Chef Server API

The Chef server API is a REST API that provides access to objects on the Chef server, including nodes, environments, roles, cookbooks (and cookbook versions), and to manage an API client list and the associated RSA public key-pairs.

Requirements

The Chef server API has the following requirements:

• Access to a Chef server running version 0.10.x or above
• The Accept header must be set to application/json
• For PUT and POST requests, the Content-Type header must be set to application/json
• The X-Chef-Version header must be set to the version of the Chef server API that is being used
• A request must be signed using Mixlib::Authentication
• A request must be well-formatted. The easiest way to ensure a well-formatted request is to use the Chef::REST library

Authentication Headers

Authentication to the Chef server occurs when a specific set of HTTP headers are signed using a private key that is associated with the machine from which the request is made. The request is authorized if the Chef server can verify the signature using the public key. Only authorized actions are allowed.

Header Format

All hashing is done using SHA-1 and encoded in Base64. Base64 encoding should have line breaks every 60 characters. Each canonical header should be encoded in the following format:

Method:HTTP_METHOD
Hashed Path:HASHED_PATH
X-Ops-Content-Hash:HASHED_BODY
X-Ops-Timestamp:TIME
X-Ops-UserId:USERID

where:

• HTTP_METHOD is the method used in the API request (GET, POST, and so on)
• HASHED_PATH is the path of the request: /organizations/NAME/name_of_endpoint. The HASHED_PATH must be hashed using SHA-1 and encoded using Base64, must not have repeated forward slashes (/), must not end in a forward slash (unless the path is /), and must not include a query string.
• The private key must be an RSA key in the SSL .pem file format. This signature is then broken into character strings (of not more than 60 characters per line) and placed in the header.

The Chef server decrypts this header and ensures its content matches the content of the non-encrypted headers that were in the request. The timestamp of the message is checked to ensure the request was received within a reasonable amount of time. One approach generating the signed headers is to use mixlib-authentication, which is a class-based header signing authentication object similar to the one used by the chef-client.

Required Headers

The following authentication headers are required:

Example

The following example shows an authentication request:

GET /organizations/NAME/nodes HTTP/1.1
  Accept: application/json
  Accept-Encoding: gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3
  X-Ops-Sign: algorithm=sha1;version=1.0;
  X-Ops-Userid: user_id
  X-Ops-Timestamp: 2014-12-12T17:13:28Z
  X-Ops-Content-Hash: 2jmj7l5rfasfgSw0ygaVb/vlWAghYkK/YBwk=
  X-Ops-Authorization-1: BE3NnBritishaf3ifuwLSPCCYasdfXaRN5oZb4c6hbW0aefI
  X-Ops-Authorization-2: sL4j1qtEZzi/2WeF67UuytdsdfgbOc5CjgECQwqrym9gCUON
  X-Ops-Authorization-3: yf0p7PrLRCNasdfaHhQ2LWSea+kTcu0dkasdfvaTghfCDC57
  X-Ops-Authorization-4: 155i+ZlthfasfasdffukusbIUGBKUYFjhbvcds3k0i0gqs+V
  X-Ops-Authorization-5: /sLcR7JjQky7sdafIHNfsBQrISktNPower1236hbFIayFBx3
  X-Ops-Authorization-6: nodilAGMb166@haC/fttwlWQ2N1LasdqqGomRedtyhSqXA==
  Host: api.opscode.com:443
  X-Ops-Server-API-Info: 1
  X-Chef-Version: 12.0.2
  User-Agent: Chef Knife/12.0.2 (ruby-2.1.1-p320; ohai-8.0.0; x86_64-darwin12.0.2; +http://chef.io)

Knife API Requests

A knife plugin is a set of one (or more) subcommands that can be added to knife to support additional functionality that is not built-in to the base set of knife subcommands. Many of the knife plugins are built by members of the Chef community and several of them are built and maintained by Chef. A knife plugin is installed to the ~/.chef/plugins/knife/ directory, from where it can be run just like any other knife subcommand.

A knife plugin can be used to make authenticated API requests to the Chef server using the following methods:

For example:

module MyCommands
  class MyNodeDelete < Chef::Knife
    #An implementation of knife node delete
    banner 'knife my node delete [NODE_NAME]'

  def run
    if name_args.length < 1
      show_usage
      ui.fatal("You must specify a node name.")
      exit 1
    end
    nodename = name_args[0]
       api_endpoint = "nodes/#{nodename}"
       # Again, we could just call rest.delete_rest
       nodey = rest.get_rest(api_endpoint)
       ui.confirm("Do you really want to delete #{nodey}")
       nodey.destroy
     end
   end
end

Global Endpoints

A global endpoint may be used to access all of the organizations on the Chef server.

/license

The /license endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to get license information for the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/license

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "limit_exceeded": "false",
  "node_license": "25",
  "node_count": "12",
  "upgrade_url": "http://www.chef.io/contact/on-premises-simple"
}

When node_count is greater than node_license, then limit_exceeded is true and the Chef management console will display a notification about this status. The way to resolve this is to visit the upgrade URL, add the appropriate number of licenses, and then update the configuration settings appropriately.

The chef-server.rb file contains settings that can be used to edit the number of nodes that are under license:

Response Codes

/organizations

The Chef server may contain multiple organizations.

The /organizations endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of organizations on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/organizations

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "org_name1"=>"https://url/for/org_name1"
  "org_name2"=>"https://url/for/org_name2"
      ...
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create an organization on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "chef",
  "full_name": "Chef Software, Inc.",
}

where:

• name must begin with a lower-case letter or digit, may only contain lower-case letters, digits, hyphens, and underscores, and must be between 1 and 255 characters. For example: chef.
• full_name must begin with a non-white space character and must be between 1 and 1023 characters. For example: Chef Software, Inc..

Response

The response is similar to:

{ "org_name": "https://url/for/org_name" }

Response Codes

/organizations/NAME

An organization is a single instance of a Chef server, including all of the nodes that are managed by that Chef server and each of the workstations that will run knife and access the Chef server using the Chef server API.

The /organizations/NAME endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete an organization.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "chef",
  "full_name": "Chef Software, Inc",
  "guid": "f980d1asdfda0331235s00ff36862"
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to get the details for the named organization.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "chef",
  "full_name": "Chef Software, Inc",
  "guid": "f980d1asdfda0331235s00ff36862"
         ...
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to create an organization.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "chef",
  "full_name": "Chef Software, Inc"
}

Response

The response will return the JSON for the updated organization.

Response Codes

/users

A user is an individual account that is created to allow access to the Chef server. For example:

• A hosted Chef server account
• The user that operates the workstation from which a Chef server will be managed

The /users endpoint has the following methods: `GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of users on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /users

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "user1"=> "https://url/for/user1"
  "user2"=> "https://url/for/user2"
      ...
}

Response Codes

Optional Filtering

Filtering on /users can be done with the external_authentication_uid. This is to support SAML authentication.

