Command Line Interface¶

Sceptre can be used as a command line tool. Running Sceptre without a sub-command will display help, showing a list of the available commands.

Running Sceptre without a subcommand will display help, showing a list of the available commands.

Autocomplete¶

To enable CLI autocomplete for subcommands and parameters execute the following command:

shell	command
bash	eval “$(_SCEPTRE_COMPLETE=source sceptre)”
zsh	eval “$(_SCEPTRE_COMPLETE=source_zsh sceptre)”

Export Stack Outputs to Environment Variables¶

Stack outputs can be exported as environment variables with the command:

eval $(sceptre --ignore-dependencies list outputs STACKGROUP/STACK.yaml --export=envvar)

Note that Sceptre prepends the string SCEPTRE_ to the name of the environment variable:

env | grep SCEPTRE
SCEPTRE_<output_name>=<output_value>

Variable Handling¶

You can pass variables into your project using --var-file and --var.

Varibles passed in with --var will overwrite any matching variables specified in --var-file. If you use multiple --var flags then the right-most --var will overwrite any matching --vars to the left. For example, in the following command

sceptre --var var1=one --var var2=two --var var1=three launch stack

var1 will equal three.

You can also use --var to overwrite nested keys in a --var-file. For example, given a variable file “vars.yaml”:

# vars.yaml
---
top:
  middle:
    nested: hello
  middle2:
    nested: world

we could overwrite nested: world to nested: hi using:

sceptre --var-file vars.yaml --var top.middle2.nested=hi launch stack

Note

Sceptre will load your entire project to build a full dependency graph. This means that all stacks that use variables will need to have a value provided to them - even if they are not in your command_path or are not a dependency. Using a –var-file with all variables set can help meet this requirement.

It is also possible to have keys merged according to a deep merge algorithm from successive var files, by specifying --merge-vars. So, if we had a second variable file “vars2.yaml”:

# other_vars.yaml
---
top:
  middle3:
    nested: more world

We could merge all of this together using:

sceptre --merge-vars --var-file vars.yaml --var-file other_vars.yaml launch stack

The top dictionary would then be expected to contain:

{
  "top": {
    "middle": {"nested": "hello"},
    "middle2": {"nested": "world"},
    "middle3": {"nested": "more world"}
  }
}

Command reference¶

Command options differ depending on the command, and can be found by running:

sceptre
sceptre --help
sceptre COMMAND --help

sceptre¶

Sceptre is a tool to manage your cloud native infrastructure deployments.

sceptre [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Options

--version¶: Show the version and exit.

--debug¶: Turn on debug logging.

--dir <directory>¶: Specify sceptre directory.

--output <output>¶

The formatting style for command output.

Options: text | yaml | json

--no-colour¶: Turn off output colouring.

--var <var>¶: A variable to replace the value of an item in config file.

--var-file <var_file>¶: A YAML file of variables to replace the values of items in config files.

--ignore-dependencies¶: Ignore dependencies when executing command.

--merge-vars¶: Merge variables from successive –vars and var files

create¶

Creates a stack for a given config PATH. Or if CHANGE_SET_NAME is specified creates a change set for stack in PATH.

sceptre create [OPTIONS] PATH [CHANGE_SET_NAME]

Options

-y, --yes¶: Assume yes to all questions.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

CHANGE_SET_NAME¶: Optional argument

delete¶

Deletes a stack for a given config PATH. Or if CHANGE_SET_NAME is specified deletes a change set for stack in PATH.

sceptre delete [OPTIONS] PATH [CHANGE_SET_NAME]

Options

-y, --yes¶: Assume yes to all questions.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

CHANGE_SET_NAME¶: Optional argument

describe¶

Commands for describing attributes of stacks.

sceptre describe [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

change-set¶

Describes the change set.

sceptre describe change-set [OPTIONS] PATH
                            CHANGE_SET_NAME

Options

-v, --verbose¶: Display verbose output.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

CHANGE_SET_NAME¶: Required argument

policy¶

Displays the stack policy used.

sceptre describe policy [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

diff¶

Indicates the difference between the currently DEPLOYED stacks in the command path and the stacks configured in Sceptre right now. This command will compare both the templates as well as the subset of stack configurations that can be compared.

