Yes, Salt can Salt itself!

Install a minion

Install a master.

Install a syndic.

Install salt cloud.

Install salt-ssh with roster file. Configure pillar data under salt:ssh_roster to feed the template.

Every option available in the templates can be set in pillar. Settings under 'salt' will be overridden by more specific settings under salt['master'], salt['minion'] or salt['cloud']

salt:
  ret_port: 4506
  master:
    user: saltuser
    ...
  minion:
    user: saltuser
    ...
  cloud:
    providers: ec2
    ...

Additional templates can be added by the user under salt/files/minion.d and master.d. This might be useful if, for example, a recently-added configuration option is not yet provided by the default template.

Executing the provided Vagrantfile will create a Ubuntu 14.04 VM, add the default Saltstack Repository and install the current stable version.

The folders inside the VM will be set up in a way that enables you to simply execute 'sudo salt "*" state.highstate' to apply the salt formula to the VM, using the pillar.example config. You can check /etc/salt/ for results.

Remember, you will have to run state.highstate or state.sls salt.(master|minion|cloud) manually.