As an example, to retrieve users whos external_authentication_uid is [email protected], you would do the following:

GET /users?external_authentication_uid=jane%40doe.com

New in Chef server 12.7.

POST

The POST method is used to create a user on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /users

Response

The response is similar to:

{ "user_name": "https://url/for/user_name" }

Response Codes

/users/NAME

The /users/USER_NAME endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, POST, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a user.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /users/USER_NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "Grant McLennan",
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return the details for a user.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /users/USER_NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "Robert Forster",
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new user. If a public key is not specified, both public and private keys will be generated and returned. If a public key is specified, only the public key will be returned.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /users/USER_NAME

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "Robert Forster"
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "Robert Forster",
  "private_key": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n
                MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCyVPW9YXa5PR0rgEW1updSxygB\n
                wmVpDnHurgQ7/gbh+PmY49EZsfrZSbKgSKy+rxdsVoSoU+krYtHvYIwVfr2tk0FP\n
                nhAWJaFH654KpuCNG6x6iMLtzGO1Ma/VzHnFqoOeSCKHXDhmHwJAjGDTPAgCJQiI\n
                eau6cDNJRiJ7j0/xBwIDAQAB\n
                -----END PRIVATE KEY-----"
  "admin": true
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update a specific user. If values are not specified for the PUT method, the Chef server will use the existing values rather than assign default values.

PUT accepts a boolean: { "private_key": "true" }. If this is specified, a new private key is generated.

If values are missing, they will not be overwritten. If public_key is null, the public key will not be overwritten.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /users/NAME

with a request body similar to:

POST /users { "name": "Grant McLennan" }

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "Grant McLennan",
  "private_key": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n
                MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCyVPW9YXa5PR0rgEW1updSxygB\n
                wmVpDnHurgQ7/gbh+PmY49EZsfrZSbKgSKy+rxdsVoSoU+krYtHvYIwVfr2tk0FP\n
                nhAWJaFH654KpuCNG6x6iMLtzGO1Ma/VzHnFqoOeSCKHXDhmHwJAjGDTPAgCJQiI\n
                eau6cDNJRiJ7j0/xBwIDAQAB\n
                -----END PRIVATE KEY-----"
  "admin": false
}

If a new private key was generated, both the private and public keys are returned.

Response Codes

/users/USER/keys/

The /users/USER/keys endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to retrieve all of the named user’s key identifiers, associated URIs, and expiry states.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /users/USER/keys/

Response

The response is similar to:

[
  { "name" : "default",
             "uri" : "https://chef.example/users/USER/keys/default",
             "expired" : false },
  { "name" : "key1",
             "uri" : "https://chef.example/users/USER/keys/key1",
             "expired" : false}
]

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to add a key for the specified user.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /users/USER/keys/

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name" : "key1",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY ----and a valid key here",
  "expiration_date" : "infinity"
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "uri" : "https://chef.example/users/user1/keys/key1"
}

Response Codes

/users/USER/keys/KEY

The /users/USER/keys/KEY endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete the specified key for the specified user.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /users/USER/keys/KEY

Response

The response returns the information about the deleted key and is similar to:

{
  "name" : "default",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY --------- ...",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return details for a specific key for a specific user.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /users/USER/keys/KEY

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name" : "default",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY --------- ...",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update one or more properties for a specific key for a specific user.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /users/USER/keys/KEY

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name" : "new_key_name",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY ----and a valid key here",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response

The response contains the updated inforamtion for the key, and is similar to:

{
  "name" : "new_key_name",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY --------- ...",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response Codes

Organization Endpoints

Each organization-specific authentication request must include /organizations/NAME as part of the name for the endpoint. For example, the full endpoint for getting a list of roles:

GET /organizations/NAME/roles

where ORG_NAME is the name of the organization.

/association_requests

Users may be invited to join organizations via the web user interface in the Chef management console or via the POST endpoint in the Chef server API.

The /association_requests endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and POST.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a pending invitation.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/association_requests/ID

This method has no request body.

Response

The response is similar to:

{

}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of pending invitations.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/association_requests

Response

The response is similar to:

{

}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create an invitation.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/association_requests

Response

This method has no response body.

Response Codes

/authenticate_user

The /authenticate_user endpoint has the following methods: POST.

POST

The POST method is used to authenticate a user. This endpoint is used by the Chef Identity Service to authenticate users of Chef Supermarket and Chef Analytics to the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/authenticate_user

with a request body similar to:

{
  "username" : "grantmc",
  "password" : "p@ssw0rd"
}

Response

This method has no response body.

Response Codes

/client/CLIENT/keys/

The /client/CLIENT/keys endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to retrieve all of the named client’s key identifiers, associated URIs, and expiry states.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/clients/CLIENT/keys

Response

The response is similar to:

[
  { "name" : "default",
             "uri" : "https://chef.example/organizations/example/clients/client1/keys/default",
             "expired" : false },
  { "name" : "key1",
             "uri" : "https://chef.example/organizations/example/clients/client1/keys/key1",
             "expired" : true }
]

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to add a key for the specified client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/clients/CLIENT/keys

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "key1",
  "public_key": "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY ----and a valid key here",
  "expiration_date": "infinity"
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "uri": "https://chef.example/organizations/example/clients/client1/keys/key1"
}

Response Codes

/client/CLIENT/keys/KEY

The /clients/CLIENT/keys/KEY endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete the specified key for the specified client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/clients/CLIENT/keys/KEY

Response

The response returns the information about the deleted key and is similar to:

{
  "name" : "default",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY --------- ...",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return details for a specific key for a specific client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/clients/CLIENT/keys/KEY

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name" : "default",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY --------- ...",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update one or more properties for a specific key for a specific client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/clients/CLIENT/keys/KEY

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name" : "new_key_name",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY ----and a valid key here",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response

The response contains the updated inforamtion for the key, and is similar to:

{
  "name" : "new_key_name",
  "public_key" : "-------- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY --------- ...",
  "expiration_date" : "2020-12-31T00:00:00Z"
}

Response Codes

/clients

Use the /clients endpoint to manage an API client list and their associated RSA public key-pairs. The /clients endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to return the API client list on the Chef server, including nodes that have been registered with the Chef server, the chef-validator clients, and the chef-server-webui clients for the entire organization.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/clients

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "org1-validator" : "https://chef.example/orgaizations/org1/clients/org1-validator",
  "client1" : "https://chef.example/orgaizations/org1/clients/client1"
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new API client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/clients

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "name_of_API_client",
  "admin": false,
  "create_key": true
}

where name_of_API_client is the name of the API client to be created and admin indicates whether the API client will be run as an admin API client.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "uri": "https://chef.example/orgaizations/org1/clients/client1",
  "chef_key": {
    "name": "default",
    "public_key": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----",
    "private_key": "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
}

Store the private key in a safe place. It will be required later (along with the client name) to access the Chef server when using the Chef server API.

