generated: '2026-07-18'
method: searched
source: https://docs.chef.io/
note: >-
  Chef ships several first-party CLIs. The Automate server is operated with the
  `chef-automate` CLI (deploy, IAM, token, backup). Cookbook/policy authoring uses
  the Chef Workstation `chef` / `chef-cli` and `knife` commands. Compliance is run
  with `inspec`, and Chef Habitat with `hab`.
clis:
- name: chef-automate
  description: Operate and administer a Chef Automate deployment, including IAM and API tokens.
  install:
  - "curl https://packages.chef.io/files/current/latest/chef-automate-cli/chef-automate_linux_amd64.zip | gunzip - > chef-automate && chmod +x chef-automate"
  docs: https://docs.chef.io/automate/cli_chef_automate/
  command_groups:
  - group: deploy
    commands: [deploy, upgrade, status, backup, restore]
  - group: iam
    commands: [iam token create, iam token list, iam admin-access restore, iam version]
  - group: applications
    commands: [applications show-svcs, applications delete-svcs-by-id]
- name: knife
  description: Command-line tool for interacting with a Chef Infra Server (nodes, cookbooks, roles, environments, data bags).
  install: gem install chef
  docs: https://docs.chef.io/workstation/knife/
  command_groups:
  - group: nodes
    commands: [node list, node show, node edit, node delete]
  - group: cookbooks
    commands: [cookbook upload, cookbook list, cookbook download]
  - group: bootstrap
    commands: [bootstrap]
- name: inspec
  description: Run compliance and security audits (compliance-as-code) against systems and cloud APIs.
  install: gem install inspec
  docs: https://docs.chef.io/inspec/
  command_groups:
  - group: exec
    commands: [exec, check, shell, detect]
  - group: profile
    commands: [init profile, archive, json, vendor]
- name: hab
  description: Chef Habitat CLI for application packaging, build, and runtime supervision.
  install: "curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/habitat-sh/habitat/main/components/hab/install.sh | sudo bash"
  docs: https://docs.chef.io/habitat/
  command_groups:
  - group: pkg
    commands: [pkg build, pkg install, pkg export, pkg upload]
  - group: svc
    commands: [svc load, svc start, svc status, svc stop]