Box

Command: vagrant box

This is the command used to manage (add, remove, etc.) boxes.

The main functionality of this command is exposed via even more subcommands:

Box Add

Command: vagrant box add ADDRESS

This adds a box with the given address to Vagrant. The address can be one of three things:

A shorthand name from the public catalog of available Vagrant images, such as "hashicorp/bionic64".
File path or HTTP URL to a box in a catalog. For HTTP, basic authentication is supported and http_proxy environmental variables are respected. HTTPS is also supported.
URL directly a box file. In this case, you must specify a --name flag (see below) and versioning/updates will not work.

If an error occurs during the download or the download is interrupted with a Ctrl-C, then Vagrant will attempt to resume the download the next time it is requested. Vagrant will only attempt to resume a download for 24 hours after the initial download.

Options

--box-version VALUE - The version of the box you want to add. By default, the latest version will be added. The value of this can be an exact version number such as "1.2.3" or it can be a set of version constraints. A version constraint looks like ">= 1.0, < 2.0".
--cacert CERTFILE - The certificate for the CA used to verify the peer. This should be used if the remote end does not use a standard root CA.
--capath CERTDIR - The certificate directory for the CA used to verify the peer. This should be used if the remote end does not use a standard root CA.
--cert CERTFILE - A client certificate to use when downloading the box, if necessary.
--clean - If given, Vagrant will remove any old temporary files from prior downloads of the same URL. This is useful if you do not want Vagrant to resume a download from a previous point, perhaps because the contents changed.
--force - When present, the box will be downloaded and overwrite any existing box with this name.
--insecure - When present, SSL certificates will not be verified if the URL is an HTTPS URL.
--provider PROVIDER - If given, Vagrant will verify the box you are adding is for the given provider. By default, Vagrant automatically detects the proper provider to use.

Options for direct box files

The options below only apply if you are adding a box file directly (when you are not using a catalog).

--checksum VALUE - A checksum for the box that is downloaded. If specified, Vagrant will compare this checksum to what is actually downloaded and will error if the checksums do not match. This is highly recommended since box files are so large. If this is specified, --checksum-type must also be specified. If you are downloading from a catalog, the checksum is included within the catalog entry.
--checksum-type TYPE - The type of checksum that --checksum is if it is specified. Supported values are currently "md5", "sha1", "sha256", "sha384", and "sha512".
--name VALUE - Logical name for the box. This is the value that you would put into config.vm.box in your Vagrantfile. When adding a box from a catalog, the name is included in the catalog entry and does not have to be specified.

Checksums for versioned boxes or boxes from HashiCorp's Vagrant Cloud: For boxes from HashiCorp's Vagrant Cloud, the checksums are embedded in the metadata of the box. The metadata itself is served over TLS and its format is validated.

Box List

Command: vagrant box list

This command lists all the boxes that are installed into Vagrant.

Box Outdated

Command: vagrant box outdated

This command tells you whether or not the box you are using in your current Vagrant environment is outdated. If the --global flag is present, every installed box will be checked for updates.

This will show the latest version available for the specific provider type, which may be different than the absolute latest version available.

Checking for updates involves refreshing the metadata associated with a box. This generally requires an internet connection.

By default, if Vagrant has recently checked for a box that's out of date, it will cache that answer and not look up another update for one hour. This cached value can be ignored if the --force flag is used.

Options

--force - Check for updates for all installed boxes and ignore cache interval.
--global - Check for updates for all installed boxes, not just the boxes for the current Vagrant environment.

Box Prune

Command: vagrant box prune

This command removes old versions of installed boxes. If the box is currently in use vagrant will ask for confirmation.

Options

--provider PROVIDER - The specific provider type for the boxes to destroy.
--dry-run - Only print the boxes that would be removed.
--name NAME - The specific box name to check for outdated versions.
--force - Destroy without confirmation even when box is in use.
--keep-active-boxes - When combined with --force, will keep boxes still actively in use.

Box Remove

Command: vagrant box remove NAME

This command removes a box from Vagrant that matches the given name.

If a box has multiple providers, the exact provider must be specified with the --provider flag. If a box has multiple versions, you can select what versions to delete with the --box-version flag or remove all versions with the --all flag.

Options

--box-version VALUE - Version of version constraints of the boxes to remove. See documentation on this flag for box add for more details.
--all - Remove all available versions of a box.
--force - Forces removing the box even if an active Vagrant environment is using it.
--provider VALUE - The provider-specific box to remove with the given name. This is only required if a box is backed by multiple providers. If there is only a single provider, Vagrant will default to removing it.

Box Repackage

Command: vagrant box repackage NAME PROVIDER VERSION

This command repackages the given box and puts it in the current directory so you can redistribute it. The name, provider, and version of the box can be retrieved using vagrant box list.

When you add a box, Vagrant unpacks it and stores it internally. The original *.box file is not preserved. This command is useful for reclaiming a *.box file from an installed Vagrant box.

Box Update

Command: vagrant box update

This command updates the box for the current Vagrant environment if there are updates available. The command can also update a specific box (outside of an active Vagrant environment), by specifying the --box flag.

Note that updating the box will not update an already-running Vagrant machine. To reflect the changes in the box, you will have to destroy and bring back up the Vagrant machine.

If you just want to check if there are updates available, use the vagrant box outdated command.

Options

--box VALUE - Name of a specific box to update. If this flag is not specified, Vagrant will update the boxes for the active Vagrant environment.
--provider VALUE - When --box is present, this controls what provider-specific box to update. This is not required unless the box has multiple providers. Without the --box flag, this has no effect.