Puppet Bolt — Just Enough Automation, Without the Setup
Puppet Bolt isn’t trying to be the big orchestration engine. That’s what Puppet Enterprise is for. Bolt is more like the lightweight, fast, no-setup-needed version — something you can just run from your terminal to get real work done.
It’s scriptable, it’s agentless, and it works over SSH or WinRM. If you’ve got a handful of machines and need to run commands, copy files, or apply basic configs — this does the job. No puppetserver, no manifests, no infrastructure overhead.
What It Can Do
| Function | Why It Matters |
| Remote Command Exec | Run shell or PowerShell commands on one or many nodes. |
| File Transfer | Copy files or directories between systems over SSH or WinRM. |
| Apply Configs | Use YAML plans or simple tasks — no full Puppet setup required. |
| Inventory Management | Define hosts in inventory files (YAML or JSON), grouped however needed. |
| Task Libraries | Built-in modules for package installs, service management, etc. |
| Agentless Operation | Nothing to install on targets — just a reachable SSH or WinRM endpoint. |
Where It Makes Sense
Bolt is perfect when:
– You’ve got a mix of servers and need to update packages or run cleanup jobs;
– You don’t want to set up a full configuration management system;
– You need to get automation going fast, without infrastructure ceremony;
– You prefer YAML plans or ad hoc commands over managing full manifests.
It’s especially helpful for hybrid teams — folks with Windows and Linux boxes, where scripting has to work across both.
Installation and Setup
Getting started takes just a few minutes:
1. Go to puppet.com/bolt and grab the right package for your OS (Linux, Windows, macOS).
2. Install it with the standard method for your platform. On most systems it’s just a .deb, .rpm, or MSI.
3. Once installed, you can test it right away with something like:
bolt command run “uptime” –targets server1,server2
You don’t need to configure much. Bolt runs in your current shell, reads its inventory from local files, and supports both one-off commands and structured YAML plans.
Why People Reach for It
– Fast setup: You can go from download to running tasks in five minutes.
– Works on any reachable host: As long as SSH or WinRM works, it doesn’t care what OS is on the other side.
– No agents to manage: No long-term install on nodes. That’s a big plus in locked-down or legacy environments.
– Good for gradual automation: You can start small — just a few commands — and grow into writing full plans if needed.
What to Keep in Mind
– Not ideal for hundreds of nodes: It works in parallel, but it’s not built for massive scale.
– Not full Puppet: It uses some of the language and modules, but this is a CLI-first tool.
– YAML plan syntax has a learning curve: Not hard, but not instantly intuitive for everyone either.
Final Word
Puppet Bolt is what you grab when you want to automate something now, without setting up half an ecosystem. It won’t replace a full CM platform, and it’s not trying to. But for small to mid-sized ops tasks, across a handful of machines, it’s surprisingly capable.
It’s one of those tools that gets out of the way — which is exactly what makes it useful.
