---
description: |
  The salt-masterless Packer provisioner provisions machines built by Packer
  using Salt states, without connecting to a Salt master.
layout: docs
page_title: Salt Masterless - Provisioners
sidebar_title: Salt Masterless
---

# Salt Masterless Provisioner

@include 'provisioners/unmaintained-plugin.mdx'

Type: `salt-masterless`

The `salt-masterless` Packer provisioner provisions machines built by Packer
using [Salt](http://saltstack.com/) states, without connecting to a Salt
master.

## Basic Example

The example below is fully functional.

```json
{
  "type": "salt-masterless",
  "local_state_tree": "/Users/me/salt"
}
```

## Configuration Reference

The reference of available configuration options is listed below. The only
required element is "local_state_tree".

Required:

- `local_state_tree` (string) - The path to your local [state
  tree](http://docs.saltstack.com/ref/states/highstate.html#the-salt-state-tree).
  This will be uploaded to the `remote_state_tree` on the remote.

Optional:

- `bootstrap_args` (string) - Arguments to send to the bootstrap script.
  Usage is somewhat documented on
  [github](https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap), but the [script
  itself](https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap/blob/develop/bootstrap-salt.sh)
  has more detailed usage instructions. By default, no arguments are sent to
  the script.

- `disable_sudo` (boolean) - By default, the bootstrap install command is
  prefixed with `sudo`. When using a Docker builder, you will likely want to
  pass `true` since `sudo` is often not pre-installed.

- `remote_pillar_roots` (string) - The path to your remote [pillar
  roots](http://docs.saltstack.com/ref/configuration/master.html#pillar-configuration).
  default: `/srv/pillar`. This option cannot be used with `minion_config`.

- `remote_state_tree` (string) - The path to your remote [state
  tree](http://docs.saltstack.com/ref/states/highstate.html#the-salt-state-tree).
  default: `/srv/salt`. This option cannot be used with `minion_config`.

- `local_pillar_roots` (string) - The path to your local [pillar
  roots](http://docs.saltstack.com/ref/configuration/master.html#pillar-configuration).
  This will be uploaded to the `remote_pillar_roots` on the remote.

- `custom_state` (string) - A state to be run instead of `state.highstate`.
  Defaults to `state.highstate` if unspecified.

- `minion_config` (string) - The path to your local [minion config
  file](http://docs.saltstack.com/ref/configuration/minion.html). This will
  be uploaded to the `/etc/salt` on the remote. This option overrides the
  `remote_state_tree` or `remote_pillar_roots` options.

- `grains_file` (string) - The path to your local [grains
  file](https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/grains). This will be
  uploaded to `/etc/salt/grains` on the remote.

- `skip_bootstrap` (boolean) - By default the salt provisioner runs [salt
  bootstrap](https://github.com/saltstack/salt-bootstrap) to install salt.
  Set this to true to skip this step.

- `temp_config_dir` (string) - Where your local state tree will be copied
  before moving to the `/srv/salt` directory. Default is `/tmp/salt`.

- `no_exit_on_failure` (boolean) - Packer will exit if the `salt-call`
  command fails. Set this option to true to ignore Salt failures.

- `log_level` (string) - Set the logging level for the `salt-call` run.

- `salt_call_args` (string) - Additional arguments to pass directly to
  `salt-call`. See
  [salt-call](https://docs.saltstack.com/ref/cli/salt-call.html)
  documentation for more information. By default no additional arguments
  (besides the ones Packer generates) are passed to `salt-call`.

- `salt_bin_dir` (string) - Path to the `salt-call` executable. Useful if it
  is not on the PATH.

- `guest_os_type` (string) - The target guest OS type, either "unix" or
  "windows".

- `formulas` (array of strings) - An array of git source formulas to be downloaded to the local
  state tree prior to moving to the remote state tree. Note: `//directory` must be included in 
  the URL to download the appropriate formula directory. Example:
  `git::https://github.com/saltstack-formulas/vault-formula.git//vault?ref=v1.2.3`

@include 'provisioners/common-config.mdx'
