---
title: stack es cluster allocation-explain cli command
description: Explain the shard allocations. Behaviour flags: --dry-run — validate all inputs and exit without performing any action 
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4116/reference/elastic-cli/cli/stack/es/cluster/allocation-explain
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview
  - Elastic Stack: Preview
---

# stack es cluster allocation-explain cli command
<cli-modifiers>
</cli-modifiers>

```bash
elastic stack es cluster allocation-explain [options]
```

Explain the shard allocations.
**Behaviour flags:**
`--dry-run` — validate all inputs and exit without performing any action

## Options

<definitions>
  <definition term="--index string">
    The name of the index that you would like an explanation for.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--shard number">
    An identifier for the shard that you would like an explanation for.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--primary">
    If true, returns an explanation for the primary shard for the specified shard ID.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--current-node string">
    Explain a shard only if it is currently located on the specified node name or node ID.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--include-disk-info">
    If true, returns information about disk usage and shard sizes.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--include-yes-decisions">
    If true, returns YES decisions in explanation.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--master-timeout string">
    Period to wait for a connection to the master node.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--error-trace">
    When set to `true` Elasticsearch will include the full stack trace of errors
    when they occur.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--filter-path string">
    Comma-separated list of filters in dot notation which reduce the response
    returned by Elasticsearch.
    **Repeatable:** pass `--filter-path` multiple times to supply more than one value
  </definition>
  <definition term="--human">
    When set to `true` will return statistics in a format suitable for humans.
    For example `"exists_time": "1h"` for humans and
    `"exists_time_in_millis": 3600000` for computers. When disabled the human
    readable values will be omitted. This makes sense for responses being consumed
    only by machines.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--pretty">
    If set to `true` the returned JSON will be "pretty-formatted". Only use
    this option for debugging only.
  </definition>
  <definition term="--input-file string">
    path to a JSON file to use as command input
  </definition>
  <definition term="--dry-run">
    validate all inputs and exit without performing any action (preview changes without applying them)
  </definition>
</definitions>


## Global Options

<definitions>
  <definition term="--json">
    output as JSON
  </definition>
</definitions>