# chainctl policy describe

URL: https://chainguard-docs-preview-git-uv-frozen-installs.chainguard.app/platform/chainctl/chainctl-docs/chainctl_policy_describe.md
Last Modified: October 15, 2026
Tags: chainctl, Reference, Product

## chainctl policy describe

Describe a policy and its parameter schema.

### Synopsis

Show the full definition of a policy: its description, type, resource
type, and the set of configurable parameters it accepts. The output
includes a copyable example invocation suitable for
`chainctl policy enable`.

Use this command to discover what's configurable on a system policy
before enabling it for your organization.

```
chainctl policy describe --policy POLICY [--parent ORG] [--output=json|table] [flags]
```

### Examples

```

# Describe the cooldown policy
chainctl policy describe --policy=cooldown --parent=example.com

# JSON output (useful for scripts that need the full schema)
chainctl policy describe --policy=cooldown --parent=example.com -o json

```

### Options

```
      --parent string          The name or id of the organization to scope the lookup to.
      --policy string          The name or UIDP of the policy to describe.
      --resource-type string   Resource type used to disambiguate a policy referenced by name (shorthand: Repo, Python, Java, Javascript; or a full type). Ignored when the policy is given by UIDP.
```

### Options inherited from parent commands

```
      --api string         The url of the Chainguard platform API. (default "https://console-api.enforce.dev")
      --audience string    The Chainguard token audience to request. (default "https://console-api.enforce.dev")
      --config string      A specific chainctl config file. Uses CHAINCTL_CONFIG environment variable if a file is not passed explicitly.
      --console string     The url of the Chainguard platform Console. (default "https://console.chainguard.dev")
      --force-color        Force color output even when stdout is not a TTY.
  -h, --help               Help for chainctl
      --issuer string      The url of the Chainguard STS endpoint. (default "https://issuer.enforce.dev")
      --log-level string   Set the log level (debug, info) (default "ERROR")
  -o, --output string      Output format. One of: [csv, env, go-template, id, json, markdown, none, table, terse, tree, wide]
  -v, --v int              Set the log verbosity level.
```

### SEE ALSO

* [chainctl policy](/platform/chainctl/chainctl-docs/chainctl_policy/)	 - Manage policies.