---
title: About Chef InSpec Profiles
---

# Chef InSpec Profiles

Chef InSpec supports the creation of complex test and compliance profiles, which organize controls to support dependency management and code reuse. Each profile is a standalone structure with its own distribution and execution flow.

# Profile Structure

A profile should have the following structure::

```YAML
examples/profile
├── README.md
├── controls
│   ├── example.rb
│   └── control_etc.rb
├── libraries
│   └── extension.rb
|── files
│   └── extras.conf
└── inspec.yml
```

where:

* `inspec.yml` includes the profile description (required)
* `controls` is the directory in which all tests are located (required)
* `libraries` is the directory in which all Chef InSpec resource extensions are located (optional)
* `files` is the directory with additional files that a profile can access (optional)
* `README.md` should be used to explain the profile, its scope, and usage

See a complete example profile in the Chef InSpec open source repository: [Example Chef InSpec Profile](https://github.com/chef/inspec/tree/master/examples/profile)

Also check out [Explore Chef InSpec resources](https://learn.chef.io/modules/explore-inspec-resources#/) on Learn Chef Rally to learn more about how profiles are structured with hands-on examples.

## inspec.yml

Each profile must have an `inspec.yml` file that defines the following information:

* Use `name` to specify a unique name for the profile. Required.
* Use `title` to specify a human-readable name for the profile.
* Use `maintainer` to specify the profile maintainer.
* Use `copyright` to specify the copyright holder.
* Use `copyright_email` to specify support contact information for the profile, typically an email address.
* Use `license` to specify the license for the profile.
* Use `summary` to specify a one line summary for the profile.
* Use `description` to specify a multiple line description of the profile.
* Use `version` to specify the profile version.
* Use `inspec_version` to place SemVer constraints on the version of Chef InSpec that the profile can run under.
* Use `supports` to specify a list of supported platform targets.
* Use `depends` to define a list of profiles on which this profile depends.
* Use `attributes` to define a list of attributes you can use in your controls.

`name` is required; all other profile settings are optional. For example:

```YAML
name: ssh
title: Basic SSH
maintainer: Chef Software, Inc.
copyright: Chef Software, Inc.
copyright_email: support@chef.io
license: Proprietary, All rights reserved
summary: Verify that SSH Server and SSH Client are configured securely
version: 1.0.0
supports:
  - os-family: linux
depends:
  - name: profile
    path: ../path/to/profile
inspec_version: "~> 2.1"
```

The `inspec.yml` also supports embedded ERB in the file. For example:

```YAML
name: dummy
title: InSpec Profile
maintainer: The Authors
copyright: The Authors
copyright_email: you@example.com
license: Apache-2.0
summary: An InSpec Compliance Profile
version: 0.1.0
depends:
- name: inherit
  url: "https://artifactory.com/artifactory/example-repo-local/inspec/0.4.1.tar.gz"
  username: <%= ENV['USERNAME'] %>
  password: <%= ENV['API_KEY'] %>
```

## Verify Profiles

Use the `inspec check` command to verify the implementation of a profile:

```bash
$ inspec check examples/profile
```

# Platform Support

Use the `supports` setting in the `inspec.yml` file to specify one (or more) platforms for which a profile is targeting. The list of supported platforms may contain the following:

* Use `platform-family` to restrict to a specific platform family.
* Use `platform-name` to restrict on a specific platform name.
* Use `release` to restrict to a specific platform version (used with platform-name).
* Use `platform` to restrict on either platform-name or platform-family.

For compatibility we support `os-name` and `os-family`. We recommend all users to change `os-name` to `platform-name` and `os-family` to `platform-family`.

With Chef InSpec 2.0, we introduced new families to help distinguish the cloud platforms. The new families can restrict the platform family to `os`, `aws`, `azure` or `gcp`.

