SALT(1)

NAME
salt - salt

SYNOPSIS
salt '*' [ options ] sys.doc

salt -E '.*' [ options ] sys.doc cmd

salt -G 'os:Arch.*' [ options ] test.version

salt -C 'G@os:Arch.* and webserv* or G@kernel:FreeBSD' [ options ] test.version

DESCRIPTION

Salt allows for commands to be executed across a swath of remote systems in parallel. This means that remote systems can be both controlled and queried with ease.

OPTIONS

--version
    Print the version of Salt that is running.

--versions-report
    Show program's dependencies and version number, and then exit

-h, --help
    Show the help message and exit

-c CONFIG_DIR, --config-dir=CONFIG_dir
    The location of the Salt configuration directory. This directory contains the configuration files for Salt master and minions. The default location on most systems is /etc/salt.

-t TIMEOUT, --timeout=TIMEOUT
    The timeout in seconds to wait for replies from the Salt minions. The timeout number specifies how long the command line client will wait to query the minions and check on running jobs. Default: 5

-s, --static
    By default as of version 0.9.8 the salt command returns data to the console as it is received from minions, but previous releases would return data only after all data was received. Use the static option to only return the data with a hard timeout and after all minions have returned. Without the static option, you will get a separate JSON string per minion which makes JSON output invalid as a whole.

--async
    Instead of waiting for the job to run on minions only print the job id of the started execution and complete.

--subset=SUBSET
    Execute the routine on a random subset of the targeted minions. The minions will be verified that they have the named function before executing. The SUBSET argument is the count of the minions to target.

-v VERBOSE, --verbose
    Turn on verbosity for the salt call, this will cause the salt command to print out extra data like the job id.

--hide-timeout
    Instead of showing the return data for all minions. This option prints only the online minions which could be reached.

-b BATCH, --batch-size=BATCH
    Instead of executing on all targeted minions at once, execute on a progressive set of minions. This option takes an argument in the form of an explicit number of minions to execute at once, or a percentage of minions to execute on.

--batch-wait=BATCH_WAIT
    Wait the specified time in seconds after each job is done before freeing the slot in the batch of the next one.

--batch-safe-limit=BATCH_SAFE_LIMIT
    Execute the salt job in batch mode if the job would have executed on at least this many minions.

--batch-safe-size=BATCH_SAFE_SIZE
    Batch size to use for batch jobs created by --batch-safe-limit.

-a EAUTH, --auth=EAUTH
    Pass in an external authentication medium to validate against. The credentials will be prompted for. The options are auto, keystone, ldap, and pam. Can be used with the -T option.

-T, --make-token
    Used in conjunction with the -a option. This creates a token that allows for the authenticated user to send commands without needing to re-authenticate.

--return=RETURNER
    Choose an alternative returner to call on the minion, if an alternative returner is used then the return will not come back to the command line but will be sent to the specified return system. The options are carbon, cassandra, couchbase, couchdb, elasticsearch, etcd, hipchat, local, local_cache, memcache, mongo, mysql, odbc, postgres, redis, sentry, slack, sms, smtp, sqlite3, syslog, and xmpp.

-d, --doc, --documentation
    Return the documentation for the module functions available on the minions

--args-separator=ARGS_SEPARATOR
    Set the special argument used as a delimiter between command arguments of compound commands. This is useful when one wants to pass commas as arguments to some of the commands in a compound command.

  Logging Options

Logging options which override any settings defined on the configuration files.

-l LOG_LEVEL, --log-level=LOG_LEVEL
    Console logging log level. One of all, garbage, trace, debug, info, warning, error, quiet. Default: warning.

--log-file=LOG_FILE
    Log file path. Default: /var/log/salt/master.

--log-file-level=LOG_LEVEL_LOGFILE
    Logfile logging log level. One of all, garbage, trace, debug, info, warning, error, quiet. Default: warning.

  Target Selection

The default matching that Salt utilizes is shell-style globbing around the minion id. See https://docs.python.org/3/library/fnmatch.html#module-fnmatch.

-E, --pcre
    The target expression will be interpreted as a PCRE regular expression rather than a shell glob.

-L, --list
    The target expression will be interpreted as a comma-delimited list; example: server1.foo.bar,server2.foo.bar,example7.quo.qux

-G, --grain
    The target expression matches values returned by the Salt grains system on the minions. The target expression is in the format of '<grain value>:<glob expression>'; example: 'os:Arch*'

    This was changed in version 0.9.8 to accept glob expressions instead of regular expression. To use regular expression matching with grains, use the --grain-pcre option.

--grain-pcre
    The target expression matches values returned by the Salt grains system on the minions. The target expression is in the format of '<grain value>:< regular expression>'; example: 'os:Arch.*'

-N, --nodegroup
    Use a predefined compound target defined in the Salt master configuration file.

-R, --range
    Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target, use a range expression to identify targets. Range expressions look like %cluster.

    Using the Range option requires that a range server is set up and the location of the range server is referenced in the master configuration file.

-C, --compound
    Utilize many target definitions to make the call very granular. This option takes a group of targets separated by and or or. The default matcher is a glob as usual. If something other than a glob is used, preface it with the letter denoting the type; example: 'webserv* and G@os:Debian or E@db*' Make sure that the compound target is encapsulated in quotes.

-I, --pillar
    Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target, use a pillar value to identify targets. The syntax for the target is the pillar key followed by a glob expression: "role:production*"

-S, --ipcidr
    Match based on Subnet (CIDR notation) or IPv4 address.

  Output Options

--out
    Pass in an alternative outputter to display the return of data. This outputter can be any of the available outputters: highstate, json, key, overstatestage, pprint, raw, txt, yaml, and many others.

    Some outputters are formatted only for data returned from specific functions. If an outputter is used that does not support the data passed into it, then Salt will fall back on the pprint outputter and display the return data using the Python pprint standard library module.

--out-indent OUTPUT_INDENT, --output-indent OUTPUT_INDENT
    Print the output indented by the provided value in spaces. Negative values disable indentation. Only applicable in outputters that support indentation.

--out-file=OUTPUT_FILE, --output-file=OUTPUT_FILE
    Write the output to the specified file.

--out-file-append, --output-file-append
    Append the output to the specified file.

--no-color
    Disable all colored output

--force-color
    Force colored output

    NOTE: When using colored output the color codes are as follows:

    green denotes success, red denotes failure, blue denotes changes and success and yellow denotes a expected future change in configuration.

--state-output=STATE_OUTPUT, --state_output=STATE_OUTPUT
    Override the configured state_output value for minion output. One of 'full', 'terse', 'mixed', 'changes' or 'filter'. Default: 'none'.

--state-verbose=STATE_VERBOSE, --state_verbose=STATE_VERBOSE
    Override the configured state_verbose value for minion output. Set to True or False. Default: none.

    NOTE: If using --out=json, you will probably want --static as well. Without the static option, you will get a separate JSON string per minion which makes JSON output invalid as a whole. This is due to using an iterative outputter. So if you want to feed it to a JSON parser, use --static as well.

SEE ALSO

salt(7) salt-master(1) salt-minion(1)

AUTHOR
Thomas S. Hatch <thatch45@gmail.com> and many others, please see the Authors file

COPYRIGHT
2026