Response Codes

/clients/NAME

The /clients/NAME endpoint is used to manage a specific API client. This endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to remove a specific API client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/clients/NAME

This method has no request body.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name" : "client1",
  "validator" : "false"
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return a specific API client.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/clients/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name" : "user1",
  "validator" : "false"
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update a specific API client. If values are not specified for the PUT method, the Chef server will use the existing values rather than assign default values.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/clients/NAME

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "monkeypants",
  "private_key": true,
  "admin": false
}

where private_key (when true) will generate a new RSA private key for the API client. If admin is set to true the API client will be promoted to an admin API client.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "uri" : "https://chef.example/orgaizations/org1/clients/client1"
}

Response Codes

/containers

The /containers endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of containers.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/containers

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "clients": "https://url/for/containers/clients",
  "containers": "https://url/for/containers/containers",
  "cookbooks": "https://url/for/containers/cookbooks",
  "data": "https://url/for/containers/data",
  "environments": "https://url/for/containers/environments",
  "groups": "https://url/for/containers/groups",
  "nodes": "https://url/for/containers/nodes",
  "roles": "https://url/for/containers/roles",
  "sandboxes": "https://url/for/containers/sandboxes"
}

Response Codes

/cookbooks

A cookbook is the fundamental unit of configuration and policy distribution. A cookbook defines a scenario and contains everything that is required to support that scenario:

• Recipes that specify the resources to use and the order in which they are to be applied
• Attribute values
• File distributions
• Templates
• Extensions to Chef, such as libraries, definitions, and custom resources

When a cookbook is uploaded, only files that are new or updated will be included. This approach minimizes the amount of storage and time that is required during the modify-upload-test cycle. To keep track of which files have already been uploaded, the chef-client uses a checksum and assigns a checksum to each file. These checksums are used in the cookbook version manifest, alongside the same records that store the file description (name, specificity, and so on), as well as the checksum and the URL from which the file’s contents can be retrieved.

The /cookbooks endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a hash of all cookbooks and cookbook versions.

This method has the following parameters:

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/cookbooks

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "apache2": {
    "url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2",
    "versions": [
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/5.1.0",
       "version": "5.1.0"},
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/4.2.0",
       "version": "4.2.0"}
    ]
  },
  "nginx": {
    "url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/nginx",
    "versions": [
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/nginx/1.0.0",
       "version": "1.0.0"},
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/nginx/0.3.0",
       "version": "0.3.0"}
    ]
  }
}

Response Codes

/cookbooks/_latest

The /cookbooks/_latest endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a list of the most recent cookbook versions.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/cookbooks/_latest

Response

For example, if cookbooks foo and bar both exist on the Chef server and both with versions 0.1.0 and 0.2.0, the response is similar to:

{
  "foo": "https://localhost/cookbooks/foo/0.2.0",
  "bar": "https://localhost/cookbooks/bar/0.2.0"
}

Response Codes

/cookbooks/_recipes

The /cookbooks/_recipes endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return the names of all recipes in the most recent cookbook versions.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/cookbooks/_recipes

Response

The response is similar to:

{

}

Response Codes

/cookbooks/NAME

The /cookbooks/NAME endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a hash that contains a key-value pair that corresponds to the specified cookbook, with a URL for the cookbook and for each version of the cookbook.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/cookbooks/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "apache2": {
    "url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2",
    "versions": [
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/5.1.0",
       "version": "5.1.0"},
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/4.2.0",
       "version": "4.2.0"}
    ]
  }
}

Response Codes

/cookbooks/NAME/version

A cookbook version represents a set of functionality that is different from the cookbook on which it is based. A version may exist for many reasons, such as ensuring the correct use of a third-party component, updating a bug fix, or adding an improvement. A cookbook version is defined using syntax and operators, may be associated with environments, cookbook metadata, and/or run-lists, and may be frozen (to prevent unwanted updates from being made).

A cookbook version is maintained just like a cookbook, with regard to source control, uploading it to the Chef server, and how the chef-client applies that cookbook when configuring nodes.

The /cookbooks/NAME/VERSION endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a cookbook version.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/cookbooks/NAME/VERSION

Response

This method has no response body. Unused checksum values will be garbage collected.

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return a description of a cookbook, including its metadata and links to component files.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/cookbooks/NAME/VERSION

where VERSION can be _latest in order to float to head.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "cookbook_name": "getting-started",
  "files": [

  ],
  "chef_type": "cookbook_version",
  "definitions": [

  ],
  "libraries": [

  ],
  "attributes": [
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": "attributes/default.rb",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": "default.rb",
      "checksum": "fa0fc4abf3f6787fdsaasadfrc5c35de667c"
    }
  ],
  "recipes": [
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": "recipes/default.rb",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": "default.rb",
      "checksum": "7e79b1ace7728fdsadfsdaf857e60fc69"
    }
  ],
  "providers": [

  ],
  "resources": [

  ],
  "templates": [
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": "templates/default/chef-getting-started.txt.erb",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": "chef-getting-started.txt.erb",
      "checksum": "a29d6f2545sdffds1f140c3a78b1fe"
    }
  ],
  "root_files": [
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": ".DS_Store",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": ".DS_Store",
      "checksum": "c107b500aafd12asdffdsdf5c2a7d6"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": "metadata.json",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": "metadata.json",
      "checksum": "20f09570e54dasdf0f3ae01e6401c90f"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": "metadata.rb",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": "metadata.rb",
      "checksum": "71027aefasd487fdsa4cb6994b66ed"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://domain.com/org_name/(...rest of URL)",
      "path": "README.rdoc",
      "specificity": "default",
      "name": "README.rdoc",
      "checksum": "8b9275e56fee974easdfasdfbb729"
    }
  ],
  "name": "getting-started-0.4.0",
  "frozen?": false,
  "version": "0.4.0",
  "json_class": "Chef::CookbookVersion",
  "metadata": {
    "maintainer": "Maintainer",
    "attributes": { },
    "suggestions": { },
    "recipes": { "getting-started": "" },
    "dependencies": { },
    "platforms": { },
    "groupings": { },
    "recommendations": { },
    "name": "getting-started",
    "description": "description",
    "version": "0.4.0",
    "maintainer_email": "[email protected]",
    "long_description": "= DESCRIPTION:\n\nThis cookbook is used to do some things.\n\n",
    "providing": { "getting-started": ">= 0.0.0" },
    "replacing": { },
    "conflicting": { },
    "license": "Apache 2.0"
  }
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to create or update a cookbook version.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/cookbooks/NAME/VERSION

with a request body similar to:

