Workflows¶

Common inputs¶

Apply all configs in the current directory:

incus-apply .

Apply specific files:

incus-apply instance.yaml network.yaml

Apply recursively from a directory:

incus-apply ./configs/ -r

Apply from stdin:

cat instance.yaml | incus-apply -

Apply from URL:

incus-apply https://example.com/instance.yaml

Preview and confirm changes¶

By default, incus-apply previews the changes and asks for confirmation.

Show diff only without applying:

incus-apply . --diff

Show machine-readable diff output:

incus-apply . --diff=json

For instance resources, config.environment.* values are redacted in preview output by default. Use --show-env when you need to inspect the actual values in the preview.

If planning detects errors, the preview is still shown, but apply or delete stops before making changes.

Preview output identifies resources by effective scope:

Most resources use type/name, for example instance/web.
Pool-scoped storage resources use project:type/pool/name, for example default:storage-volume/pool1/data.
Global resources omit the project prefix and use type/name.

Non-interactive runs¶

Use these options in automation or CI:

Auto-accept changes:

incus-apply . -y

Non-interactive with quiet output:

incus-apply . -yq

Remote and project targeting¶

Apply everything to a specific project:

incus-apply . --project myproject

Apply everything to a remote server by appending the remote name with a trailing colon:

incus-apply instance.yaml server-a:

For per-resource remote overrides, prefix the resource name:

kind: instance
name: server-a:ubuntu
image: images:ubuntu/24.04

Delete, replace, and reset¶

Delete resources described in the configuration:

incus-apply . -d -y

Recreate resources when create-only fields change:

incus-apply . --replace

Delete then recreate everything from scratch:

incus-apply . --reset

--reset is mutually exclusive with --delete and --diff.

Some fields are create-only, such as an instance image, storage pool driver, or network type. When one of those fields changes on a managed resource, incus-apply prints a warning, silently ignores the create-only fields, and applies any other changes on the resource normally. Use --replace to delete and recreate the resource so the create-only change is also applied.

Interactive resource selection¶

Use --select to choose a subset of resources before the diff is computed. Navigate with ↑ and ↓ or j and k, toggle items with space, toggle all with a, confirm with enter, and cancel with q.

Dependency ordering¶

Resources are created in dependency order. The default order is:

Projects
Storage pools
Networks
Network forwards
Network ACLs
Network zones
Storage volumes
Storage buckets
Storage bucket keys
Cluster groups
Profiles
Instances

For deletion, the order is reversed.