For example, to target anything running Debian Linux:

```YAML
name: ssh
supports:
  - platform-name: debian
```

and to target only Ubuntu version 14.04

```YAML
name: ssh
supports:
  - platform-name: ubuntu
    release: 14.04
```

and to target the entire RedHat platform (including CentOS and Oracle Linux):

```YAML
name: ssh
supports:
  - platform-family: redhat
```

and to target anything running on Amazon AWS:

```YAML
name: ssh
supports:
  - platform: aws
```

and to target all of these examples in a single `inspec.yml` file:

```YAML
name: ssh
supports:
  - platform-name: debian
  - platform-name: ubuntu
    release: 14.04
  - platform-family: redhat
  - platform: aws
```

# Profile Dependencies

An Chef InSpec profile can bring in the controls and custom resources from another Chef InSpec profile. Additionally, when inheriting the controls of another profile, a profile can skip or even modify those included controls.

For hands-on examples, check out [Create a custom Chef InSpec profile](https://learn.chef.io/modules/create-a-custom-profile#/) on Learn Chef Rally.

## Defining the Dependencies

Before a profile can use controls from another profile, the to-be-included profile needs to be specified in the including profile’s `inspec.yml` file in the `depends` section. For each profile to be included, a location for the profile from where to be fetched and a name for the profile should be included. For example:

```YAML
depends:
- name: linux-baseline
  url: https://github.com/dev-sec/linux-baseline/archive/master.tar.gz
- name: ssh-baseline
  url: https://github.com/dev-sec/ssh-baseline/archive/master.tar.gz
```

Chef InSpec supports a number of dependency sources.

### path

The `path` setting defines a profile that is located on disk. This setting is typically used during development of profiles and when debugging profiles.

```YAML
depends:
- name: my-profile
  path: /absolute/path
- name: another
  path: ../relative/path
```

### url

The `url` setting specifies a profile that is located at an HTTP- or HTTPS-based URL. The profile must be accessible via a HTTP GET operation and must be a valid profile archive (zip, tar, or tar.gz format).

```YAML
depends:
- name: my-profile
  url: https://my.domain/path/to/profile.tgz
- name: profile-via-git
  url: https://github.com/myusername/myprofile-repo/archive/master.tar.gz
```

`url` also supports basic authentication.

```YAML
depends:
- name: my-profile
  url: https://my.domain/path/to/profile.tgz
  username: user
  password: password
```

### git

A `git` setting specifies a profile that is located in a git repository, with optional settings for branch, tag, commit, and version. The source location is translated into a URL upon resolution. This type of dependency supports version constraints via semantic versioning as git tags.

For example:

```YAML
depends:
- name: git-profile
  git: http://url/to/repo
  branch:  desired_branch
  tag:     desired_version
  commit:  pinned_commit
  version: semver_via_tags
```

### supermarket

A `supermarket` setting specifies a profile that is located in a cookbook hosted on Chef Supermarket. The source location is translated into a URL upon resolution.

For example:

```YAML
depends:
- name: supermarket-profile
  supermarket: supermarket-username/supermarket-profile
```

Available Supermarket profiles can be listed with `inspec supermarket profiles`.

### compliance

A `compliance` setting specifies a profile that is located on the Chef Automate or Chef Compliance server.

For example:

```YAML
depends:
- name: linux
  compliance: base/linux
```

## Vendoring Dependencies

When you execute a local profile, the `inspec.yml` file will be read in order to source any profile dependencies. It will then cache the dependencies locally and generate an `inspec.lock` file.

If you add or update dependencies in `inspec.yml`, dependencies may be re-vendored and the lockfile updated with `inspec vendor --overwrite`

## Using Controls from an Included Profile

Once defined in the `inspec.yml`, controls from the included profiles can be used! Let’s look at some examples.

### Including All Controls from a Profile

With the `include_controls` command in a profile, all controls from the named profile will be executed every time the including profile is executed.

![Include Controls](/images/profile_inheritance/include_controls.png)

In the example above, every time `my-app-profile` is executed, all the controls from `my-baseline` are also executed. Therefore, the following controls would be executed:

* myapp-1
* myapp-2
* myapp-3
* baseline-1
* baseline-2

This is a great reminder that having a good naming convention for your controls is helpful to avoid confusion when
including controls from other profiles!

