Configure Chef Workstation

Chef Workstation App and chef-run configuration is managed in config.toml. Chef Workstation will create config.toml the first time you use chef-run, if one does not already exist. To configure other tools, see their respective pages found in the toolbar under Chef Workstation Tools.

Default location

Chef Workstation looks for the config.toml in a default location.

Windows

Powershell: $env:USERPROFILE\.chef-workstation\config.toml
cmd.exe: %USERPROFILE%\.chef-workstation\config.toml

Linux and Mac

/home/$USER/.chef-workstation/config.toml

Settings

Telemetry

Configure telemetry behaviors for Chef Workstation components.

Example

[telemetry]
enable = true
dev = false

enable

Description: When true, anonymous usage data and bug reports are sent to Chef. See Chef’s Privacy Statement for the type and usage of gathered data.
Value: true, false
Default: true
Used by: chef-run
CHEF_TELEMETRY_OPT_OUT: When set to any value, chef-run will not capture or send telemetry data.

dev

Description: When set to any value, chef-run will not capture or send telemetry data. Only set this if you have access to Chef’s internal QA environment - otherwise the telemetry data will not be successfully captured by Chef. If you have access to Chef’s internal QA environment, if dev and enable are both true, anonymous data is reported to Chef’s QA environment.
Values: true, false
Default: false
Used by: chef-run, Chef Workstation App

Log

Control logging level and location.

Example

[log]
level = "debug"
location = "C:\Users\username\chef-workstation.log"

level

Description: Determines what messages are logged from locally-run Chef Workstation commands to the to the local log file.
Values: "debug", "warn", "info", "error", "fatal"
Default: "warn"
Used by: chef-run

location

Description: The location of the local Chef Workstation log file.
Values: Value must be a valid, writable file path.
Default: "$USERHOME/.chef-workstation/logs/default.log"
Used by: chef-run

Cache

Configure caching options.

Example

[cache]
path = "/home/users/username/.cache/chef-workstation"

path

Description: The base path used to store cached cookbooks and downloads.
Default: $USERHOME/.chef-workstation/cache
Values: This must reference a valid, writable directory.
Used by: chef-run

Connection

Control default connection behaviors.

Example

[connection]
default_protocol = "winrm"
default_user = "username"

default_protocol

Description: Default protocol for connecting to target hosts.
Values: "ssh", "winrm"
Default: "ssh"
Used by: chef-run
CLI flag: --protocol PROTO

default_user

Description: Default username for target host authentication.
Values: A username that exists on the target hosts.
Default: root (Linux), administrator (Windows)
Used by: chef-run
CLI flag: --user USERNAME

Connection.winrm

Control connection behaviors for the WinRM protocol.

Example

[connection.winrm]
ssl = true
ssl_verify = false

ssl

Description: Enable SSL for WinRM session encryption
Values: true, false
Default: false
Used by: chef-run
CLI flag: --[no]-ssl

ssl_verify

Description :Intended for use in testing environments that use self-signed certificates on Windows nodes.

Default: true
Values: true, false
Used by: chef-run
CLI flag: –ssl-[no]-verify

Chef

Configure remote Chef running on instances.

Example

[chef]
trusted_certs_dir = "/home/username/mytrustedcerts"
cookbook_repo_paths = [
  "/home/username/cookbooks",
  "/var/chef/cookbooks"
]

trusted_certs_dir

Description: Describes where to find Chef’s trusted certificates. Used to ensure trusted certs are provided to the chef-client run on target nodes.
Values: A directory containing the trusted certificates for use in the Chef ecosystem.
Default: Look first for .chef/config.rb and use that value if provided; otherwise "/opt/chef-workstation/embedded/ssl/certs/"
Used by: chef-run

cookbook_repo_paths

Description: Path or paths to use for cookbook resolution. When multiple cookbook paths are provided and a cookbook exists in more than one of them, the cookbook found in the last-most directory will be used. Considering the example, when resolving cookbook mycb: if mycb existed in both /home/username/cookbooks and /var/chef/cookbooks, mycb in /var/chef/cookbooks will be used.
Values: A string referencing a valid cookbook path, or an array of such strings. See example for syntax.
Default: cookbook_path value from .chef/config.rb, otherwise not found
Used by: chef-run
CLI flag: --cookbook-repo-paths PATH1,PATH2,..PATHn

Updates

Control the behavior of automatic update checking for Chef Workstation.

Example

[updates]
enable = true
channel = "current"

enable

Description: Enable update checking for Chef Workstation updates.
Values: true, false
Default: true
Used by: Chef Workstation App

channel

Description: Set the update channel to use when checking for Chef Workstation updates. "stable" is the recommended value. Switch to "current" is not guaranteed to be stable, and should only be used if you are comfortable with the risks associated.
Values: "stable", "current"
Default: "stable"
Used by: Chef Workstation App

Data_collector

Configure reporting of chef-client runs triggered via chef-run.

Example

[data_collector]
url = "https://1.1.1.1/data-collector/v0/"
token = "ABCDEF0123456789"

url

Description: URL of an Automate data collection endpoint. This URL is provided to the target host, allowing them to report in to Automate when chef-run is used to converge the targets. A valid token generated by automate is required.
Values: A valid automate data collector endpoint.
Default: not set.
Used by: chef-run

token

Description: An Automate API token, used on target host to authenticate to the url provided.
Values: A valid token generated by Automate.
Default: not set.
Used by: chef-run

Dev

These options are intended for development and troubleshooting of Chef Workstation tools. Their usage is not supported and is subject to change.

Example

[dev]
spinner = false

spinner

Description: Use animated spinners and progress indicators in the terminal output.
Values: true, false
Default: true
Used by: chef-run

Features

Enable and disable experimental features for Chef Workstation.

Example

[features]
example = true

Description: List of experimental features. Boolean. Default: none. Enable the feature with feature = true and disable with feature = false. example = true enables one feature, which is the example feature. You can also enable or disable any feature from the command line using an environment variable. For example, setting CHEF_FEAT_EXAMPLE=true from the command line enables the example feature for the duration of your terminal session.
Values: name = true, name = false
Used by: The entire Chef Workstation ecosystem.