JSON output and capture files

certrally can describe its work in JSON for scripts. It can also record the CMP, EST and SCEP messages of a run for later inspection.

• --json prints the outcome of one command as a JSON document on standard output.
• --capture FILE appends every message of a run, with its bytes, to a JSON Lines file.

Later versions may add fields. Existing fields keep their names and meaning.

Conventions

• Names are RFC 4514 strings, such as CN=device-42,O=Example, with the attributes in their encoded order. Attribute types other than CN, O, OU, C, L, ST, STREET, POSTALCODE, SERIALNUMBER, UID and DC appear as dotted OIDs.
• Times are RFC 3339 in UTC.
• Message bytes and info type values are base64. Transaction IDs, key identifiers, SCEP nonces and fingerprints are lower-case hex. A SCEP transaction ID is the string of the message, which certrally sends as 40 upper-case hex digits. Certificate serial numbers are upper-case hex.
• Certificates, CRLs, public keys and requests are PEM strings. Private keys never appear in JSON output or capture files.
• Text from the server, such as statusText, is kept as the server sent it.

JSON output

--json works with enroll, poll, revoke, cacerts, cmp genm and its subcommands, ping, inspect, lint, keygen, the est commands except est mock and the scep commands except scep mock. Standard output then holds exactly one JSON document, whatever the outcome. The ladder diagram and the text report are not printed. The exit status is the same as without --json.

When certrally cannot parse the command line, for example because of an unknown flag or a missing required flag, the document holds the error and the error is also printed on standard error. --json cannot be combined with --quiet or with an output file of -.

certrally enroll --server https://ca.example.com/.well-known/cmp --ref device-42 \
  --cert-out device.pem --key-out device.key --json | jq -r .result.certificate.notAfter

Document

Field	Type	Meaning
command	string	The command as it was typed, such as enroll, cmp enroll, cmp genm crl or est enroll
ok	boolean	true when the exit status is 0
exitStatus	number	The exit status of the process
server	string	The --server URL without any password. Absent when the command does not contact a server or stops before it does
profile	string	The response profile, compatible or strict. Absent when server is absent
exchange	array	One message record per request, response or failure, and per connection of an EST command, in order. Absent when nothing was sent
result	object	The result of the command. Present on success and with some failures
error	object	The error when ok is false
faults	array	One entry per enroll or poll --fault value, in the order of the help text. name is the fault and messages lists the body types it changed, such as certConf. An empty messages means the fault found no message to change. Absent without --fault
trustedOnFirstResponse	array	The certificates a CMP command trusted from its first response or a SCEP command from its GetCACert answer, each with the fields of a certificate in a result, so that sha256 can be compared with the fingerprint the CA published. Absent with --ca-cert or --fingerprint, on the EST commands and on poll and scep poll, which keep the trust of the enrollment
warnings	array of strings	Problems that did not fail the command, such as a CRL signature that does not verify or a response that breaks a rule of the compatible profile

An enrollment produces a document like this, shortened:

{
  "command": "enroll",
  "ok": true,
  "exitStatus": 0,
  "server": "https://ca.example.com/.well-known/cmp",
  "profile": "compatible",
  "exchange": [
    {"kind": "request", "time": "2026-10-13T01:39:22.235769Z", "size": 486, "body": "ir", "protection": "PBMAC1", "sender": "CN=device-42", "transactionId": "95a9cb74b5c4c3cfd5a4040906e3756b", "senderKid": "6465766963652d3432"},
    {"kind": "response", "time": "2026-10-13T01:39:22.240007Z", "elapsedMs": 4.238, "httpStatus": 200, "contentType": "application/pkixcmp", "size": 1481, "body": "ip", "protection": "PBMAC1", "sender": "CN=Example CA", "status": "accepted", "extraCerts": 1},
    {"kind": "request", "body": "certConf"},
    {"kind": "response", "body": "pkiconf"}
  ],
  "result": {
    "status": "accepted",
    "confirmed": true,
    "certificate": {"subject": "CN=device-42", "issuer": "CN=Example CA", "serial": "EE460F82A9CD474DAED4950B232DC3B8", "notBefore": "2026-10-13T01:38:22Z", "notAfter": "2027-10-13T01:39:22Z", "key": "ECDSA P-256", "sha256": "a79eb735...", "pem": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n..."},
    "chain": [{"subject": "CN=Example CA"}],
    "saved": ["device.key", "device.pem"]
  }
}