### Skipping a Control from a Profile

What if one of the controls from the included profile does not apply to your environment? Luckily, it is not necessary to maintain a slightly-modified copy of the included profile just to delete a control. The `skip_control` command tells Chef InSpec to not run a particular control.

![Include Controls with Skip](/images/profile_inheritance/include_controls_with_skip.png)


In the above example, all controls from `my-app-profile` and `my-baseline` profile will be executed every time `my-app-profile` is executed **except** for control `baseline-2` from the `my-baseline` profile.

### Modifying a Control

Let's say a particular control from an included profile should still be run, but the impact isn't appropriate? Perhaps the test should still run, but if it fails, it should be treated as low severity instead of high severity?

When a control is included, it can also be modified!

![Include Controls with Modification](/images/profile_inheritance/include_controls_with_mod.png)

In the above example, all controls from `my-baseline` are executed along with all the controls from the including profile, `my-app-profile`. However, should control `baseline-1` fail, it will be raised with an impact of `0.5` instead of the originally-intended impact of `1.0`.

### Selectively Including Controls from a Profile

If there are only a handful of controls that should be executed from an included profile, it's not necessarily to skip all the unneeded controls, or worse, copy/paste those controls bit-for-bit into your profile. Instead, use the `require_controls` command.

![Require Controls](/images/profile_inheritance/require_controls.png)

Whenever `my-app-profile` is executed, in addition to its own controls, it will run only the controls specified in the `require_controls` block. In the case, the following controls would be executed:

* myapp-1
* myapp-2
* myapp-3
* baseline-2
* baseline-4

Controls `baseline-1`, `baseline-3`, and `baseline-5` would not be run, just as if they were manually skipped. This method of including specific controls ensures only the controls specified are executed; if new controls are added to a later version of `my-baseline`, they would not be run.

And, just the way its possible to modify controls when using `include_controls`, controls can be modified as well.

![Require Controls with Modification](/images/profile_inheritance/require_controls_with_mod.png)

As with the prior example, only `baseline-2` and `baseline-4` are executed, but if `baseline-2` fails, it will report with an impact of `0.5` instead of the originally-intended `1.0` impact.

## Using Resources from an Included Profile

By default, all of the custom resources from a listed dependency are available
for use in your profile. If two of your dependencies provide a resource with
the same name, you can use the `require_resource` DSL function to
disambiguate the two:

```YAML
require_resource(profile: 'my_dep', resource: 'my_res',
                  as: 'my_res2')
  ```

This will allow you to reference the resource `my_res` from the
profile `my_dep` using the name `my_res2`.

# Profile Attributes

Attributes are frequently used to parameterize a profile for use in different environments or targets. It can also be used define secrets, such as user names and passwords, that should not otherwise be stored in plain-text in a cookbook. Attributes may be set for the whole profile in the `inspec.yml`.

Attributes may contain the following options:

* Use `value` to set a value for the attribute.
* Use `type` to restrict an attribute to a specific type (any, string, numeric, array, hash, boolean, regex).
* Use `required` to mandate the attribute has a value at the time of evaluation.
* Use `description` to set a brief description for the attribute.


## Setting Attributes in the Profile Metadata File

You can specify attributes in your `inspec.yml` using the `attributes` setting. For example, to add a `user` attribute for your profile:

```YAML
attributes:
  - name: user
    type: string
    value: bob
```

Example of adding a array object of servers:

```YAML
attributes:
  - name: servers
    type: array
    value:
      - server1
      - server2
      - server3
```

To access an attribute you will use the `attribute` keyword. You can use this anywhere in your control code.

For example:

```Ruby
current_user = attribute('user')

control 'system-users' do
  describe attribute('user') do
    it { should eq 'bob' }
  end

  describe current_user do
    it { should eq attribute('user') }
  end
end
```

## Setting Attributes in an External YAML Attributes File

For sensitive data it is recommended to use a YAML file located on the local machine to populate the values of attributes. To read values from a YAML file, use run `inspec exec` and specify the path to that YAML file using the `--attrs` attribute.

