kitchen converge
Applies your configuration to one or more instances using the configured provisioner. This is the command you run most often while developing.
kitchen converge [INSTANCE|REGEXP|all]
If an instance does not exist yet, converge creates it first.
Examples
kitchen converge # every instance
kitchen converge default-ubuntu-2204 # one instance
kitchen converge default # every instance matching /default/
kitchen converge -c 4 # four at a time
kitchen converge -l debug # verbose Test Kitchen logging
kitchen converge -D # verbose provisioner logging
Flags
| Flag | Alias | Description |
|---|---|---|
--concurrency [N] |
-c |
Converge matching instances concurrently. Unlimited when no number is given. |
--debug |
-D |
Run the provisioner itself with debugging enabled. |
--fail-fast |
-f |
Stop as soon as one instance fails. |
--parallel |
-p |
Deprecated. Use --concurrency. |
--test-base-path PATH |
-t |
Set the base path for tests. |
--log-level LEVEL |
-l |
debug, info, warn, error, or fatal. |
--log-overwrite |
Set to false to keep old log files. |
|
--color |
Toggle color output. |
-l debug and -D do different things. -l debug makes Test Kitchen verbose — how it resolved config, what it uploaded, which commands it ran. -D makes the provisioner verbose, so for the Chef provisioner it is the difference between seeing Test Kitchen’s plumbing and seeing Chef’s own debug output. When you are stuck, use both.Converging repeatedly
Converge is designed to be run over and over. A typical development loop is:
kitchen converge default-ubuntu-2204 # apply changes
# edit your cookbook or configuration
kitchen converge default-ubuntu-2204 # apply again, same instance
The instance is not rebuilt between runs, so this is much faster than kitchen test. It also means state left behind by an earlier converge is still present — which is exactly what you want while iterating, and exactly what you do not want when validating. Before you trust a result, run kitchen test to prove the configuration works from a clean machine.
A converge that passes on a dirty instance can still fail on a fresh one. Repeated converges do not prove your code is idempotent or that it works from scratch.