{
  "definitions": [
    {
      "name": "unicorn_config.rb",
      "checksum": "c92b659171552e896074caa58dada0c2",
      "path": "definitions/unicorn_config.rb",
      "specificity": "default"
    }
  ],
  "name": "unicorn-0.1.2",
  "attributes": [],
  "files": [],
  "json_class": "Chef::CookbookVersion",
  "providers": [],
  "metadata": {
    "dependencies": {"ruby": [], "rubygems": []},
    "name": "unicorn",
    "maintainer_email": "[email protected]",
    "attributes": {},
    "license": "Apache 2.0",
    "suggestions": {},
    "platforms": {},
    "maintainer": "Opscode, Inc",
    "long_description": "= LICENSE AND AUTHOR:\n\nAuthor:: Adam Jacob...",
    "recommendations": {},
    "version": "0.1.2",
    "conflicting": {},
    "recipes": {"unicorn": "Installs unicorn rubygem"},
    "groupings": {},
    "replacing": {},
    "description": "Installs/Configures unicorn",
    "providing": {}
  },
  "libraries": [],
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "unicorn.rb.erb",
      "checksum": "36a1cc1b225708db96d48026c3f624b2",
      "path": "templates/default/unicorn.rb.erb",
      "specificity": "default"
    }
  ],
  "resources": [],
  "cookbook_name": "unicorn",
  "version": "0.1.2",
  "recipes": [
    {
      "name": "default.rb",
      "checksum": "ba0dadcbca26710a521e0e3160cc5e20",
      "path": "recipes/default.rb",
      "specificity": "default"
    }
  ],
  "root_files": [
    {
      "name": "README.rdoc",
      "checksum": "d18c630c8a68ffa4852d13214d0525a6",
      "path": "README.rdoc",
      "specificity": "default"
    },
    {
      "name": "metadata.rb",
      "checksum": "967087a09f48f234028d3aa27a094882",
      "path": "metadata.rb",
      "specificity": "default"
    },
    {
      "name": "metadata.json",
      "checksum": "45b27c78955f6a738d2d42d88056c57c",
      "path": "metadata.json",
      "specificity": "default"
    }
  ],
  "chef_type": "cookbook_version"
}

where the checksum values must have already been uploaded to the Chef server using the sandbox endpoint. Once a file with a particular checksum has been uploaded by the user, redundant uploads are not necessary. Unused checksum values will be garbage collected.

Response

This method has no response body.

Response Codes

/data

A data bag is a global variable that is stored as JSON data and is accessible from a Chef server. A data bag is indexed for searching and can be loaded by a recipe or accessed during a search.

The /data endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to return a list of all data bags on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/data

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "users": "https://localhost/data/users",
  "applications": "https://localhost/data/applications"
}

shown as a list of key-value pairs, where (in the example above) users and applications are the names of data bags and https://localhost/data/foo is the path to the data bag.

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new data bag on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/data

with a request body that contains the key-value pair for the data bag and is similar to:

{
  "name": "users"
}

where (in the example above) name is the key and “users” is the value.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
   "chef_type": "environment",
   "data_bag": "data123",
   "id": "12345"
}

Response Codes

/data/NAME

The /data/NAME endpoint is used to view and update data for a specific data bag. This endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a data bag.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/data/NAME

This method has no request body.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "id": "adam",
  "real_name": "Adam Brent Jacob"
}

where the key-value pairs represent the last state of the data bag item.

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return a hash of all entries in the specified data bag.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/data/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
   "adam": "https://localhost/data/users/adam"
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new data bag item.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/data/NAME

with a request body similar to:

{
  "id": "adam",
  "real_name": "Adam Jacob"
}

where id is required.

Response

This method has no response body.

Response Codes

/data/NAME/ITEM

A data bag is a container of related data bag items, where each individual data bag item is a JSON file. knife can load a data bag item by specifying the name of the data bag to which the item belongs and then the filename of the data bag item. The only structural requirement of a data bag item is that it must have an id:

{
  /* This is a supported comment style */
  // This style is also supported
  "id": "ITEM_NAME",
  "key": "value"
}

where

• key and value are the key:value pair for each additional attribute within the data bag item
• /* ... */ and // ... show two ways to add comments to the data bag item

The /data/NAME/ITEM endpoint allows the key-value pairs within a data bag item to be viewed and managed. This endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a key-value pair in a data bag item.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/data/NAME/ITEM

This method has no request body.

For example, run the following command:

$ knife raw /data/dogs

which returns a list of data bags on the server:

{
  "pomeranian": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ORG_NAME/data/dogs/pomeranian",
  "shihtzu": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ORG_NAME/data/dogs/shihtzu",
  "tibetanspaniel": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ORG_NAME/data/dogs/tibetanspaniel"
}

Run the following command:

$ knife raw -m DELETE /data/dogs/shihtzu

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "data_bag_item_dogs_shihtzu",
  "json_class": "Chef::DataBagItem",
  "chef_type": "data_bag_item",
  "data_bag": "dogs",
  "raw_data": {
    "description": "small annoying dog that doesn't bark all that often",
    "id": "shihtzu"
  }
}

Run the following command:

$ knife raw /data/dogs

to view an updated list:

{
  "pomeranian": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ORG_NAME/data/dogs/pomeranian",
  "tibetanspaniel": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/ORG_NAME/data/dogs/tibetanspaniel"
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to view all of the key-value pairs in a data bag item.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/data/NAME/ITEM

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "real_name": "Adam Jacob",
  "id": "adam"
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to replace the contents of a data bag item with the contents of this request.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/data/NAME/ITEM

with a request body similar to:

{
  "real_name": "Adam Brent Jacob",
  "id": "adam"
}

where id is required.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "real_name": "Adam Brent Jacob",
  "id": "adam"
}

Response Codes

/environments

An environment is a way to map an organization’s real-life workflow to what can be configured and managed when using Chef server. Every organization begins with a single environment called the _default environment, which cannot be modified (or deleted). Additional environments can be created to reflect each organization’s patterns and workflow. For example, creating production, staging, testing, and development environments. Generally, an environment is also associated with one (or more) cookbook versions.

