Global command line flags

The following flags are available for all chezmoi commands. Note that some flags may not have any effect on certain commands.

Flags

--cache directory

Configuration: cacheDir

Use directory as the cache directory.

--color value

Configuration: color

Colorize diffs, value can be on, off, auto, or any boolean-like value recognized by promptBool. The default is auto which will colorize diffs only if the environment variable $NO_COLOR is not set and stdout is a terminal.

-c, --config filename

Read the configuration from filename.

--config-format format

Assume the configuration file is in the given format. This is only needed if the config filename does not have an extension, for example when it is /dev/stdin. Supported formats: json, jsonc, toml, yaml.

-D, --destination directory

Configuration: destDir

Use directory as the destination directory.

-n, --dry-run

Set dry run mode. In dry run mode, the destination directory is never modified. This is most useful in combination with the -v (verbose) flag to print changes that would be made without making them.

--force

Make changes without prompting.

--interactive

Prompt before applying each target.

--less-interactive

Prompt before applying changed or pre-existing targets.

-k, --keep-going

Keep going as far as possible after a encountering an error.

--mode file|symlink

Mode of operation. The default is file.

--no-pager

Do not use the pager.

--no-tty

Do not attempt to get a TTY for prompts. Instead, read them from stdin.

-o, --output filename

Write the output to filename instead of stdout.

--persistent-state filename

Configuration: persistentState

Read and write the persistent state from filename. By default, chezmoi stores its persistent state in chezmoistate.boltdb in the same directory as its configuration file.

--progress value

Show progress when downloading externals. value can be on, off, or auto. The default is auto which shows progress bars when stdout is a terminal.

-R, --refresh-externals [value]

Control the refresh of the externals cache. value can be any of always, auto, or never and defaults to always if no value is specified. If no --refresh-externals flag is specified then chezmoi defaults to auto.

always (or any truthy value as accepted by parseBool) causes chezmoi to re-download externals.

auto means only re-download externals that have not been downloaded within their refresh periods.

never (or any other falsy value accepted by parseBool) means only download if no cached external is available.

-S, --source directory

Configuration: sourceDir

Use directory as the source directory.

--source-path

Interpret targets passed to the command as paths in the source directory rather than the destination directory.

--use-builtin-age [bool]

Configuration: useBuiltinAge

Use chezmoi's builtin age encryption instead of an external age command. value can be on, off, auto, or any boolean-like value recognized by promptBool. The default is auto which will only use the builtin age if age.command cannot be found in $PATH.

The builtin age command does not support passphrases, symmetric encryption, or the use of SSH keys.

--use-builtin-diff [bool]

Use chezmoi's builtin diff, even if the diff.command configuration variable is set.

--use-builtin-git [bool]

Configuration: useBuiltinGit

Use chezmoi's builtin git instead of git.command for the init and update commands. value can be on, off, auto, or any boolean-like value recognized by promptBool. The default is auto which will only use the builtin git if git.command cannot be found in $PATH.

!!! info

chezmoi's builtin git has only supports the HTTP and HTTPS transports and
does not support `git-repo` externals.

-v, --verbose

Set verbose mode. In verbose mode, chezmoi prints the changes that it is making as approximate shell commands, and any differences in files between the target state and the destination set are printed as unified diffs.

--version

Print the version of chezmoi, the commit at which it was built, and the build timestamp.

-w, --working-tree directory

Use directory as the git working tree directory. By default, chezmoi searches the source directory and then its ancestors for the first directory that contains a .git directory.