# Overview The `cnitool` is a utility that can be used to test a CNI plugin without the need for a container runtime. The `cnitool` takes a `network name` and a `network namespace` and a command to `ADD` or `DEL`,.i.e, attach or detach containers from a network. The `cnitool` relies on the following environment variables to operate properly: * `NETCONFPATH`: This environment variable needs to be set to a directory. It defaults to `/etc/cni/net.d`. The `cnitool` searches for CNI configuration files in this directory with the extension `*.conf` or `*.json`. It loads all the CNI configuration files in this directory and if it finds a CNI configuration with the `network name` given to the cnitool it returns the corresponding CNI configuration, else it returns `nil`. * `CNI_PATH`: For a given CNI configuration `cnitool` will search for the corresponding CNI plugin in this path.