diff --git a/hab/cli.py b/hab/cli.py
index e69e1cc..579ae43 100644
--- a/hab/cli.py
+++ b/hab/cli.py
@@ -645,29 +645,30 @@ def dump(settings, uri, env, env_config, report_type, flat, verbosity, format_ty
     resolver = settings.resolver
 
     if report_type in ("uris", "versions", "forest"):
-        # Allow the user to disable truncation of versions with verbosity flag
-        truncate = None if verbosity else 3
+        from .parsers.format_parser import FormatParser
 
-        def echo_line(line):
-            if line.strip() == line:
-                click.echo(f"{Fore.GREEN}{line}{Fore.RESET}")
-            else:
-                click.echo(line)
+        formatter = FormatParser(verbosity, color=True)
+        # Allow the user to disable truncation of versions with verbosity flag
+        truncate = None if verbosity > 1 else 3
 
         if report_type in ("uris", "forest"):
             click.echo(f'{Fore.YELLOW}{" URIs ".center(50, "-")}{Fore.RESET}')
             # Filter out any URI's hidden by the requested verbosity level
             with utils.verbosity_filter(resolver, verbosity):
-                for line in resolver.dump_forest(resolver.configs):
-                    echo_line(line)
+                for line in resolver.dump_forest(
+                    resolver.configs, fmt=formatter.format
+                ):
+                    click.echo(line)
         if report_type in ("versions", "forest"):
             click.echo(f'{Fore.YELLOW}{" Versions ".center(50, "-")}{Fore.RESET}')
+
             for line in resolver.dump_forest(
                 resolver.distros,
                 attr="name",
+                fmt=formatter.format,
                 truncate=truncate,
             ):
-                echo_line(line)
+                click.echo(line)
     elif report_type == "all-uris":
         # Combines all non-placeholder URI's into a single json document and display.
         # This can be used to compare changes to configs when editing them in bulk.
diff --git a/hab/parsers/format_parser.py b/hab/parsers/format_parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f07e33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hab/parsers/format_parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+from colorama import Fore
+
+
+class FormatParser:
+    """Used to format HabBase objects into a readable string.
+
+    Parameters:
+        top_level (str): Formatting applied to name if this is a top level item.
+            This is applied to the name value before passed to simple/verbose.
+        simple (str): A str.format string used to generate the non-verbose output.
+        verbose (str): A str.format string used to generate the verbose output.
+
+    All of the format strings are provided the kwargs `pre`, `name` and `filename`
+
+    Args:
+        verbosity (int): Controls the complexity of the output. If zero then
+            `self.simple` is used, otherwise `self.verbose` is uses.
+        color (bool, optional): Enables adding color control characters for readability.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, verbosity, color=True):
+        self.color = color
+        self.verbosity = verbosity
+
+        # Configure the format strings
+        self.simple = "{pre}{name}"
+        if self.color:
+            self.verbose = f'{{pre}}{{name}}: {Fore.YELLOW}"{{filename}}"{Fore.RESET}'
+            self.top_level = f"{Fore.GREEN}{{name}}{Fore.RESET}"
+        else:
+            self.verbose = '{pre}{name}: "{filename}"'
+            self.top_level = "{name}"
+
+    def format(self, parser, attr, pre):
+        """Format the output of Config or Distro for printing based on verbosity."""
+        name = getattr(parser, attr)
+        if not pre:
+            name = self.top_level.format(pre=pre, name=name, filename=parser.filename)
+
+        if not self.verbosity or not parser.filename:
+            fmt = self.simple
+        else:
+            fmt = self.verbose
+        return fmt.format(pre=pre, name=name, filename=parser.filename)
diff --git a/hab/resolver.py b/hab/resolver.py
index 8d968fe..bc7bf72 100644
--- a/hab/resolver.py
+++ b/hab/resolver.py
@@ -203,7 +203,9 @@ def dump_forest(
             attr (str, optional): The name of the attribute to display for each node.
                 If None is passed, the anytree object is returned un-modified.
             fmt (str, optional): str.format string to control the display of
-                each node in the forest. Accepts (pre, attr) keys.
+                each node in the forest. Accepts (pre, attr) keys. If a callable
+                is passed then it will be called passing (parser, attr=attr, pre=pre)
+                and should return the text for that hab.parsers instance.
             style (anytree.render.AbstractStyle, optional): Controls how anytree
                 renders the branch information. If not set, defaults to a custom
                 style that intents all children(recursively) to the same depth.
@@ -235,13 +237,13 @@ def sort_forest(items):
             for row in anytree.RenderTree(
                 forest[tree_name], style=style, childiter=sort_forest
             ):
-                cfg = row.node
+                parser = row.node
                 # Process inheritance for this config to ensure the correct value
-                cfg._collect_values(cfg, ["min_verbosity"])
+                parser._collect_values(parser, ["min_verbosity"])
 
