| name | ansible-ops |
| description | Ansible playbook management covering inventory, vault, syntax checks, and idempotency. Use when writing or running Ansible playbooks, configuring servers or deploying services, or managing secrets with Ansible Vault. |
| license | MIT |
Ansible Ops
Manage infrastructure using Ansible playbooks and roles.
When to Use
Config & app deployment onto hosts that already exist — playbooks, roles,
vault. The sibling for provisioning the infrastructure itself (creating hosts,
networks, managed services + their state) is terraform-expert: declare the
box with Terraform, configure what runs on it with Ansible. Don't reach here to
stand up infrastructure.
Conventions
- Inventory: Always explicitly specify the inventory file with
-i.
- Vault Safety: Never run commands requiring interactive password entry (
--ask-vault-pass). Generate the command for the user to run instead.
- Syntax First: Run
ansible-lint or ansible-playbook --syntax-check before presenting a playbook.
- Timeout: Prefix playbook runs with
timeout 300s to prevent hangs.
- Idempotency: Every playbook must be safe to re-run. Use
creates:, when:, and handler-based restarts.
Anti-Patterns
- Running playbooks without
--syntax-check first — catch errors before execution
- Interactive password prompts (
--ask-vault-pass) — generate commands for the user
- Non-idempotent tasks — every playbook must be safe to re-run