Some settings (such as sceptre_user_data) are not available in a CloudFormation stack description, so the diff will not be indicated. Currently compared stack configurations are:

* parameters
* notifications
* role_arn
* stack_tags

Important: There are resolvers (notably !stack_output, among others) that rely on other stacks to be already deployed when they are resolved. When producing a diff on Stack Configs that have such resolvers that point to non-deployed stacks, this presents a challenge, since this means those resolvers cannot be resolved. This particularly applies to stack parameters and when a stack’s template uses sceptre_user_data with resolvers in it. In order to continue to be useful when producing a diff in these conditions, this command will do the following:

1. If the resolver CAN be resolved, it will be resolved and the resolved value will be in the diff results. 2. If the resolver CANNOT be resolved, it will be replaced with a string that represents the resolver and its arguments. For example: !stack_output my_stack.yaml::MyOutput will resolve in the parameters to “{ !StackOutput(my_stack.yaml::MyOutput) }”.

Particularly in cases where the replaced value doesn’t work in the template as the template logic requires and causes an error, there is nothing further Sceptre can do and diffing will fail.

sceptre diff [OPTIONS] PATH

Options

-t, --type <differ>¶

The type of differ to use. Use “deepdiff” for recursive key/value comparison. “difflib” produces a more traditional “diff” result. Defaults to deepdiff.

Options: deepdiff | difflib

-s, --show-no-echo¶: If set, will display the unmasked values of NoEcho parameters generated LOCALLY (NoEcho parameters for deployed stacks will always be masked when retrieved from CloudFormation.). If not set (the default), parameters identified as NoEcho on the local template will be masked when presented in the diff.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

estimate-cost¶

Prints a URI to STOUT that provides an estimated cost based on the resources in the stack. This command will also attempt to open a web browser with the returned URI.

sceptre estimate-cost [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

execute¶

Executes a Change Set.

sceptre execute [OPTIONS] PATH CHANGE_SET_NAME

Options

-y, --yes¶: Assume yes to all questions.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

CHANGE_SET_NAME¶: Required argument

fetch-remote-template¶

Prints the remote template used for stack in PATH.

sceptre fetch-remote-template [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

generate¶

Prints the template used for stack in PATH.

sceptre generate [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

launch¶

Launch a Stack or StackGroup for a given config PATH.

sceptre launch [OPTIONS] PATH

Options

-y, --yes¶: Assume yes to all questions.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

list¶

Commands for listing attributes of stacks.

sceptre list [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

change-sets¶

List change sets for stack.

sceptre list change-sets [OPTIONS] PATH

Options

-U, --url¶: Instead write a URL.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

outputs¶

List outputs for stack.

sceptre list outputs [OPTIONS] PATH

Options

-e, --export <export>¶

Specify the export formatting.

Options: envvar

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

resources¶

List resources for stack or stack_group.

sceptre list resources [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

new¶

Commands for initialising Sceptre projects.

sceptre new [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

group¶

Creates StackGroup folder in the project and a config.yaml with any required properties.

sceptre new group [OPTIONS] STACK_GROUP

Arguments

STACK_GROUP¶: Required argument

project¶

Creates PROJECT_NAME project folder and a config.yaml with any required properties.

sceptre new project [OPTIONS] PROJECT_NAME

Arguments

PROJECT_NAME¶: Required argument

set-policy¶

Sets a specific Stack policy for either a file or using a built-in policy.

sceptre set-policy [OPTIONS] PATH [POLICY_FILE]

Options

-b, --built-in <built_in>¶

Specify a built in stack policy.

Options: deny-all | allow-all

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

POLICY_FILE¶: Optional argument

status¶

Prints the stack status or the status of the stacks within a stack_group for a given config PATH.

sceptre status [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

update¶

Updates a stack for a given config PATH. Or perform an update via change-set when the change-set flag is set.

sceptre update [OPTIONS] PATH

Options

-c, --change-set¶: Create a change set before updating.

-v, --verbose¶: Display verbose output.

-y, --yes¶: Assume yes to all questions.

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument

validate¶

Validates the template used for stack in PATH.

sceptre validate [OPTIONS] PATH

Arguments

PATH¶: Required argument