Conftest

Join us on the Open Policy Agent Slack in the #conftest channel

What

conftest is a utility to help you write tests against structured configuration data. For instance you could write tests for your Kubernetes configurations, or Tekton pipeline definitions, Terraform code, Serverless configs or any other structured data.

conftest relies on the Rego language from Open Policy Agent for writing the assertions. You can read more about Rego in How do I write policies in the Open Policy Agent documentation.

Usage

conftest allows you to write policies using Open Policy Agent/rego and apply them to one or more configuration files.

As of today conftest supports:

YAML
JSON
INI
TOML
HCL
CUE
Dockerfile
HCL2 (Experimental)
EDN
XML

Policies by default should be placed in a directory called policy but this can be overridden.

For instance, save the following as policy/deployment.rego:

package main

deny[msg] {
  input.kind = "Deployment"
  not input.spec.template.spec.securityContext.runAsNonRoot = true
  msg = "Containers must not run as root"
}

deny[msg] {
  input.kind = "Deployment"
  not input.spec.selector.matchLabels.app
  msg = "Containers must provide app label for pod selectors"
}

By default conftest looks for deny and warn rules in the main namespace. This can be altered by running --namespace or provided on the configuration file.

Assuming you have a Kubernetes deployment in deployment.yaml you can run conftest like so:

$ conftest test deployment.yaml
FAIL - deployment.yaml - Containers must not run as root
FAIL - deployment.yaml - Deployments are not allowed

conftest can also be used with stdin:

$ cat deployment.yaml | conftest test -
FAIL - Containers must not run as root
FAIL - Deployments are not allowed

Note that conftest isn't specific to Kubernetes. It will happily let you write tests for any configuration files.

--input flag

conftest normally detects input type with the file extension, but you can force to use a different one with the --input flag (-i).

For the available parsers, take a look at: parsers. For instance:

$ conftest test -p examples/hcl2/policy examples/hcl2/terraform.tf -i hcl2
FAIL - examples/hcl2/terraform.tf - Application environment is should be `staging_environment`

The --input flag can also be a good way to see how different input types would be parsed:

conftest parse examples/hcl2/terraform.tf -i hcl2

--combine flag

This flag introduces BREAKING CHANGES in how conftest provides input to rego policies. However, you may find it useful to as you can now compare multiple values from different configurations simultaneously.

The --combine flag combines files into one input data structure. The structure is a map where each indice is the file path of the file being evaluated.

Let's try it!

Save the following as policy/combine.rego:

package main


deny[msg] {
  deployment := input["deployment.yaml"]["spec"]["selector"]["matchLabels"]["app"]
  service := input["service.yaml"]["spec"]["selector"]["app"]

  deployment != service

  msg = sprintf("Expected these values to be the same but received %v for deployment and %v for service", [deployment, service])
}

Save the following as service.yaml:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: hello-kubernetes
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 8080
  selector:
    app: goodbye-kubernetes

and lastly, save the following as deployment.yaml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: hello-kubernetes
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: hello-kubernetes

With the above files created, run the following command:

$ conftest test --combine deployment.yaml service.yaml

FAIL - Combined-configs (multi-file) - Expected these values to be the same but received hello-kubernetes for deployment and goodbye-kubernetes for service

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now you can ensure that duplicate values match across the entirety of your configuration files.

--output flag

The output of conftest can be configured using the --output flag (-o).

As of today conftest supports the following output types:

Plaintext --output=stdout
JSON: --output=json
TAP: --output=tap
Table --output=table

Example Output

Plaintext

$ conftest test -p examples/kubernetes/policy examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml
FAIL - examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml - Containers must not run as root in Deployment hello-kubernetes
FAIL - examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml - Deployment hello-kubernetes must provide app/release labels for pod selectors
FAIL - examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml - hello-kubernetes must include Kubernetes recommended labels: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/common-labels/#labels

JSON

$ conftest test -o json -p examples/kubernetes/policy examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml
[
        {
                "filename": "examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml",
                "warnings": [],
                "failures": [
                        "hello-kubernetes must include Kubernetes recommended labels: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/common-labels/#labels ",
                        "Containers must not run as root in Deployment hello-kubernetes",
                        "Deployment hello-kubernetes must provide app/release labels for pod selectors"
                ]
        }
]

TAP

$ conftest test -o tap -p examples/kubernetes/policy examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml
1..3
not ok 1 - examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml - Containers must not run as root in Deployment hello-kubernetes
not ok 2 - examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml - Deployment hello-kubernetes must provide app/release labels for pod selectors
not ok 3 - examples/kubernetes/deployment.yaml - hello-kubernetes must include Kubernetes recommended labels: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/common-labels/#labels

TABLE

$ conftest test -p examples/kubernetes/policy examples/kubernetes/service.yaml -o table
+---------+----------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| RESULT  |               FILE               |            MESSAGE             |
+---------+----------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| success | examples/kubernetes/service.yaml |                                |
| warning | examples/kubernetes/service.yaml | Found service hello-kubernetes |
|         |                                  | but services are not allowed   |
+---------+----------------------------------+--------------------------------+

Examples

You can find examples using various other tools in the examples directory, including:

Configuration and external policies

Policies are often reusable between different projects, and conftest supports a mechanism to specify dependent policies as well as download them. The format reuses the Bundle defined by Open Policy Agent.

You can download individual policies directly:

conftest pull instrumenta.azurecr.io/test

Pull also supports other policy locations, such as git or https. Under the hood conftest leverages go-getter to download policies. For example, to download a policy via https:

conftest pull https://raw.githubusercontent.com/instrumenta/conftest/master/examples/compose/policy/deny.rego

Policies can be stored in OCI-compatible registries. You can read more about this idea in this post. Conftest supports storing policies using this mechanism leveraging ORAS.