The /environments endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to return a data structure that contains a link to each available environment.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "_default": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/org_name/environments/_default",
  "webserver": "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/org_name/environments/webserver"
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new environment.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/environments

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "dev",
  "default_attributes": {},
  "json_class": "Chef::Environment",
  "description": "",
  "cookbook_versions": {},
  "chef_type": "environment"
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{ "uri": "https://localhost/environments/dev" }

Response Codes

/environments/_default

The /environments/_default endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to get information about the _default environment on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/_default

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "_default",
  "description": "The default Chef environment",
  "json_class": "Chef::Environment",
  "chef_type": "environment",
  "default_attributes": {

  },
  "override_attributes": {

  },
  "cookbook_versions": {

  }
}

Response Codes

/environments/NAME

The /environments/NAME endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete an environment.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME

Response

The response will return the JSON for the environment that was deleted, similar to:

{
  "name":"backend",
  "description":"",
  "cookbook_versions":{},
  "json_class":"Chef::Environment",
  "chef_type":"environment",
  "default_attributes":{},
  "override_attributes":{}
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return the details for an environment as JSON.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "_default",
  "description": "The default Chef environment",
  "json_class": "Chef::Environment",
  "chef_type": "environment",
  "default_attributes": { }
  "override_attributes": { },
  "cookbook_versions": { },
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update the details of an environment on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME

with a request body that contains the updated JSON for the environment and is similar to:

{
  "name": "dev",
  "attributes": {},
  "json_class": "Chef::Environment",
  "description": "The Dev Environment",
  "cookbook_versions": {},
  "chef_type": "environment"
}

Response

The response will return the updated environment.

Response Codes

/environments/NAME/cookbooks/NAME

The /environments/NAME/cookbooks/NAME endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a hash of key-value pairs for the requested cookbook.

This method has the following parameters:

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME/cookbooks/NAME

where the first instance of NAME is the name of the environment, and the second instance is the name of the cookbook.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "apache2": {
    "url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2",
    "versions": [
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/5.1.0",
       "version": "5.1.0"},
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/4.2.0",
       "version": "4.2.0"}
    ]
  }
}

Response Codes

/environments/NAME/cookbook_versions

The /environments/NAME/cookbook_versions endpoint has the following methods: POST.

POST

The POST method is used to return a hash of the cookbooks and cookbook versions (including all dependencies) that are required by the run_list array. Version constraints may be specified using the @ symbol after the cookbook name as a delimiter. Version constraints may also be present when the cookbook_versions attributes is specified for an environment or when dependencies are specified by a cookbook.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME/cookbook_versions

with a request body similar to:

{
  "run_list": [
    "[email protected]",
    "bar",
    "mysql",
    "gem",
    "[email protected]",
    "cron",
    "foo"
  ]
}

where @x.x.x represents a constraint for a cookbook version.

Response

The response will return a list of cookbooks that are required by the run_list array contained in the request. The cookbooks that are returned are often the latest versions of each cookbook. Depending on any constraints present in the request or on dependencies a cookbook may have for specific cookbook versions, a request may not always return the latest cookbook version for each cookbook.

The response is similar to:

{
  "cookbook_name": {
    "recipes": [
      {
        "name": "default.rb",
        "path": "recipes/default.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "recipe_name.rb",
        "path": "recipes/recipe_name.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        ...
      }
    ],
    "definitions": [

    ],
    "libraries": [

    ],
    "attributes": [

    ],
    "files": [

    ],
    "templates": [
      {
        "name": "template_name.erb",
        "path": "templates/default/template_name.erb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        ...
      }
    ],
    "resources": [

    ],
    "providers": [

    ],
    "root_files": [
      {
        "name": "metadata.rb",
        "path": "metadata.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      }
    ],
    "cookbook_name": "cookbook_name-1.0.2",
    "metadata": {
      "name": "cookbook_name",
      "description": "description",
      "long_description": "",
      "maintainer": "maintainer",
      "maintainer_email": "[email protected]",
      "license": "license",
      "platforms": {
      },
      "dependencies": {
        "cookbook_name": ">= 0.0.0",
        "cookbook_name": ">= 1.2.3",
        ...
        "cookbook_name": ">= 0.1.0"
      },
      "recommendations": {
      },
      "suggestions": {
      },
      "conflicting": {
      },
      "providing": {
        "cookbook_name": ">= 0.0.0",
        "cookbook_name::recipe_name": ">= 0.0.0",
        "cookbook_name::recipe_name": ">= 1.2.3",
        "cookbook_name::recipe_name": ">= 0.1.0"
      },
      "replacing": {
      },
      "attributes": {
      },
      "groupings": {
      },
      "recipes": {
        "cookbook_name": "description",
        "cookbook_name::recipe_name": "",
        ...
        "cookbook_name::recipe_name": ""
      },
      "version": "0.0.0"
    },
    "version": "0.0.0",
    "name": "cookbook_name-1.0.2",
    "frozen?": false,
    "chef_type": "cookbook_version",
    "json_class": "Chef::CookbookVersion"
  },
  "cookbook_name": {
     "recipes": [
      {
        "name": "default.rb",
        "path": "recipes/default.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
    ],
    "definitions": [

    ],
    "libraries": [
      {
        "name": "library_file.rb",
        "path": "libraries/library_file.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      }
    ],
    "attributes": [
      {
        "name": "default.rb",
        "path": "attributes/default.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      }
    ],
    "files": [

    ],
    "templates": [

    ],
    "resources": [

    ],
    "providers": [

    ],
    "root_files": [
      {
        "name": ".gitignore",
        "path": ".gitignore",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": ".kitchen.yml",
        "path": ".kitchen.yml",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "CHANGELOG.md",
        "path": "CHANGELOG.md",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "CONTRIBUTING",
        "path": "CONTRIBUTING",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "LICENSE",
        "path": "LICENSE",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "metadata.json",
        "path": "metadata.json",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "metadata.rb",
        "path": "metadata.rb",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
      {
        "name": "README.md",
        "path": "README.md",
        "checksum": "12345efg78912346abcddefg789",
        "specificity": "default",
        "url": "https://URL"
      },
    ],
    "chef_type": "cookbook_version",
    "name": "cookbook_name-1.0.2",
    "cookbook_name": "cookbook_name",
    "version": "1.0.2",
    "metadata": {
      "name": "cookbook_name",
      "description": "description",
      "long_description": "",
      "maintainer": "maintainer",
      "maintainer_email": "[email protected]",
      "license": "license",
      "platforms": {
      },
      "dependencies": {
      },
      "recommendations": {
      },
      "suggestions": {
      },
      "conflicting": {
      },
      "providing": {
      },
      "replacing": {
      },
      "attributes": {
      },
      "groupings": {
      },
      "recipes": {
      },
      "version": "1.0.2"
    },
    "frozen?": true,
    "json_class": "Chef::CookbookVersion"
  },
  "cookbook_name": {
   ...
  }
}

Response Codes

/environments/NAME/cookbooks

The /environments/NAME/cookbooks endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of cookbooks and cookbook versions that are available to the specified environment.

