CKS Monitoring, Logging and Runtime Security Practice Question
An administrator runs 'falco --list' and sees many default rules. What is the correct way to load a custom Falco rules file?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse `--rules` (which is not a valid flag) with `-r` (the correct short form), or they mistakenly think `--load` or `--config` are valid ways to load rules, when in fact `--config` is for the main Falco configuration file and `--load` does not exist.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
falco -r /path/to/rules.yaml
The `-r` flag (short for `--rules`) is the standard Falco command-line option to specify a custom rules file. When you run `falco -r /path/to/rules.yaml`, Falco loads the rules from that YAML file instead of or in addition to the default rules. The `--list` flag shows all loaded rules, so using `-r` ensures your custom rules are included in that list.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
falco --load /path/to/rules.yaml
Why it's wrong here
Falco's CLI does not define a `--load` flag; invoking it will cause an argument parsing error before any rules are evaluated. In Falco, rule files are supplied through the `-r` option, so `--load` is unrecognized and distinct from `-l`/`--list` (which lists rules). Thus this command would fail rather than load a custom rule set.
- ✗
falco --rules /path/to/rules.yaml
Why it's wrong here
While `--rules` sounds like the long-form of `-r`, Falco's actual long-form option is `--rulesfile`, not `--rules`. The `-r` short flag is the only shorthand, and `--rules` is not recognized by the CLI, so Falco would reject it as an unknown argument. This is a subtle but important distinction from the correct invocation.
- ✓
falco -r /path/to/rules.yaml
Why this is correct
This is the correct and dedicated Falco CLI flag for specifying one or more rules files (`-r /path/to/rules.yaml`). It tells Falco to load the provided YAML rule file in addition to or instead of the default rules, depending on how it is used. Running the command with `-r` will make Falco read the custom rules and apply them to the event stream.
- ✗
falco --config /path/to/rules.yaml
Why it's wrong here
This flag is used to point Falco to its configuration file (`falco.yaml`), which contains settings like output channels, buffering, and rule-related configuration—not the rules definitions themselves. Using `--config` to pass a rules YAML would misdirect Falco and fail to load the rules, because the configuration schema expects a different structure. The rules file must be specified separately with `-r`.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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