For example, your profile's metadata file, inspec.yml:

```YAML
attributes:
  - name: username
    type: string
    required: true
  - name: password
    type: string
    required: true
```

The control:

```Ruby
control 'system-users' do
  impact 0.8
  desc '
    This test assures that the user "Bob" has a user installed on the system, along with a
    specified password.
  '

  describe attribute('username') do
    it { should eq 'bob' }
  end

  describe attribute('password') do
    it { should eq 'secret' }
  end
end
```

And a YAML file named `profile-attribute.yml`:

```YAML
username: bob
password: secret
```

The following command runs the tests and applies the secrets specified in `profile-attribute.yml`:

```bash
$ inspec exec examples/profile-attribute --attrs examples/profile-attribute.yml
```

To change your attributes for platform specific cases you can setup multiple `--attrs` files.

For example, a inspec.yml:

```YAML
attributes:
  - name: users
    type: array
    required: true
```

A YAML file named `windows.yml`

```YAML
users:
  - Administrator
  - Guest
  - Randy
```

A YAML file named `linux.yml`

```YAML
users:
  - root
  - shadow
  - rmadison
```

The control file:

```RUBY
control 'system-users' do
  impact 0.8
  desc 'Confirm the proper users are created on the system'

  describe users do
    its('usernames') { should eq attribute('users') }
  end
end
```

The following command runs the tests and applies the attributes specified:

```bash
$ inspec exec examples/profile-attribute --attrs examples/windows.yml
$ inspec exec examples/profile-attribute --attrs examples/linux.yml
```

See the full example in the Chef InSpec open source repository: [Example Chef InSpec Profile with Attributes](https://github.com/chef/inspec/tree/master/examples/profile-attribute)

## Attribute Value Precedence

Attribute values are always set in the following precedence (highest to lowest):

 1. Values from a file specified on the command line using --attrs
 2. Values from a profile metadata file - an inspec.yml with an `attributes:` section
 3. Values provided directly in control code - `attribute('user', value: 'bob')`

# Profile files

An Chef InSpec profile may contain additional files that can be accessed during tests. A profile file enables you to separate the logic of your tests from the data your tests check for, for example, the list of ports you require to be open.

To access these files, they must be stored in the `files` directory at the root of a profile. They are accessed by their name relative to this folder with `inspec.profile.file(...)`.

Here is an example for reading and testing a list of ports. The folder structure is:

```YAML
examples/profile
├── controls
│   ├── example.rb
│── files
│   └── services.yml
└── inspec.yml
```

With `services.yml` containing:

```YAML
- service_name: httpd-alpha
  port: 80
- service_name: httpd-beta
  port: 8080
```

The tests in `example.rb` can now access this file:

```Ruby
my_services = yaml(content: inspec.profile.file('services.yml')).params

my_services.each do |s|
  describe service(s['service_name']) do
    it { should be_running }
end

describe port(s['port']) do
  it { should be_listening }
  end
end
```

For a more complete example that uses a profile file, see [Explore Chef InSpec resources](https://learn.chef.io/modules/explore-inspec-resources#/) on Learn Chef Rally.

# "should" vs. "expect" syntax

Users familiar with the RSpec testing framework may know that there are two ways to write test statements: `should` and `expect`. The RSpec community decided that `expect` is the preferred syntax. However, Chef InSpec recommends the `should` syntax as it tends to read more easily to those users who are not as technical.

Chef InSpec will continue to support both methods of writing tests. Consider this `file` test:

```Ruby
describe file('/tmp/test.txt') do
  it { should be_file }
end
```

This can be re-written with `expect` syntax

```Ruby
describe file('/tmp/test.txt') do
  it 'should be a file' do
    expect(subject).to(be_file)
  end
end
```

The output of both of the above examples looks like this:

```text
File /tmp/test.txt
   ✔  should be a file
```

In addition, you can make use of the `subject` keyword to further control your output if you choose:

```Ruby
describe 'test file' do
  subject { file('/tmp/test.txt') }
  it 'should be a file' do
    expect(subject).to(be_file)
  end
end
```

... which will render the following output:

```text
test file
  ✔  should be a file
```