An EST enrollment records its connection, the request and the response:

"exchange": [
  {"kind": "connect", "time": "2026-10-21T13:09:59.716Z", "size": 0, "tls": {"version": "TLS 1.3", "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256", "server": "CN=est.example.com"}},
  {"kind": "request", "time": "2026-10-21T13:09:59.717Z", "size": 334, "method": "POST", "path": "/.well-known/est/simpleenroll", "operation": "simpleenroll", "content": "pkcs10", "subject": "CN=device-42"},
  {"kind": "response", "time": "2026-10-21T13:09:59.719Z", "elapsedMs": 1.9, "httpStatus": 200, "contentType": "application/pkcs7-mime; smime-type=certs-only", "size": 588, "operation": "simpleenroll", "content": "certs-only", "certificates": 1}
]

Message records

Field	Meaning
kind	request, response, failure or connect. A failure is a request that got no HTTP response, or an EST connection that failed. A connect record describes a TLS connection of an EST command
time	When the request was sent or the response or failure arrived
elapsedMs	Round-trip time of a response or failure in milliseconds
httpStatus, contentType	The HTTP status and content type of a response
size	Body size in bytes
body	The PKIBody type, such as ir, ip, genp or error. Absent when the body is not a CMP message
nested	The body types of the messages in a nested body, such as ["ir"] for a request that a registration authority forwards
protection	The protection algorithm, such as PBMAC1 or ML-DSA-65. It is none for an unprotected message
sender	The sender name in the header
transactionId, senderKid	Header fields, as hex
status, failInfo, statusText	The first PKIStatusInfo of an ip, cp, kup, rp or error body. failInfo lists the failure bit names. For SCEP, the pkiStatus of a CertRep, SUCCESS, PENDING or FAILURE, and the failInfo name
checkAfter	The seconds a pollRep asks the client to wait
extraCerts	The number of certificates in extraCerts
method, path, operation	The HTTP method and path of an EST request and its EST operation, such as simpleenroll. A SCEP request has the method and its SCEP operation, such as GetCACert or PKIOperation. Responses also carry operation
caName	The CA name that a SCEP request sends in its message parameter
messageType, senderNonce, recipientNonce	The message type of a SCEP pkiMessage, such as PKCSReq or CertRep, and its nonces
digest, cipher	The signature digest and the content cipher of a SCEP pkiMessage, such as SHA-256 and AES-128-CBC
capabilities	The capabilities of a SCEP GetCACaps answer
content	The EST message in the body: pkcs10, certs-only, csrattrs or serverkeygen. Absent for a body that is not one of them, such as an error
subject	The subject of an EST PKCS#10 request
certificates	The number of certificates in an EST certs-only response, in the certificate part of a serverkeygen response or in a SCEP certificate answer
retryAfter	The seconds the Retry-After header of an EST or SCEP response asks for
parts	The parts of an EST serverkeygen response, each with contentType and size. The key part is never decoded or stored
text	The text of an EST or SCEP error response, as the server sent it. For a SCEP error page in HTML, the text of the page without its markup
tls	The connection of a connect record: version, cipherSuite, server with the subject of the server certificate and srpUser for a TLS-SRP sign-in
problem	Why a response cannot be a CMP, EST or SCEP answer (for example HTTP 404 Not Found), why its EST message does not decode or why a request failed
der	The message bytes. For EST, the decoded body, and for serverkeygen only its certificate part. For SCEP, the pkiMessage of a request, also when it travels in the URL, or the body of a response. Only capture files include them

Errors

Field	Meaning
title	One line that says what failed, as in the text report
message	The underlying error
status, failInfo, statusText	The CA status of a rejection
httpStatus, retryAfter	The HTTP status and Retry-After seconds of an EST or SCEP refusal. statusText then holds the text of the server
unauthenticated	true when certrally could not verify the rejection, so any peer on the path could have sent it
hint	What to check or change, when certrally can tell
note	More context, such as advice for an issued but unconfirmed certificate

Results

A certificate in a result has subject, issuer, serial, notBefore, notAfter, altNames, key, sha256 and pem. A command run under cmp, such as cmp enroll, has the result of the same command without the prefix.

