---
title: "Chef Connection"
description: "Learn how to configure a Chef Connection for Infisical."
---

<Info>
    Chef App Connection is a paid feature.

    If you're using Infisical Cloud, then it is available under the **Enterprise Tier**. If you're self-hosting Infisical,
    then you should contact team@infisical.com to purchase an enterprise license to use it.

</Info>

Infisical supports the use of User Private Key to connect with Chef Server.

Please access your **starter kit** to get all the required information to create a Chef Connection.

<Accordion title="If you don't have a starter kit">
  <Warning>
    If you download a new starter kit, your previous private key/user key will
    no longer be valid. Please make sure to update all the places that use the
    previous private key.
  </Warning>
  <Steps>
    <Step title="Navigate to your Chef Server Dashboard, and click on the 'Organizations' tab">
      ![Chef Server User Keys](/images/app-connections/chef/chef-dashboard.png)
    </Step>
    <Step title="Click on the organization you want to connect to, and then click on the 'Starter Kit' button">
      ![Starter Kit](/images/app-connections/chef/starter-kit.png)
    </Step>
    <Step title="Click on the 'Download Starter Kit' button to download the starter kit">
      ![Download Starter
      Kit](/images/app-connections/chef/download-starter-kit.png)
    </Step>
    <Step title='Download the starter kit zip file and extract the contents'>
      ![Extract Starter
      Kit](/images/app-connections/chef/extract-starter-kit.png)
    </Step>
  </Steps>
</Accordion>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open your starter kit's folder">
    Open your starter kit's folder(or `chef-repo`) and navigate to the `.chef`
    folder.
    <Note>
      Please make sure you have hidden files visible in your file explorer.
    </Note>
    ![.chef folder](/images/app-connections/chef/chef-folder.png)
  </Step>
  <Step title='Copy the private key'>
    In the `.chef` folder, you will find a `[your-username].pem` file. ![Private
    Key File](/images/app-connections/chef/private-key-file.png)

    **Private Key:** Copy the content of the private key file.

  </Step>
  <Step title='Open the config.rb file'>
    Open the `config.rb` file and copy the content of the file.
    ![Config.rb File Content](/images/app-connections/chef/chef-connection-details.png)

    **User Name(1):** The user name of the chef user.

    **Server URL(2):** The server url of the chef server.

    **Organization Name(3):** The organization name of the chef server.

  </Step>
</Steps>

## Create a Chef Connection in Infisical via UI

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Infisical UI">
    <Steps>
      <Step title="Navigate to App Connections">
        In your Infisical dashboard, navigate to the **App Connections** page in the desired project.
        ![App Connections Tab](/images/app-connections/general/add-connection.png)
      </Step>
      <Step title="Select Chef Connection">
        Click **+ Add Connection** and choose **Chef** Connection from the list of integrations.
        ![Select Chef Connection](/images/app-connections/chef/app-connection-option.png)
      </Step>
      <Step title="Fill out the Chef Connection form">
        Complete the form by providing:
        - A descriptive name for the connection
        - An optional description
        - Server URL(optional): The URL of the Chef server to connect with (defaults to https://api.chef.io)
        - Organization short name
        - User name
        - Private key: Your Chef user's private key (.pem file)

        ![Chef Connection Modal](/images/app-connections/chef/app-connection-form.png)
      </Step>
      <Step title="Connection created">
        After submitting the form, your **Chef Connection** will be successfully created and ready to use with your Infisical project.
        ![Chef Connection Created](/images/app-connections/chef/app-connection-generated.png)
      </Step>
    </Steps>

  </Tab>

  <Tab title="API">
    To create a Chef Connection via API, send a request to the [Create Chef Connection](/api-reference/endpoints/app-connections/chef/create) endpoint.

    ### Sample request

    ```bash Request
    curl    --request POST \
            --url https://app.infisical.com/api/v1/app-connections/chef \
            --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
            --data '{
                "name": "my-chef-connection",
                "method": "user-key",
                "projectId": "7ffbb072-2575-495a-b5b0-127f88caef78",
                "credentials": {
                    "orgName": "my-org",
                    "userName": "my-user",
                    "privateKey": "your-private-key"
                }
            }'
    ```

    ### Sample response

    ```bash Response
    {
      "appConnection": {
          "id": "a1b2c3d4-5678-90ab-cdef-1234567890ab",
          "name": "my-chef-connection",
          "description": null,
          "projectId": "7ffbb072-2575-495a-b5b0-127f88caef78",
          "version": 1,
          "orgId": "abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
          "createdAt": "2025-10-13T10:15:00.000Z",
          "updatedAt": "2025-10-13T10:15:00.000Z",
          "isPlatformManagedCredentials": false,
          "credentialsHash": "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e",
          "app": "chef",
          "method": "user-key",
          "credentials": {
            "orgName": "my-org",
            "userName": "my-user",
          }
      }
    }
    ```

  </Tab>
</Tabs>