SALT-KEY(1)

NAME
salt-key - salt-key Documentation

SYNOPSIS

    salt-key [ options ]

DESCRIPTION

Salt-key executes simple management of Salt server public keys used for authentication.

On initial connection, a Salt minion sends its public key to the Salt master. This key must be accepted using the salt-key command on the Salt master.

Salt minion keys can be in one of the following states:

•   unaccepted: key is waiting to be accepted.

•   accepted: key was accepted and the minion can communicate with the Salt master.

•   rejected: key was rejected using the salt-key command. In this state the minion does not receive any communication from the Salt master.

•   denied: key was rejected automatically by the Salt master. This occurs when a minion has a duplicate ID, or when a minion was rebuilt or had new keys generated and the previous key was not deleted from the Salt master. In this state the minion does not receive any communication from the Salt master.

    To change the state of a minion key, use -d to delete the key and then accept or reject the key.

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.

-u USER, --user=USER
    Specify user to run salt-key

--hard-crash
    Raise any original exception rather than exiting gracefully. Default is False.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress output

-y, --yes
    Answer 'Yes' to all questions presented, defaults to False

--rotate-aes-key=ROTATE_AES_KEY
    Setting this to False prevents the master from refreshing the key session when keys are deleted or rejected, this lowers the security of the key deletion/rejection operation. Default is True.

  Logging Options

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

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

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

  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 <#all-salt-output>.

    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.

  Actions

-l ARG, --list=ARG
    List the public keys. The args pre, un, and unaccepted will list unaccepted/unsigned keys. acc or accepted will list accepted/signed keys. rej or rejected will list rejected keys. Finally, all will list all keys.

-L, --list-all
    List all public keys. (Deprecated: use --list all)

-a ACCEPT, --accept=ACCEPT
    Accept the specified public key (use --include-all to match rejected keys in addition to pending keys). Globs are supported.

-A, --accept-all
    Accepts all pending keys.

-r REJECT, --reject=REJECT
    Reject the specified public key (use --include-all to match accepted keys in addition to pending keys). Globs are supported.

-R, --reject-all
    Rejects all pending keys.

--include-all
    Include non-pending keys when accepting/rejecting.

-p PRINT, --print=PRINT
    Print the specified public key.

-P, --print-all
    Print all public keys

-d DELETE, --delete=DELETE
    Delete the specified key. Globs are supported.

-D, --delete-all
    Delete all keys.

-f FINGER, --finger=FINGER
    Print the specified key's fingerprint.

-F, --finger-all
    Print all keys' fingerprints.

  Key Generation Options

--gen-keys=GEN_KEYS
    Set a name to generate a keypair for use with salt

--gen-keys-dir=GEN_KEYS_DIR
    Set the directory to save the generated keypair. Only works with 'gen_keys_dir' option; default is the current directory.

--keysize=KEYSIZE
    Set the keysize for the generated key, only works with the '--gen-keys' option, the key size must be 2048 or higher, otherwise it will be rounded up to 2048. The default is 2048.

--gen-signature
    Create a signature file of the master's public-key named master_pubkey_signature. The signature can be sent to a minion in the master's auth-reply and enables the minion to verify the master's public-key cryptographically. This requires a new signing-key-pair which can be auto-created with the --auto-create parameter.

--priv=PRIV
    The private-key file to create a signature with

--signature-path=SIGNATURE_PATH
    The path where the signature file should be written

--pub=PUB
    The public-key file to create a signature for

--auto-create
    Auto-create a signing key-pair if it does not yet exist

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