This method has the following parameters:

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME/cookbooks

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "apache2": {
    "url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2",
    "versions": [
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/5.1.0",
       "version": "5.1.0"},
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/apache2/4.2.0",
       "version": "4.2.0"}
    ]
  },
  "nginx": {
    "url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/nginx",
    "versions": [
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/nginx/1.0.0",
       "version": "1.0.0"},
      {"url": "https://localhost/cookbooks/nginx/0.3.0",
       "version": "0.3.0"}
    ]
  }
}

Response Codes

/environments/NAME/nodes

The /environments/NAME/nodes endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a list of nodes in a given environment.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME/nodes

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "blah": "https://api.opscode.com/org/org_name/nodes/_default",
  "boxer": "https://api.opscode.com/org/org_name/nodes/frontend",
  "blarrrrgh": "https://api.opscode.com/org/org_name/nodes/backend"
}

Response Codes

/environments/NAME/recipes

The /environments/NAME/recipes endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a list of recipes available to a given environment.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME/recipes

where the first instance of NAME is the name of the environment, and the second instance is the name of the recipe.

Response

The response is similar to:

[
  "ant",
  "apache2",
  "apache2::mod_auth_openid",
  "apache2::mod_authnz_ldap",
  "apt",
  "aws",
  "capistrano",
  "chef",
  "chef::bootstrap_client",
  "chef-client::config",
  "chef-client",
  ...
]

The list of recipes will be the default recipes for a given cookbook. If an environment has multiple versions of a cookbook that matches its constraints, only the recipes from the latest version of that cookbook will be reported.

Response Codes

/environments/NAME/roles/NAME

The /environments/NAME/roles/NAME endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return the run_list attribute of the role (when the name of the environment is _default) or to return env_run_lists[environment_name] (for non-default environments).

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/environments/NAME/roles/NAME

where the first instance of NAME is the name of the environment, and the second instance is the name of the role.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[recipe_name]",
    "role[role_name]",
    "recipe[recipe_name]",
    "role[role_name]",
    "recipe[recipe_name]",
    "role[role_name]"
  ]
}

The chef-client will pick up the _default run-list if env_run_list[environment_name] is null or nonexistent.

Response Codes

/groups

The /groups endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of groups on the Chef server for a single organization.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/groups

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "33a5c28a8efe11e195005fsaes25400298d3f": "https://url/for/group1",
  "admins": "https://url/for/groups/admins",
  "billing-admins": "https://url/for/billing-admins",
  "clients": "https://url/for/clients",
  "developers": "https://url/for/developers",
  "users": "https://url/for/groups/users"
}

Response Codes

/groups/GROUP_NAME

The /groups/GROUP_NAME endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of users that belong to a group.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/groups/GROUP_NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "actors": [
    "pivotal",
    "grantmc"
  ],
  "users": [
  "pivotal",
    "grantmc"
  ],
  "clients": [

  ],
  "groups": [

  ],
  "orgname": "inbetweens",
  "name": "admins",
  "groupname": "admins"
}

Response Codes

/nodes

A node is any machine—physical, virtual, cloud, network device, etc.—that is under management by Chef.

The /nodes endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to return a hash of URIs for nodes on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/nodes

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "latte": "https://localhost/nodes/latte"
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new node.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/nodes

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "latte",
  "chef_type": "node",
  "json_class": "Chef::Node",
  "attributes": {
    "hardware_type": "laptop"
  },
  "overrides": {},
  "defaults": {},
  "run_list": [ "recipe[unicorn]" ]
}

where name is the name of the node. Other attributes are optional. The order of the run_list attribute matters.

Response

The response is similar to:

{ "uri": "https://localhost/nodes/latte" }

Response Codes

/nodes/NAME

The /nodes/NAME endpoint has the following methods: DELETE, GET, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a node.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/nodes/NAME

Response

The response will return the last known state of the node, similar to:

{
  "overrides": {},
  "name": "latte",
  "chef_type": "node",
  "json_class": "Chef::Node",
  "attributes": {
    "hardware_type": "laptop"
  },
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[apache2]"
  ],
  "defaults": {}
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return the details of a node as JSON.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/nodes/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "node_name",
  "chef_environment": "_default",
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[recipe_name]"
  ]
  "json_class": "Chef::Node",
  "chef_type": "node",
  "automatic": { ... },
  "normal": { "tags": [ ] },
  "default": { },
  "override": { }
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update a node.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/nodes/NAME

with a request body similar to:

{
  "overrides": {},
  "name": "latte",
  "chef_type": "node",
  "json_class": "Chef::Node",
  "attributes": {
    "hardware_type": "laptop"
  },
  "run_list": [
    'recipe[cookbook_name::recipe_name],
    role[role_name]'
  ],
  "defaults": {}
}

Response

The response will return the updated node.

Response Codes

/policies

The /policies endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of policies (including policy revisions) from the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/policies

Response

The response groups policies by name and revision and is similar to:

{
  "aar": {
    "uri": "https://chef.example/organizations/org1/policies/aar",
    "revisions": {
      "37f9b658cdd1d9319bac8920581723efcc2014304b5f3827ee0779e10ffbdcc9": {
      },
      "95040c199302c85c9ccf1bcc6746968b820b1fa25d92477ea2ec5386cd58b9c5": {
      },
      "d81e80ae9bb9778e8c4b7652d29b11d2111e763a840d0cadb34b46a8b2ca4347": {
      }
    }
  },
  "jenkins": {
    "uri": "https://chef.example/organizations/org1/policies/jenkins",
    "revisions": {
      "613f803bdd035d574df7fa6da525b38df45a74ca82b38b79655efed8a189e073": {
      },
      "6fe753184c8946052d3231bb4212116df28d89a3a5f7ae52832ad408419dd5eb": {
      },
      "cc1a0801e75df1d1ea5b0d2c71ba7d31c539423b81478f65e6388b9ee415ad87": {
      }
    }
  }
}

Response Codes

/policy_groups

The /policy_groups endpoint has the following methods: GET.

