NVME-CLI.CONF(5) NVMe Manual NVME-CLI.CONF(5)

# [NAME](#NAME)

nvme-cli.conf - nvme-cli global option defaults file format

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
/usr/local/etc/nvme/nvme-cli.conf
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

An INI-format file that sets machine-wide defaults for the global options accepted by every *nvme* subcommand (see GLOBAL OPTIONS in [**nvme**(1)](/man/os/nvme-cli/nvme.1)) — for example, always disabling IOCTL probing without passing *--no-ioctl-probing* on every invocation.

The file is read once, before command-line parsing, and only sets **defaults**: an explicit command-line flag always overrides whatever this file set. A missing file is not an error; it simply changes nothing.

There is no *--config* override and no drop-in directory for this file; it always lives at the path above.

# [SECTIONS](#SECTIONS)

The file has a single recognized section, *\[Global]*. Keys outside *\[Global]* (including an unrecognized section) are ignored with a warning. Boolean values accept *1*/*yes*/*y*/*true*/*t*/*on* and *0*/*no*/*n*/*false*/*f*/*off* (case-insensitive). Unknown keys and malformed values are ignored with a warning; they do not stop the rest of the file from being applied.

# [KEYS](#KEYS)

Every key here is the same name as its *nvme* long option (hyphenated); see GLOBAL OPTIONS in [**nvme**(1)](/man/os/nvme-cli/nvme.1) for what each one means.

```
verbose, quiet, output-format, timeout, dry-run, no-retries,
no-ioctl-probing, output-format-version, set-options
```

*verbose* takes the desired verbosity level directly (e.g. *verbose = 2* is equivalent to *-vv*), rather than the increment-per-flag behavior of *-v* on the command line.

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

```
# /usr/local/etc/nvme/nvme-cli.conf
[Global]
no-ioctl-probing = true
output-format = json
timeout = 5000
```

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[nvme(1)](/man/os/nvme-cli/nvme.1)

# [NVME](#NVME)

Part of the nvme-user suite

09/18/2026 NVMe

---

Document: nvme-cli.conf(5) from nvme-cli 3.1-r1 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/linux-nvme/nvme-cli