---
name: "nvme-cli.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "nvme-cli"
version: "3.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nvme-cli.conf"
---

# nvme-cli.conf(5)

nvme-cli global option defaults file format

## NAME

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

## SYNOPSIS

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

## 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)](/nvme/1.md)) — 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. A file which can’t be read is: *nvme* reports it and fails. The file holds no secrets and must be readable by every user, as *nvme* may read it after dropping its root privileges.

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

## 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

Every key here is the same name as its *nvme* long option (hyphenated); see GLOBAL OPTIONS in [**nvme**(1)](/nvme/1.md) 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

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

## SEE ALSO

[nvme(1)](/nvme/1.md)

## NVME

Part of the nvme-user suite