Each node has a 1:many relationship with policy settings stored on the Chef server. This relationship is based on the policy group to which the node is associated, and then the policy settings assigned to that group:

• A policy is typically named after the functional role ahost performs, such as “application server”, “chat server”, “load balancer”, and so on
• A policy group defines a set of hosts in a deployed units, typically mapped to organizational requirements such as “dev”, “test”, “staging”, and “production”, but can also be mapped to more detailed requirements as needed

/principals/NAME

The /principals/NAME endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of public keys for clients and users in order to ensure that enough information is present for authorized requests.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/principals/NAME

Response

For a user, the response is similar to:

{
  "name": "normal_user",
  "type": "user",
  "public_key": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n
                MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCyVPW9YXa5PR0rgEW1updSxygB\n
                wmVpDnHurgQ7/gbh+PmY49EZsfrZSbKgSKy+rxdsVoSoU+krYtHvYIwVfr2tk0FP\n
                nhAWJaFH654KpuCNG6x6iMLtzGO1Ma/VzHnFqoOeSCKHXDhmHwJAjGDTPAgCJQiI\n
                eau6cDNJRiJ7j0/xBwIDAQAB\n
                -----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
}

and for a client, similar to:

{
  "name": "client_node",
  "type": "client",
  "public_key": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n
                MIEfGVG0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4RRFEDCVgftg67j8dgsdfges0rgEW1updSxygB\n
                wmVpDnHuqwe7/gbh+PmY49EZsfrZSbKgSKy+rxKJHREGJ5tgCtHvYIwVfr2tk0FP\n
                nhAWJaFH654KpuCNG6x6iMLt5FGH1Ma/VzHnFqoOeSCKHDhmHwJAjGDTPAgCJQiI\n
                elk8UFCN45Jj0/xBwIDAQAB\n
                -----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
}

Response Codes

/roles

A role is a way to define certain patterns and processes that exist across nodes in an organization as belonging to a single job function. Each role consists of zero (or more) attributes and a run-list. Each node can have zero (or more) roles assigned to it. When a role is run against a node, the configuration details of that node are compared against the attributes of the role, and then the contents of that role’s run-list are applied to the node’s configuration details. When a chef-client runs, it merges its own attributes and run-lists with those contained within each assigned role.

The /roles endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

GET

The GET method is used to get a list of roles along with their associated URIs.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/roles

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "webserver": "https://localhost/roles/webserver"
}

Response Codes

POST

The POST method is used to create a new role on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/roles

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "webserver",
  "chef_type": "role",
  "json_class": "Chef::Role",
  "default_attributes": {},
  "description": "A webserver",
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[unicorn]",
    "recipe[apache2]"
  ],
  "override_attributes": {}
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{ "uri": "https://localhost/roles/webserver" }

Response Codes

/roles/NAME

The /roles/NAME endpoint has the following methods: GET, DELETE, and PUT.

DELETE

The DELETE method is used to delete a role on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

DELETE /organizations/NAME/roles/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "webserver",
  "chef_type": "role",
  "json_class": "Chef::Role",
  "default_attributes": {},
  "description": "A webserver",
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[apache2]"
  ],
  "override_attributes": {}
}

Response Codes

GET

The GET method is used to return the details for a role as JSON.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/roles/NAME

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "webserver",
  "chef_type": "role",
  "json_class": "Chef::Role",
  "default_attributes": {},
  "description": "A webserver",
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[unicorn]",
    "recipe[apache2]"
  ],
  "override_attributes": {}
}

Response Codes

PUT

The PUT method is used to update a role on the Chef server.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/roles/NAME

with a request body similar to:

{
  "name": "webserver",
  "chef_type": "role",
  "json_class": "Chef::Role",
  "default_attributes": {},
  "description": "A webserver",
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[apache2]"
  ],
  "override_attributes": {}
}

Response

The response will return the JSON for the updated role.

Response Codes

/roles/NAME/environments

The /roles/NAME/environments endpoint has the following method: GET.

GET

The GET method returns a list of the environments that have environment-specific run-lists in the given role as JSON data.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/roles/NAME/environments

Response

The response is similar to:

["_default","production","qa"]

Response Codes

/roles/NAME/environments/NAME

The /roles/NAME/environments/NAME endpoint has the following method: GET.

GET

The GET method returns the environment-specific run-list (env_run_lists[environment_name]) for a role.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/roles/NAME/environments/NAME

where the first NAME is the name of the role and the second is the name of the environment.

Response

The response is similar to:

{"run_list":["recipe[foo]"]}

Response Codes

/sandboxes

A sandbox is used to commit files so they only need to be updated one time, as opposed to every time a cookbook is uploaded. The /sandboxes endpoint has the following methods: POST.

POST

The POST method is used to create a new sandbox. This method accepts a list of checksums as input and returns the URLs against which to PUT files that need to be uploaded.

This method has no parameters.

Request

POST /organizations/NAME/sandboxes

with a request body similar to:

{"checksums": {
  "385ea5490c86570c7de71070bce9384a":null,
  "f6f73175e979bd90af6184ec277f760c":null,
  "2e03dd7e5b2e6c8eab1cf41ac61396d5":null
  }
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{"uri":
 "https://api.opscode.com/organizations/testorg/sandboxes/eff7b6f8b3ef44c6867216662d5eeb5f",
 "checksums":
   {"385ea5490c86570c7de71070bce9384a":
     {"url":
      "https://s3.amazonaws.com/opscode-platform-production-data/organization-(...)",
       "needs_upload":true},
       "f6f73175e979bd90af6184ec277f760c"=>
     {"url":
       "https://s3.amazonaws.com/opscode-platform-production-data/organization-(...)",
       "needs_upload":true},
       "2e03dd7e5b2e6c8eab1cf41ac61396d5":
     {"url":
       "https://s3.amazonaws.com/opscode-platform-production-data/organization-(...)",
       "needs_upload":true}
   },
 "sandbox_id"=>"eff7b6f8b3ef44c6867216662d5eeb5f"
}

Response Codes

/sandboxes/ID

Each sandbox has a unique identifier. The /sandboxes/ID endpoint has the following methods: PUT.

PUT

The PUT method is used to commit files that are in a sandbox to their final location so that changes to cookbooks will not require re-uploading the same data.

This method has no parameters.

Request

PUT /organizations/NAME/sandboxes/ID

with a request body similar to:

{"is_completed":true}

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "guid": guid,
  "name": guid,
  "checksums":
    {"385ea5490c86570c7de71070bce9384a":
    {"url":
      "https://s3.amazonaws.com/opscode-platform-production-data/organization-(...)",
      "needs_upload":true}
  },
  "create_time": <get an example of time format>,
  "is_completed": true
}

Response Codes

/search

Search indexes allow queries to be made for any type of data that is indexed by the Chef server, including data bags (and data bag items), environments, nodes, and roles. A defined query syntax is used to support search patterns like exact, wildcard, range, and fuzzy. A search is a full-text query that can be done from several locations, including from within a recipe, by using the search subcommand in knife, the search method in the Recipe DSL, the search box in the Chef management console, and by using the /search or /search/INDEX endpoints in the Chef server API. The search engine is based on Apache Solr and is run from the Chef server.

The /search endpoint allows nodes, roles, data bags, environments to be searched. This endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return a data structure that contains links to each available search index. By default, the role, node, client, and data bag indexes will always be available (where the data bag index is the name of the data bag on the Chef server). Search indexes may lag behind the most current data at any given time. If a situation occurs where data needs to be written and then immediately searched, an artificial delay (of at least 10 seconds) is recommended.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/search

This method has no request body.

