Provided by: chef_11.8.2-2_all 
NAME
chef-shell - The man page for the chef-shell command line tool.
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.
Note chef-shell is the new name for Shef as of Chef 11.x. chef-shell is backwards
compatible and aside from the name change, has the same set of functionality as
with previous releases.
The chef-shell executable can be run as a command-line tool.
MODES
chef-shell is tool that allows Knife to be 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 │ No cookbooks are loaded, and the │
│ │ run list is empty. This mode is │
│ │ the default. │
├───────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│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 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
Indicates that chef-shell will be run in standalone mode.
-c CONFIG, --config CONFIG
The configuration file to use.
-h, --help
Shows help for the command.
-j PATH, --json-attributes PATH
The path to a file that contains JSON data. Use this option to override attributes
that are set from other locations, such as from within a cookbook or by a role.
-l LEVEL, --log_level LEVEL
The level of logging that will be stored in a log file: debug, info, warn, error,
or fatal.
-s, --solo
Indicates that chef-shell will be run in chef-solo mode.
-S CHEF_SERVER_URL, --server CHEF_SERVER_URL
The URL for the server.
-v, --version
The version of the chef-client.
-z, --client
Indicates that chef-shell will be run in chef-client mode.
AUTHOR
Opscode
Chef 11.8.0 CHEF-SHELL(1)