SALT-CALL(1)

NAME
salt-call - salt-call Documentation

SYNOPSIS

    salt-call [options]

DESCRIPTION

The salt-call command is used to run module functions locally on a minion instead of executing them from the master. Salt-call is used to run a Standalone Minion <#tutorial-standalone-minion>, and was originally created for troubleshooting <#troubleshooting-minion-salt-call>.

The Salt Master is contacted to retrieve state files and other resources during execution unless the --local option is specified.

Note: salt-call commands execute from the current user's shell context, while salt commands execute from the system's default context.

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.

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

-g, --grains
    Return the information generated by the Salt grains

-m MODULE_DIRS, --module-dirs=MODULE_DIRS
    Specify an additional directory to pull modules from. Multiple directories can be provided by passing -m /--module-dirs multiple times.

-d, --doc, --documentation
    Return the documentation for the specified module or for all modules if none are specified

--master=MASTER
    Specify the master to use. The minion must be authenticated with the master. If this option is omitted, the master options from the minion config will be used. If multi masters are set up the first listed master that responds will be used.

--return RETURNER
    Set salt-call to pass the return data to one or many returner interfaces. To use many returner interfaces specify a comma delimited list of returners.

--local
    Run salt-call locally, as if there was no master running.

--file-root=FILE_ROOT
    Set this directory as the base file root. Can be specified more than once to include multiple base file roots.

--pillar-root=PILLAR_ROOT
    Set this directory as the base pillar root. Can be specified more than once to include multiple base pillar roots.

--states-dir=STATES_DIR
    Set this directory to search for additional states. Can be specified more than once to include multiple states directories.

--retcode-passthrough
    Exit with the salt call retcode and not the salt binary retcode

--no-return-event
    Do not send the return event back to master.

--metadata
    Print out the execution metadata as well as the return. This will print out the outputter data, the return code, etc.

--id=ID
    Specify the minion id to use. If this option is omitted, the id option from the minion config will be used.

--skip-grains
    Do not load grains.

--refresh-grains-cache
    Force a refresh of the grains cache

-r, --resources
    Added in version 3008.0.

    Dispatch the call to managed resources in addition to the managing minion. Without -r, salt-call runs the function on the managing minion only and returns a single bare value, preserving legacy script behaviour. With -r, the function runs against every resource matched by --tgt and the result is a dict keyed by resource id (or by managing-minion id, for the host itself).

    See Operations <#resources-operations> for usage and Salt Resources <#resources> for background.

--tgt=TGT
    Added in version 3008.0.

    Targeting expression. Only honoured when -r/--resources is also passed. Default * — matches the managing minion and all managed resources. Supports all targeting forms documented in Targeting Salt Resources <#resources-targeting>, controlled by --tgt-type.

--tgt-type=TGT_TYPE
    Added in version 3008.0.

    Targeting expression type. Only honoured when -r/--resources is also passed. Mirrors the master CLI's -t/--target-type options. Common values: glob (default), compound, grain, grain_pcre, list, pillar, range, pcre.

  Logging Options

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

-l LOG_LEVEL, --log-level=LOG_LEVEL
    Console logging log level. One of all, garbage, trace, debug, info, warning, error, quiet. Default: warning.

--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.

SEE ALSO

salt(1) salt-master(1) salt-minion(1)

Author
Thomas S. Hatch <thatch45@gmail.com> and many others, please see the Authors file

Copyright
2026