What I'm trying to achieve
--------------------------

Run the states/reactor/deploy.sls file in the command-line, synchronously, so that I can debug errors more easily and not rely on the salt master log file. The same way we can do for orchestration files with "state.orchestrate".

FILE: /etc/salt/master/master.d/lystable.conf
--------------------------------------------

# Automatically accept minion connections -- we're assuming use in a VPC
# or otherwise closed environment.
auto_accept: True

file_client: local

# Network interface
interface: 0.0.0.0

worker_threads: 5

# Home directory for the salt:// file server
file_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/salt/states

# Pillar locations
pillar_roots:
  base:
    - /srv/salt/pillars

gitfs_remotes:
  - https://github.com/saltstack-formulas/logrotate-formula.git

runner_dirs:
  - /srv/salt/runners

# Reactor configuration
reactor:
  - 'minion_start':
    - salt://reactor/start.sls
  - 'salt/netapi/hook/build/success':
    - salt://reactor/deploy.sls

rest_cherrypy:
  port: 8000
  host: 0.0.0.0
  webhook_disable_auth: True
  disable_ssl: True # we are managing SSL at the proxy level

log_level: info

fileserver_backend:
  - roots
  - git

# Show terse output for successful states and full output for failures.
state_output: mixed
# Only show changes
state_verbose: False

Scenario 1 - I try to run the states/reactor/deploy.sls from command-line
----------------------------------------

FILE: states/reactor/deploy.sls
------------------------

######
# Parameters
#
# roles - EC2-level role to target VM instances
# environment - chooses environment configuration
# version - specifies a version for this component
#
######

{% if data is defined %}
{% set form = data['post'] %}
{% else %}
{% set form = pillar['post'] %}
{% endif %}

{% if form.get('key') == 'secret-key' %}

{% set role = form['roles'] %}
{% set environment = form['environment'] %}
{% set version = form.get('versions') %}
{% set states = form.get('states') %}

sync_grains:
  cmd.saltutil.sync_grains:
    - tgt: G@role:{{ role }}
    - expr_form: compound

deploy_{{ environment }}_{{ role }}:
  cmd.state.sls:
    - arg:
      - {{ states }}
    - tgt: G@role:{{ role }}
    - expr_form: compound
    - kwarg:
        pillar:
          version: {{ version }}
          role: {{ role }}
          state: {{ states }}
          environment: {{ environment }}
        queue: True

{% endif %}

----------------------

root@ip-10-1-2-250:~/lystable-salt# salt-run state.orchestrate reactor.deploy pillar='{post: {key: secret-key, roles: lws, versions: 0.181.1, environment: staging}}'
[INFO    ] Found minion id from generate_minion_id(): ip-10-1-2-250.ec2.internal
[INFO    ] Found minion id from generate_minion_id(): ip-10-1-2-250.ec2.internal
[INFO    ] Loading fresh modules for state activity
[INFO    ] Fetching file from saltenv 'base', ** done ** 'reactor/deploy.sls'
[INFO    ] Executing command ['git', '--version'] in directory '/root'
[INFO    ] Running state [sync_grains] at time 11:35:23.477144
[ERROR   ] State 'cmd.saltutil' was not found in SLS 'reactor.deploy'
Reason: 'cmd.saltutil' is not available.

[INFO    ] Running state [deploy_staging_lws] at time 11:35:23.481043
[ERROR   ] State 'cmd.state' was not found in SLS 'reactor.deploy'
Reason: 'cmd.state' is not available.

ip-10-1-2-250.ec2.internal_master:
----------
          ID: sync_grains
    Function: cmd.saltutil
      Result: False
     Comment: State 'cmd.saltutil' was not found in SLS 'reactor.deploy'
              Reason: 'cmd.saltutil' is not available.
     Started:
    Duration:
     Changes:
----------
          ID: deploy_staging_lws
    Function: cmd.state
      Result: False
     Comment: State 'cmd.state' was not found in SLS 'reactor.deploy'
              Reason: 'cmd.state' is not available.
     Started:
    Duration:
     Changes:

Summary for ip-10-1-2-250.ec2.internal_master
------------
Succeeded: 0
Failed:    2
------------
Total states run:     2
[INFO    ] Runner completed: 20170126113522181561


Scenario 2 - I try to re-write the states/reactor/deploy.sls
----------------------------------------

FILE: states/reactor/deploy.sls (half-converted)

######
# Parameters
#
# roles - EC2-level role to target VM instances
# environment - chooses environment configuration
# version - specifies a version for this component
# report_role (optional) - name to help deployment report find the pillars
# states (optional) - narrows down the deployment to just some states
#
######

{% if data is defined %}
{% set form = data['post'] %}
{% else %}
{% set form = pillar['post'] %}
{% endif %}

{% if form.get('key') == 'secret-key' %}

{% set role = form['roles'] %}
{% set environment = form['environment'] %}
{% set version = form.get('versions') %}
{% set report_role = form.get('report_role') %}

# State parameter is not mandatory, it is used to
# make the deployment leaner
{% set states = form.get('states') %}

#sync_grains:
#  cmd.saltutil.sync_grains:
#    - tgt: G@role:{{ role }}
#    - expr_form: compound

sync-grains:
  salt.function:
    - name: saltutil.sync_grains
    - tgt: G@role:{{ role }}
    - expr_form: compound

deploy_{{ environment }}_{{ role }}:
  cmd.state.sls:
    - arg:
      - {{ states }}
    - tgt: G@role:{{ role }}
    - expr_form: compound
    - kwarg:
        pillar:
          version: {{ version }}
          role: {{ role }}
          state: {{ states }}
          environment: {{ environment }}
{%- if report_role %}
          report_role: {{ report_role }}
{%- endif %}
        queue: True

{% endif %}

-----------------------

curl -sSk http://localhost:8000/hook/build/success -d environment="staging" -d roles=lws -d key="secret-key" -d versions=0.181.1 -d states=lws

2017-01-26 11:39:38,489 [salt.utils.process                                   ][ERROR   ][23856] An un-handled exception from the multiprocessing process 'Reactor-6' was caught:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/salt/utils/process.py", line 613, in _run
    return self._original_run()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/salt/utils/reactor.py", line 241, in run
    self.call_reactions(chunks)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/salt/utils/reactor.py", line 198, in call_reactions
    self.wrap.run(chunk)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/salt/utils/reactor.py", line 269, in run
    l_fun = getattr(self, low['state'])
AttributeError: 'ReactWrap' object has no attribute 'salt'