* :command:`dump`: machine-readable JSON dump of all ``cloud-init`` tracked
  events.
* :command:`show`: show time-ordered report of the cost of operations during
  each boot stage.
* :command:`boot`: show timestamps from kernel initialisation, kernel finish
  initialisation, and ``cloud-init`` start.

.. _cli_clean:

:command:`clean`
================

Remove ``cloud-init`` artifacts from :file:`/var/lib/cloud` and config files
(best effort) to simulate a clean instance. On reboot, ``cloud-init`` will
re-run all stages as it did on first boot.

* :command:`--logs`: Optionally remove all ``cloud-init`` log files in
  :file:`/var/log/`.
* :command:`--reboot`: Reboot the system after removing artifacts.
* :command:`--machine-id`: Set :file:`/etc/machine-id` to ``uninitialized\n``
  on this image for systemd environments. On distributions without systemd,
  remove the file. Best practice when cloning a golden image, to ensure the
  next boot of that image auto-generates a unique machine ID.
  `More details on machine-id`_.
* :command:`--configs [all | ssh_config | network ]`: Optionally remove all
  ``cloud-init`` generated config files. Argument `ssh_config` cleans
  config files for ssh daemon. Argument `network` removes all generated
  config files for network. `all` removes config files of all types.

.. note::

   The operations performed by `clean` can be supplemented / customized. See:
   :ref:`custom_clean_scripts`.

.. _cli_collect_logs:

:command:`collect-logs`
=======================

Collect and tar ``cloud-init``-generated logs, data files, and system
information for triage. This subcommand is integrated with apport.

Logs collected include:

* :file:`/var/log/cloud-init.log`
* :file:`/var/log/cloud-init-output.log`
* :file:`/run/cloud-init`
* :file:`/var/lib/cloud/instance/user-data.txt`
* ``cloud-init`` package version
* ``dmesg`` output
* ``journalctl`` output

.. note::
   Ubuntu users can file bugs using :command:`ubuntu-bug cloud-init` to
   automatically attach these logs to a bug report.

.. _cli_devel:

:command:`devel`
================

Collection of development tools under active development. These tools will
likely be promoted to top-level subcommands when stable.

Do **NOT** rely on the output of these commands as they can and will change.

Current subcommands:

:command:`net-convert`
----------------------

Manually use ``cloud-init``'s network format conversion. Useful for testing
configuration or testing changes to the network conversion logic itself.

:command:`render`
-----------------

Use ``cloud-init``'s jinja template render to process **#cloud-config** or
**custom-scripts**, injecting any variables from
:file:`/run/cloud-init/instance-data.json`. It accepts a user data file
containing the jinja template header ``## template: jinja`` and renders that
content with any :file:`instance-data.json` variables present.

:command:`hotplug-hook`
-----------------------

Hotplug related subcommands. This command is intended to be
called via a ``systemd`` service and is not considered user-accessible except
for debugging purposes.


:command:`query`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Query if hotplug is enabled for a given subsystem.

:command:`handle`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Respond to newly added system devices by retrieving updated system metadata
and bringing up/down the corresponding device.

:command:`enable`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Enable hotplug for a given subsystem. This is a last resort command for
administrators to enable hotplug in running instances. The recommended
method is configuring :ref:`events`, if not enabled by default in the active
datasource.

.. _cli_features:

:command:`features`
===================

Print out each feature supported. If ``cloud-init`` does not have the
:command:`features` subcommand, it also does not support any features
described in this document.

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init features

Example output:

.. code-block::

   NETWORK_CONFIG_V1
   NETWORK_CONFIG_V2


.. _cli_init:

:command:`init` (deprecated)
============================

Generally run by OS init systems to execute ``cloud-init``'s stages:
*init* and *init-local*. See :ref:`boot_stages` for more info.
Can be run on the command line, but is deprecated, because incomplete
configuration can be applied when run later in boot. The boot stages are
generally gated to run only once due to semaphores in
:file:`/var/lib/cloud/instance/sem/` and :file:`/var/lib/cloud/sem`.

* :command:`--local`: Run *init-local* stage instead of *init*.
* :command:`--file` : Use additional yaml configuration files.

.. _cli_modules:

:command:`modules` (deprecated)
===============================

Generally run by OS init systems to execute ``modules:config`` and
``modules:final`` boot stages. This executes cloud config :ref:`modules`
configured to run in the Init, Config and Final stages. Can be run on the
command line, but this is not recommended and will generate a warning because
incomplete configuration can be applied when run later in boot.
The modules are declared to run in various boot stages in the file
:file:`/etc/cloud/cloud.cfg` under keys:

* ``cloud_init_modules``
* ``cloud_config_modules``
* ``cloud_final_modules``

Can be run on the command line, but is deprecated, because incomplete
configuration can be applied when run later in boot. Each module is gated to
run only once due to semaphores in :file:`/var/lib/cloud/`.

* :command:`--mode [init|config|final]`: Run ``modules:init``,
  ``modules:config`` or ``modules:final`` ``cloud-init`` stages.
  See :ref:`boot_stages` for more info.
* :command:`--file` : Use additional yaml configuration files.

.. warning::
   `--mode init` is deprecated in 24.1 and scheduled to be removed in 29.1.
   Use :command:`cloud-init init` instead.

.. _cli_query:

:command:`query`
================

Query standardised cloud instance metadata crawled by ``cloud-init`` and stored
in :file:`/run/cloud-init/instance-data.json`. This is a convenience
command-line interface to reference any cached configuration metadata that
``cloud-init`` crawls when booting the instance. See :ref:`instance_metadata`
for more info.