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "node": "https://localhost/search/node",
  "role": "https://localhost/search/role",
  "client": "https://localhost/search/client",
  "users": "https://localhost/search/users"
}

Response Codes

/search/INDEX

Use the /search/INDEX endpoint to access the search indexes on the Chef server. The /search/INDEX endpoint has the following methods: GET and POST.

A search query is comprised of two parts: the key and the search pattern. A search query has the following syntax:

key:search_pattern

where key is a field name that is found in the JSON description of an indexable object on the Chef server (a role, node, client, environment, or data bag) and search_pattern defines what will be searched for, using one of the following search patterns: exact, wildcard, range, or fuzzy matching. Both key and search_pattern are case-sensitive; key has limited support for multiple character wildcard matching using an asterisk (“*”) (and as long as it is not the first character).

GET

The GET method is used to return all of the data that matches the query in the GET request.

This method has the following parameters:

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/search/INDEX

Response

The response contains the total number of rows that match the request and is similar to:

{
 "total": 1,
 "start": 0,
 "rows": [
    {
     "overrides": {"hardware_type": "laptop"},
     "name": "latte",
     "chef_type": "node",
     "json_class": "Chef::Node",
     "attributes": {"hardware_type": "laptop"},
     "run_list": ["recipe[unicorn]"],
     "defaults": {}
    }
  ]
}

Response Codes

POST

A partial search query allows a search query to be made against specific attribute keys that are stored on the Chef server. A partial search query can search the same set of objects on the Chef server as a full search query, including specifying an object index and providing a query that can be matched to the relevant index. While a full search query will return an array of objects that match (each object containing a full set of attributes for the node), a partial search query will return only the values for the attributes that match. One primary benefit of using a partial search query is that it requires less memory and network bandwidth while the chef-client processes the search results.

To create a partial search query, use the partial_search method, and then specify the key paths for the attributes to be returned. Each key path should be specified as an array of strings and is mapped to an arbitrary short name. For example:

partial_search(:node, 'role:web',
  :keys => { 'name' => [ 'name' ],
             'ip'   => [ 'ipaddress' ],
             'kernel_version' => [ 'kernel', 'version' ]
           }
).each do |result|
  puts result['name']
  puts result['ip']
  puts result['kernel_version']
end

In the previous example, two attributes will be extracted (on the Chef server) from any node that matches the search query. The result will be a simple hash with keys name, ip, and kernel_version.

The POST method is used to return partial search results. For example, if a node has the following:

{
  'x' => 'foo',
  'kernel' => { 'a' => 1, 'foo' => 'bar', 'version' => [ 1, 2, 3 ] }
}

a partial search query can be used to return something like:

{ 'kernel_version' => [ 1, 2, 3 ] }

This method has the following parameters:

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/search

with a request body similar to:

{
  'name' => [ 'name' ],
  'ip'   => [ 'ipaddress' ],
  'kernel_version' => [ 'kernel', 'version' ]
}

Response

The response is similar to:

{
  "name": "latte",
  "ip": "123.4.5.6789",
  "kernel_version": {"linux": "1.2.3"}
}

Response Codes

_status

The /_status endpoint can be used to check the status of communications between the front and back end servers. This endpoint is located at /_status on the front end servers.

Request

api.get("https://chef_server.front_end.url/_status")

This method has no request body.

Response

The response will return something like the following:

{
  "status": "pong",
  "upstreams":
    {
      "service_name": "pong",
      "service_name": "pong",
      ...
    }
 }

Response Codes

{
  "status":"fail",
  "upstreams":
    {
      "service_name": "fail",
      "service_name": "pong",
      ...
    }
}

/universe

Use the /universe endpoint to retrieve the known collection of cookbooks, and then use it with Berkshelf and Chef Supermarket.

The /universe endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to retrieve the universe data.

This method has no parameters.

Request

GET /universe

Response

The response will return an embedded hash, with the name of each cookbook as a top-level key. Each cookbook will list each version, along with its location information and dependencies:

{
  "ffmpeg": {
    "0.1.0": {
      "location_path": "http://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/ffmpeg/0.1.0/download"
      "location_type": "supermarket",
      "dependencies": {
        "git": ">= 0.0.0",
        "build-essential": ">= 0.0.0",
        "libvpx": "~> 0.1.1",
        "x264": "~> 0.1.1"
      },
    },
    "0.1.1": {
      "location_path": "http://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/ffmpeg/0.1.1/download"
      "location_type": "supermarket",
      "dependencies": {
        "git": ">= 0.0.0",
        "build-essential": ">= 0.0.0",
        "libvpx": "~> 0.1.1",
        "x264": "~> 0.1.1"
      },
    },
   "pssh": {
    "0.1.0": {
      "location_path": "http://supermarket.chef.io/api/v1/cookbooks/pssh.1.0/download"
      "location_type": "supermarket",
      "dependencies": {},
    }
  }
}

/updated_since

The /updated_since endpoint ensures that replica instances of the Chef server are able to synchronize with the primary Chef server. The /organizations/NAME/updated_since endpoint has the following methods: GET.

GET

The GET method is used to return the details of an organization as JSON.

Request

GET /organizations/NAME/objects_since?seq=NUM

where NUM is the largest integer previously returned as an identifier.

Response

The response will return an array of paths for objects that have been created, updated, or deleted since NUM, similar to:

[
  {
    "action": "create",
    "id": 1,
    "path": "/roles/foo"
  },
  {
    "action": "create",
    "id": 2,
    "path": "/roles/foo2"
  },
  {
    "action": "create",
    "id": 3,
    "path": "/roles/foo3"
  },
  {
    "action": "update",
    "id": 4,
    "path": "/roles/foo3"
  }
]

Response Codes

Examples

The following sections show examples of using the Chef server API.

Query for Users and Orgs

The following example shows how to query the Chef server API for a listing of organizations and users. The /organizations and /users endpoints may only be accessed by the pivotal user, which is a user account that is created by Chef during the installation of the Chef server.

Run the following from a .chef directory that contains a pivotal.rb file:

require 'chef'
require 'chef/rest'

Chef::Config.from_file(".chef/pivotal.rb")
rest = Chef::REST.new(Chef::Config[:chef_server_url])
orgs = rest.get_rest("/organizations")

puts "\n=== Listing of organizations"
orgs.each do |org|
  puts org
end

puts "\n=== Listing of Users"
users = rest.get_rest("/users")
users.each do |user|
  puts user
end

An examle of a .chef/pivotal.rb file is shown below:

current_dir = File.dirname(__FILE__)
node_name "pivotal"
chef_server_url "https://192.168.1.2:443"
chef_server_root "https://192.168.1.2:443"
client_key "#{current_dir}/pivotal.pem"