                 # Check if this row should be shown based on verbosity settings.
-                min_verbosity = {"min_verbosity": cfg.min_verbosity}
-                if not cfg.check_min_verbosity(min_verbosity):
+                min_verbosity = {"min_verbosity": parser.min_verbosity}
+                if not parser.check_min_verbosity(min_verbosity):
                     # TODO: If a parent is hidden but not a child, fix rendering
                     # so the child's indent is reduced correctly.
                     continue
@@ -254,7 +256,10 @@ def sort_forest(items):
                     pre = row.pre
                     if limit_pre:
                         pre = row.pre[: len(indent)]
-                    yield fmt.format(pre=pre, attr=getattr(cfg, attr))
+                    if isinstance(fmt, str):
+                        yield fmt.format(pre=pre, attr=getattr(parser, attr))
+                    else:
+                        yield fmt(parser, attr=attr, pre=pre)
 
     def find_distro(self, requirement):
         """Returns the DistroVersion matching the requirement or None"""
diff --git a/tests/test_format_parser.py b/tests/test_format_parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32e0131
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_format_parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+import pytest
+from colorama import Fore
+
+from hab.parsers.format_parser import FormatParser
+
+# Short access to the required colorama color codes for formatting
+cg = Fore.GREEN
+cr = Fore.RESET
+cy = Fore.YELLOW
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "uri,pre,color,zero,one",
+    (
+        # Top level URI placeholder is not indented
+        ("app", "", False, "app", "app"),
+        ("app", "", True, f"{cg}app{cr}", f"{cg}app{cr}"),
+        # Child URI is defined, The URI is not turned green and is indented
+        ("app/aliased", "  ", False, "  app/aliased", '  app/aliased: "{filename}"'),
+        (
+            "app/aliased",
+            "  ",
+            True,
+            "  app/aliased",
+            f'  app/aliased: {cy}"{{filename}}"{cr}',
+        ),
+        # Grand-child URI is defined, The URI is not turned green and is indented
+        (
+            "app/aliased/mod",
+            "  ",
+            False,
+            "  app/aliased/mod",
+            '  app/aliased/mod: "{filename}"',
+        ),
+        (
+            "app/aliased/mod",
+            "  ",
+            True,
+            "  app/aliased/mod",
+            f'  app/aliased/mod: {cy}"{{filename}}"{cr}',
+        ),
+        # Top level URI is defined so not a placeholder (not indented)
+        ("project_a", "", False, "project_a", 'project_a: "{filename}"'),
+        (
+            "project_a",
+            "",
+            True,
+            f"{cg}project_a{cr}",
+            f'{cg}project_a{cr}: {cy}"{{filename}}"{cr}',
+        ),
+        # Parent and child URI is not defined, The URI is not turned green and no filename
+        ("app/houdini", "  ", False, "  app/houdini", "  app/houdini"),
+        (
+            "app/houdini",
+            "  ",
+            True,
+            "  app/houdini",
+            "  app/houdini",
+        ),
+    ),
+)
+def test_format_parser_uri(config_root, uncached_resolver, uri, pre, color, zero, one):
+    """Test various uses of `hab.parsers.format_parser.FormatParser`."""
+    cfg = uncached_resolver.closest_config(uri)
+
+    # Test verbosity set to zero
+    formatter = FormatParser(0, color=color)
+    result = formatter.format(cfg, "uri", pre)
+    assert result == zero
+
+    # Test verbosity of one
+    formatter = FormatParser(1, color=color)
+    result = formatter.format(cfg, "uri", pre)
+    assert result == one.format(filename=cfg.filename)
+
+
+def test_dump_forest_callable(uncached_resolver, config_root):
+    """Check that Resolver.dump_forest handles passing a callable to fmt."""
+    formatter = FormatParser(1, color=False)
+    result = []
+    for line in uncached_resolver.dump_forest(
+        uncached_resolver.distros, attr="name", fmt=formatter.format, truncate=3
+    ):
+        result.append(line)
+
+    result = "\n".join(result)
+
+    check = [
+        "aliased",
+        f'''  aliased==2.0: "{config_root / 'distros/aliased/2.0/.hab.json'}"''',
+        "aliased_mod",
+        f'''  aliased_mod==1.0: "{config_root / 'distros/aliased_mod/1.0/.hab.json'}"''',
+        "aliased_verbosity",
+        f"  aliased_verbosity==1.0: "
+        f'''"{config_root / 'distros/aliased_verbosity/1.0/.hab.json'}"''',
+    ]
+    check = "\n".join(check)
+    assert result.startswith(check)