Chef Management Skill

Manage and inspect Chef cookbooks, nodes, roles, environments, and compliance profiles.

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always check node status and server connectivity before modifying configurations.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Chef Versions ==="
chef-client --version 2>/dev/null
knife --version 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Chef Server Status ==="
knife status 2>/dev/null | head -15 || \
echo "Chef Server not configured or not reachable"

echo ""
echo "=== Node Summary ==="
knife node list 2>/dev/null | wc -l | xargs -I{} echo "{} nodes registered"

echo ""
echo "=== Environments ==="
knife environment list 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Cookbooks ==="
knife cookbook list 2>/dev/null | head -15

Core Helper Functions

#!/bin/bash

# Knife wrapper with JSON output
knife_cmd() {
    knife "$@" --format json 2>/dev/null
}

# Chef Server API call
chef_api() {
    local endpoint="$1"
    knife raw "$endpoint" 2>/dev/null
}

# Node search
chef_search() {
    local query="$1"
    knife search node "$query" --format json 2>/dev/null
}

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target <=50 lines per output
• Use --format json with jq for structured output
• Use knife search for querying nodes by attributes
• Never dump full node objects -- extract run lists and key attributes

Common Operations

Node Inspection

#!/bin/bash
NODE="${1:-}"

if [ -n "$NODE" ]; then
    echo "=== Node Details: $NODE ==="
    knife node show "$NODE" --format json 2>/dev/null | jq '{
        name: .name,
        environment: .chef_environment,
        run_list: .run_list,
        platform: .automatic.platform,
        platform_version: .automatic.platform_version,
        ip: .automatic.ipaddress,
        fqdn: .automatic.fqdn,
        uptime: .automatic.uptime,
        last_run: .automatic.ohai_time
    }'
else
    echo "=== All Nodes ==="
    knife status --format json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
        .[] | "\(.name)\t\(.environment)\t\(.ipaddress)\t\(.run_list | join(","))"
    ' | column -t | head -25
fi

Cookbook Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Server Cookbooks ==="
knife cookbook list 2>/dev/null

echo ""
COOKBOOK="${1:-}"
if [ -n "$COOKBOOK" ]; then
    echo "=== Cookbook Details: $COOKBOOK ==="
    knife cookbook show "$COOKBOOK" 2>/dev/null | head -20

    echo ""
    echo "=== Cookbook Dependencies ==="
    knife cookbook show "$COOKBOOK" --format json 2>/dev/null | jq '.metadata.dependencies'

    echo ""
    echo "=== Recipe List ==="
    knife cookbook show "$COOKBOOK" --format json 2>/dev/null | jq '.metadata.providing | keys'
fi

Role and Environment Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Roles ==="
knife role list 2>/dev/null

echo ""
ROLE="${1:-}"
if [ -n "$ROLE" ]; then
    echo "=== Role Details: $ROLE ==="
    knife role show "$ROLE" --format json 2>/dev/null | jq '{
        name: .name,
        run_list: .run_list,
        default_attributes: (.default_attributes | keys),
        override_attributes: (.override_attributes | keys)
    }'
fi

echo ""
echo "=== Environments ==="
knife environment list 2>/dev/null
ENV="${2:-}"
if [ -n "$ENV" ]; then
    echo "=== Environment: $ENV ==="
    knife environment show "$ENV" --format json 2>/dev/null | jq '{
        name: .name,
        cookbook_versions: .cookbook_versions,
        default_attributes: (.default_attributes | keys)
    }'
fi

Compliance and InSpec Profiles

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== InSpec Version ==="
inspec version 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Available Profiles ==="
inspec supermarket profiles --format json 2>/dev/null | jq '.[0:10]' || \
ls compliance/profiles/ 2>/dev/null

echo ""
PROFILE="${1:-}"
if [ -n "$PROFILE" ]; then
    echo "=== Profile Execution ==="
    inspec exec "$PROFILE" --reporter json 2>/dev/null | jq '{
        version: .version,
        statistics: .statistics,
        controls: [.profiles[].controls[] | {
            id: .id,
            title: .title,
            status: .results[0].status
        }] | .[0:10]
    }'
fi

Data Bag Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Data Bags ==="
knife data bag list 2>/dev/null

echo ""
BAG="${1:-}"
if [ -n "$BAG" ]; then
    echo "=== Items in $BAG ==="
    knife data bag show "$BAG" 2>/dev/null

    ITEM="${2:-}"
    if [ -n "$ITEM" ]; then
        echo ""
        echo "=== Item: $BAG/$ITEM ==="
        knife data bag show "$BAG" "$ITEM" --format json 2>/dev/null | jq 'del(.id)' | head -30
    fi
fi

Safety Rules

• NEVER upload cookbooks to production without testing -- use Test Kitchen or ChefSpec first
• Use environment cookbook version constraints to prevent untested versions in production
• Data bag secrets must be distributed securely -- never commit encryption keys to source control
• Node run list changes take effect on next chef-client run -- be aware of convergence timing
• Force-removing nodes orphans their client keys -- clean up both node and client objects

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Chef Report
════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• Attribute precedence: Chef has 15 levels of attribute precedence -- override beats default beats automatic
• Cookbook dependency conflicts: Version constraints across cookbooks can create unsolvable dependency graphs
• Chef client interval: Nodes converge periodically (default 30min) -- changes are not instant
• Search index lag: Chef Server search index updates asynchronously -- recently added nodes may not appear immediately
• Encrypted data bags: Require the shared secret on every node -- key rotation requires re-encrypting all items
• Recipe ordering: Recipes in run list execute in order -- resource conflicts between recipes are common
• Berkshelf vs Policyfile: Two dependency management approaches -- mixing them causes confusion
• Test Kitchen overhead: Each test creates a full VM -- can be slow and resource-intensive