* :command:`--all`: Dump all available instance data as JSON which can be
  queried.
* :command:`--instance-data`: Optional path to a different
  :file:`instance-data.json` file to source for queries.
* :command:`--list-keys`: List available query keys from cached instance data.
* :command:`--format`: A string that will use jinja-template syntax to render a
  string replacing.
* :command:`<varname>`: A dot-delimited variable path into the
  :file:`instance-data.json` object.

Below demonstrates how to list all top-level query keys that are standardised
aliases:

.. code-block:: shell-session

    $ cloud-init query --list-keys

Example output:

.. code-block::

    _beta_keys
    availability_zone
    base64_encoded_keys
    cloud_name
    ds
    instance_id
    local_hostname
    platform
    public_ssh_keys
    region
    sensitive_keys
    subplatform
    userdata
    v1
    vendordata

Here are a few examples of how to query standardised metadata from clouds:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init query v1.cloud_name

Example output:

.. code-block::

   aws  # or openstack, azure, gce etc.

Any standardised ``instance-data`` under a <v#> key is aliased as a top-level
key for convenience:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init query cloud_name

Example output:

.. code-block::

   aws  # or openstack, azure, gce etc.

One can also query datasource-specific metadata on EC2, e.g.:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init query ds.meta_data.public_ipv4


.. note::

   The standardised instance data keys under **v#** are guaranteed not to
   change behaviour or format. If using top-level convenience aliases for any
   standardised instance data keys, the most value (highest **v#**) of that key
   name is what is reported as the top-level value. So these aliases act as a
   'latest'.

This data can then be formatted to generate custom strings or data. For
example, we can generate a custom hostname FQDN based on ``instance-id``, cloud
and region:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init query --format 'custom-{{instance_id}}.{{region}}.{{v1.cloud_name}}.com'

.. code-block::

   custom-i-0e91f69987f37ec74.us-east-2.aws.com


.. _cli_schema:

:command:`schema`
=================

Validate cloud-config files using jsonschema.

* :command:`-h, --help`: Show this help message and exit.
* :command:`-c CONFIG_FILE, --config-file CONFIG_FILE`: Path of the
  cloud-config YAML file to validate.
* :command:`-t SCHEMA_TYPE, --schema-type SCHEMA_TYPE`: The schema type to
  validate --config-file against. One of: cloud-config, network-config.
  Default: cloud-config.
* :command:`--system`: Validate the system cloud-config user data.
* :command:`-d DOCS [cc_module ...], --docs DOCS [cc_module ...]`:
  Print schema module
  docs. Choices are: "all" or "space-delimited" ``cc_names``.
* :command:`--annotate`: Annotate existing cloud-config file with errors.

The following example checks a config file and annotates the config file with
errors on :file:`stdout`.

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init schema -c ./config.yml --annotate


.. _cli_single:

:command:`single`
=================

Attempt to run a single, named, cloud config module.

* :command:`--name`: The cloud-config module name to run.
* :command:`--frequency`: Module frequency for this run.
  One of (``always``|``instance``|``once``).
* :command:`--report`: Enable reporting.
* :command:`--file` : Use additional yaml configuration files.

The following example re-runs the ``cc_set_hostname`` module ignoring the
module default frequency of ``instance``:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init single --name set_hostname --frequency always

.. note::

   Mileage may vary trying to re-run each ``cloud-config`` module, as
   some are not idempotent.

.. _cli_status:

:command:`status`
=================

Report cloud-init's current status.

Exits 1 if ``cloud-init`` crashes, 2 if ``cloud-init`` finishes but experienced
recoverable errors, and 0 if ``cloud-init`` ran without error.

* :command:`--long`: Detailed status information.
* :command:`--wait`: Block until ``cloud-init`` completes.
* :command:`--format [yaml|json]`: Machine-readable JSON or YAML
  detailed output.

The :command:`status` command can be used simply as follows:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init status

Which shows whether ``cloud-init`` is currently running, done, disabled, or in
error. Note that the ``extended_status`` key in ``--long`` or ``--format json``
contains more accurate and complete status information. Example output:

.. code-block::

   status: running

The :command:`--long` option, shown below, provides a more verbose output.

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init status --long

Example output when ``cloud-init`` is running:

.. code-block::

   status: running
   extended_status: running
   boot_status_code: enabled-by-generator
   last_update: Wed, 13 Mar 2024 18:46:26 +0000
   detail: DataSourceLXD
   errors: []
   recoverable_errors: {}

Example output when ``cloud-init`` is done:

.. code-block::

   status: done
   extended_status: done
   boot_status_code: enabled-by-generator
   last_update: Wed, 13 Mar 2024 18:46:26 +0000
   detail: DataSourceLXD
   errors: []
   recoverable_errors: {}

The detailed output can be shown in machine-readable JSON or YAML with the
:command:`format` option, for example:

.. code-block:: shell-session

   $ cloud-init status --format=json

Which would produce the following example output:

.. code-block::

    {
      "boot_status_code": "enabled-by-generator",
      "datasource": "lxd",
      "detail": "DataSourceLXD",
      "errors": [],
      "extended_status": "done",
      "init": {
        "errors": [],
        "finished": 1710355584.3603137,
        "recoverable_errors": {},
        "start": 1710355584.2216876
      },
      "init-local": {
        "errors": [],
        "finished": 1710355582.279756,
        "recoverable_errors": {},
        "start": 1710355582.2255273
      },
      "last_update": "Wed, 13 Mar 2024 18:46:26 +0000",
      "modules-config": {
        "errors": [],
        "finished": 1710355585.5042186,
        "recoverable_errors": {},
        "start": 1710355585.334438
      },
      "modules-final": {
        "errors": [],
        "finished": 1710355586.9038777,
        "recoverable_errors": {},
        "start": 1710355586.8076844
      },
      "recoverable_errors": {},
      "stage": null,
      "status": "done"
    }

.. _More details on machine-id: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/machine-id.html