Command	Result fields
enroll, poll	status, confirmed, implicitConfirm, certificate, chain, saved, transactionId. With exit status 5 the result is present and confirmed is false. confirmed is also false after --fault reject-certificate, which rejects the certificate. implicitConfirm is true when the CA granted implicit confirmation, so no certConf was sent. proofOfPossession is encrypted-cert or challenge for a key that cannot sign, such as an ML-KEM key, and absent otherwise. centralKeyGeneration is true and keyGenerationAuthority names the signer of the key when the CA generated the key with --central-keygen. Both are absent otherwise. registrationAuthority is the subject of the --ra-cert certificate that forwarded the requests, absent without one. When the CA keeps the request waiting, under enroll --poll-later or when polling ends at --timeout with --capture, status is waiting, certificate is null, saved lists only a new key and nextPoll tells when the CA asked for the next poll, if it did
revoke	certificate, issuer, serial, reason, invalidityDate. certificate is null when the certificate was named with --serial and --issuer. invalidityDate is present when --invalidity-date was given
cacerts, cmp genm cacerts	certificates, saved
cmp genm rootupdate	update with newWithNew, newWithOld and oldWithNew. It is null when no update is available. saved
cmp genm template	template with subject, extensions and keyTypes. It is null when the CA imposes nothing. An attribute without a value in subject is one the requester fills in. Each extension has oid, name and critical
cmp genm crl, cmp genm crlupdate	crl with issuer, thisUpdate, nextUpdate, number, revoked, signature and pem. It is null when there is none. signature is valid, invalid or unchecked. saved
cmp genm raw	items, each with infoType, oid and value
ping	sent, answered, sender, protection, rttMs with min, avg and max. With --ca-cert, verified tells whether every answer was signed by that CA
keygen	keyType, key, publicKey, csr, saved. With --list, keyTypes
est cacerts	certificates, saved and verified, which says how the certificates were checked: tls by the TLS certificate of the server, srp by a TLS-SRP sign-in, fingerprint by --fingerprint, confirmed by a person at the prompt or none after --bootstrap or --insecure. tlsIssued tells whether the trusted certificates issued the TLS certificate of the server. unverified lists the received certificates that the fingerprint check did not cover, which are not saved, and is absent otherwise
est csrattrs	attributes, each with oid, name when certrally knows one and values for an attribute that has them
est enroll, est reenroll, est serverkeygen	certificate, key with the type of a new key and saved. key is absent when --new-key or --csr supplied the key
scep caps	capabilities, the digest, cipher and method that certrally picks from them, and renewal and nextCACert, which tell whether the server lists Renewal and GetNextCACert
scep cacert, scep chain, scep nextca	certificates, each also with sha1 and, except for scep chain, roles: issuing CA, RA encryption, RA signature or other. ca is the issuing CA, absent for scep chain. saved, and verified, which says how the certificates were checked: tls, fingerprint, signed by the current CA for scep nextca or none. unverified lists the received certificates that the fingerprint check did not cover, which are not saved. certificates is empty when scep nextca finds no next CA certificate
scep enroll, scep renew, scep poll	status (SUCCESS or PENDING), messageType, transactionId, digest, cipher, certificate, chain, key with the type of a new key, state with the state file of a pending request, polls with the number of CertPoll requests sent and saved
scep getcert	certificates, saved
scep getcrl	crl as for cmp genm crl, saved
inspect	messages, one inspected message per message in file order
lint	checked and skipped count the responses checked and those left unchecked: CMP responses without a request before them and EST and SCEP responses outside capture files. findings lists each deviation with source, body (the CMP body type or the EST or SCEP operation), text and rule. With exit status 6 the result is present

saved lists the files written, in the order they were written.

