ansible

name	ansible
description	Execute and manage Ansible playbooks and commands safely, preventing hangs during remote automation. You MUST load this skill when working with the `ansible` command.
license	MIT

Ansible Operations

WHEN TO USE

• Executing Ansible playbooks or commands
• Running Ansible automation scripts
• Troubleshooting hangs during Ansible execution

WHEN NOT TO USE

• Localized script automation on a single machine (use shell scripts)
• Ephemeral container infrastructure (use Docker or Terraform)
• Tasks requiring agentic AI decisions (Ansible is deterministic)
• General shell scripting (use shell skill)
• Docker operations (use docker skill)

Common Pitfalls

• Interactive Hangs: Missing DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive or handling sudo passwords poorly, causing indefinite hangs.
• Ignoring Idempotency: Using ansible.builtin.shell instead of native modules, breaking playbook idempotency.
• Masking Errors: Using ignore_errors: yes to bypass failures rather than fixing the underlying state.
• Mocking Workarounds: Using mock_modules or mock_roles to bypass failing tasks. Fix underlying issues directly.

Troubleshooting

Ansible Environment Issues

For hangs during Ansible execution (especially apt on Debian/Ubuntu):

• Set DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive in environment or playbook: DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive ansible-playbook playbook.yml

Performance Profiling

Enable profile_tasks callback to identify slow tasks:

• ANSIBLE_CALLBACKS_ENABLED=profile_tasks ansible-playbook playbook.yml
• In ansible.cfg:

  [defaults]
  callbacks_enabled = ansible.posix.profile_tasks
  

Examples

• Run a playbook: ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml site.yml
• Run with tags: ansible-playbook playbook.yml --tags "setup,deploy"
• Check mode: ansible-playbook playbook.yml --check --diff
• Ping all hosts: ansible all -i inventory.yml -m ping

Related Skills

• molecule: You MUST load this skill when running or managing Molecule tests for Ansible.