If you have a compatible OCI registry you can also push new policy bundles like so:

conftest push instrumenta.azurecr.io/test

If you want to download the latest policies and run the tests in one go, you can do so with:

conftest test --update <url(s)> <file-to-test>

conftest also supports a simple configuration file which can be used to store configuration settings for the conftest command.

Create a conftest.toml configuration file like the following:

# You can override the directory in which to store and look for policies
policy = "tests"
# You can override the namespace which to search for rules
namespace = "conftest"

Debugging queries

When working on more complex queries (or when learning rego), it's useful to see exactly how the policy is applied. For this purpose you can use the --trace flag. This will output a large trace from Open Policy Agent like the following:

Example of trace

$ conftest test --trace deployment.yaml
FAIL - deployment.yaml - Deployment hello-kubernetes must provide app/release labels for pod selectors
TRAC - deployment.yaml - Enter data.main.deny = _
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Eval data.main.deny = _
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Index data.main.deny = _ matched 3 rules)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Enter data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Index data.kubernetes.is_deployment (matched 1 rule)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval input.kind = "Deployment"
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Exit data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval not data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Index data.main.labels matched 2 rules)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Enter data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/name"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/instance"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Fail input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/instance"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Redo input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/name"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Enter data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.spec.selector.matchLabels.app
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.spec.selector.matchLabels.release
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Fail input.spec.selector.matchLabels.release
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Redo input.spec.selector.matchLabels.app
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Fail data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval __local9__ = data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Index __local9__ = data.main.name matched 3 rules)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval true
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval __local5__ = input.metadata.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Exit data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval sprintf("%s must include Kubernetes recommended labels: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/common-labels/#labels ", [__local9__], __local2__)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval msg = __local2__
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Exit data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Redo data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo msg = __local2__
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo sprintf("%s must include Kubernetes recommended labels: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/common-labels/#labels ", [__local9__], __local2__)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo __local9__ = data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo __local5__ = input.metadata.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo true
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval true
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval __local6__ = input.metadata.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Exit data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo __local6__ = input.metadata.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo true
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval true
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval __local4__ = input.metadata.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Exit data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo __local4__ = input.metadata.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo true
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Redo input.kind = "Deployment"
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Enter data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Index data.kubernetes.is_deployment (matched 1 rule)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval not input.spec.template.spec.securityContext.runAsNonRoot
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter input.spec.template.spec.securityContext.runAsNonRoot
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval input.spec.template.spec.securityContext.runAsNonRoot
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Fail input.spec.template.spec.securityContext.runAsNonRoot
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval __local7__ = data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Index __local7__ = data.main.name matched 3 rules)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval sprintf("Containers must not run as root in Deployment %s", [__local7__], __local0__)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval msg = __local0__
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Exit data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Redo data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo msg = __local0__
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo sprintf("Containers must not run as root in Deployment %s", [__local7__], __local0__)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo __local7__ = data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Enter data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Index data.kubernetes.is_deployment (matched 1 rule)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval not data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Enter data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Eval data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Index data.main.labels matched 2 rules)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Enter data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/name"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/instance"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Fail input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/instance"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Redo input.metadata.labels["app.kubernetes.io/name"]
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Enter data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.spec.selector.matchLabels.app
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Eval input.spec.selector.matchLabels.release
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Fail input.spec.selector.matchLabels.release
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | | Redo input.spec.selector.matchLabels.app
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | | Fail data.main.labels
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval __local8__ = data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Index __local8__ = data.main.name matched 3 rules)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval sprintf("Deployment %s must provide app/release labels for pod selectors", [__local8__], __local1__)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Eval msg = __local1__
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Exit data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Redo data.main.deny
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo msg = __local1__
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo sprintf("Deployment %s must provide app/release labels for pod selectors", [__local8__], __local1__)
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo __local8__ = data.main.name
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | | Redo data.kubernetes.is_deployment
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Exit data.main.deny = _
TRAC - deployment.yaml - Redo data.main.deny = _
TRAC - deployment.yaml - | Redo data.main.deny = _

Installation

conftest releases are available for Windows, macOS and Linux on the releases page. On Linux and macOS you can download as follows:

$ wget https://github.com/instrumenta/conftest/releases/download/v0.15.0/conftest_0.15.0_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
$ tar xzf conftest_0.15.0_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
$ sudo mv conftest /usr/local/bin

Brew

If you're on a Mac and using Homebrew you can use:

brew tap instrumenta/instrumenta
brew install conftest

Scoop

You can also install using Scoop on Windows:

scoop bucket add instrumenta https://github.com/instrumenta/scoop-instrumenta
scoop install conftest

Docker

conftest is also able to be used via Docker. Simply mount your configuration and policy at /project and specify the relevant command like so:

$ docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/project instrumenta/conftest test deployment.yaml
FAIL - deployment.yaml - Containers must not run as root in Deployment hello-kubernetes

Inspiration

kubetest was a similar project of mine, using Skylark
Open Policy Agent and the Rego query language
The helm-opa plugin from @eicnix helped with understanding the OPA Go packages
Tools from the wider infrastructure as code community, in particular rspec-puppet. Lots of my thoughts in my talk from KubeCon 2017

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 421 Commits
.circleci		.circleci
commands		commands
examples		examples
parser		parser
plugin		plugin
policy		policy
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.gitignore		.gitignore
.goreleaser.yml		.goreleaser.yml
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
acceptance.bats		acceptance.bats
go.mod		go.mod
go.sum		go.sum
main.go		main.go

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Configuration and external policies

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