Inspected messages

Field	Meaning
source	Where the message was read, such as run.jsonl:4 for line 4 of a capture file, ip.der or msgs.pem#2 for the second PEM block
protocol	cmp, est or scep
direction	request or response. A capture records it. For other files it follows from the body type, and only an EST PKCS#10 request is a request
time, server	When a capture recorded the message and the server of its run
size, body	The message size in bytes and, for CMP, the PKIBody type
est	The EST exchange: operation, method, path, httpStatus, contentType, retryAfter, parts and text as in message records from a capture, and content
scep	The SCEP exchange from a capture: operation, method, httpStatus, contentType, caName, messageType, transactionId, senderNonce, recipientNonce, status, failInfo, digest, cipher, capabilities, retryAfter and text as in message records
header	For CMP: pvno, sender, recipient, messageTime, transactionId, senderNonce, recipNonce, senderKid, recipKid, freeText, generalInfo with the info type names and certProfile. An empty sender or recipient is the NULL-DN
protection	For CMP and for a signed SCEP message: algorithm, such as RSA SHA-256, or none for an unprotected message. check is valid, invalid or unchecked, with the reason in problem. A MAC is unchecked without the shared secret. signer is the subject of the certificate whose signature verifies. With --ca-cert, trusted tells whether the signer chains to those certificates at the capture time, or at the time of the run for a message without one
requests	The requests of ir, cr, kur, p10cr and an EST PKCS#10 request: certReqId (absent for p10cr and EST), subject, key, extensions, pop (signature, raVerified, keyEncipherment, keyAgreement or none), popSignature and popProblem for a signature proof and oldCert with issuer and serial for a key update
responses	The responses of ip, cp and kup: certReqId, status, failInfo, statusText, certificate and encrypted when the certificate is encrypted
caPubs, extraCerts	Certificates
revocations	The entries of rr with issuer, serial and reason, or of rp with status, failInfo, statusText and, when the CA names the certificate, issuer and serial
confirmations	The entries of certConf: certReqId, certHash, hashAlg and the status. No status means the certificate is accepted
polls	The entries of pollReq with certReqId, or of pollRep with certReqId, checkAfter and reason
error	The content of an error body: status, failInfo, statusText, errorCode and errorDetails
items	The items of genm and genp, like those of cmp genm raw
challenges	The challenges of popdecc, which the CA sends for a key that proves possession by decryption: owf, witness and encryptedRandSize. Only the first challenge names the one-way function owf
answers	The decrypted numbers of popdecr in hex, in the order of the challenges
nested	The body types of the messages in a nested body
certificates	The certificates of an EST certs-only message or serverkeygen response, of a SCEP certificate answer or those that a SCEP pkiMessage carries
attributes	The EST CSR attributes, like those of est csrattrs
problems	Parts of the message that could not be decoded

Capture files

--capture FILE works with every command that talks to a server. It appends the run to FILE as JSON Lines, one JSON object per line:

1. A start line with format (currently 1), tool, version, command, server and time. A run of an EST or SCEP command adds protocol with the value est or scep. A run with --insecure adds insecure with the value true, because it did not check the TLS certificate of the server.
2. One message record per request, response, failure or EST connection, including der.
3. A transaction line with time, id, state and resume when the run leaves a waiting transaction for poll (state is waiting) or poll ends one (ended). id is the transaction ID. resume holds what poll needs: the server, the protection settings and the names of their files, the trusted CA certificates, the output files with their format, the name of the key file when the CA encrypts the certificate for the key and the state of the CMP transaction. It holds no secret or private key. poll uses the last line of a transaction.
4. An end line with time and exitStatus.

Each run appends its own lines, so one file can hold several runs. Readers should skip lines of other kinds, which later versions may add. --capture works together with --json and --quiet. certrally inspect and certrally lint read capture files.

certrally creates the file with mode 0600. Keep capture files private: anyone who has the messages of a MAC-protected exchange can try to guess the shared secret offline.