creating-ansible-playbooks

name	creating-ansible-playbooks
description	Execute use when you need to work with Ansible automation. This skill provides Ansible playbook creation with comprehensive guidance and automation. Trigger with phrases like "create Ansible playbook", "automate with Ansible", or "configure with Ansible".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, Bash(ansible:*), Bash(terraform:*)
version	1.0.0
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
license	MIT
compatible-with	claude-code, codex, openclaw

Creating Ansible Playbooks

Overview

Generate production-ready Ansible playbooks, roles, and inventories for infrastructure automation. Supports provisioning servers, deploying applications, configuring services, and enforcing desired state across fleets of machines using SSH-based agentless automation.

Prerequisites

• Ansible 2.14+ installed (ansible --version)
• SSH access to target hosts with key-based authentication
• Python 3.9+ on control node and managed nodes
• Inventory of target hosts (IPs or hostnames)
• Privilege escalation credentials (sudo) if configuring system-level resources
• ansible-lint installed for playbook validation

Instructions

1. Scan the project for existing Ansible files (ansible.cfg, inventory/, roles/, group_vars/) to understand current structure
2. Determine the automation target: server provisioning, application deployment, configuration management, or security hardening
3. Create the playbook YAML with proper structure: hosts, become, vars, tasks, handlers
4. Extract reusable logic into roles using the standard directory layout (tasks/, handlers/, templates/, defaults/, vars/, meta/)
5. Define variables in group_vars/ and host_vars/ for environment-specific values, keeping secrets in vault-encrypted files
6. Use Jinja2 templates for configuration files that vary across environments
7. Add handlers for service restarts triggered by configuration changes
8. Validate the playbook with ansible-lint and ansible-playbook --check --diff (dry run)
9. Test idempotency by running the playbook twice and confirming no changes on the second run

Output

• Ansible playbooks (.yml) with structured tasks, handlers, and variables
• Role directories following Ansible Galaxy structure
• Jinja2 templates (.j2) for dynamic configuration files
• Inventory files (INI or YAML) with host groups
• group_vars/ and host_vars/ for environment separation
• ansible.cfg with connection and privilege escalation settings

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
unreachable: Failed to connect to host	SSH connection failure or wrong host/port	Verify SSH keys, host IPs, and that port 22 is open with ansible -m ping
permission denied on become	Missing or incorrect sudo password	Add --ask-become-pass or configure ansible_become_password in vault
undefined variable	Variable not defined in vars, defaults, or inventory	Check variable precedence; define in defaults/main.yml or group_vars/
ansible-lint: syntax-check failed	YAML syntax error or deprecated module usage	Run ansible-lint -v and fix reported issues; replace deprecated modules
changed on every run (not idempotent)	Using command/shell without creates/removes guards	Add creates: parameter or switch to purpose-built modules (copy, template, file)

Examples

• "Create an Ansible playbook to provision an Ubuntu 22.04 server with Nginx, Certbot, and a firewall allowing only 80/443."
• "Generate a role that deploys a Python Flask app with Gunicorn, systemd service file, and log rotation."
• "Write an Ansible playbook to harden SSH config across all servers: disable root login, enforce key auth, set idle timeout."

Resources

• Ansible documentation: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/
• Ansible Galaxy roles: https://galaxy.ansible.com/
• Ansible Lint rules: https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/lint/rules/
• Best practices guide: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/tips_tricks/ansible_tips_tricks.html