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	1.27.0
author	Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>
license	MIT
tags	["devops","ansible-playbooks"]
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code, also compatible with Codex and 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

Scan the project for existing Ansible files (ansible.cfg, inventory/, roles/, group_vars/) to understand current structure

Determine the automation target: server provisioning, application deployment, configuration management, or security hardening

Create the playbook YAML with proper structure: hosts, become, vars, tasks, handlers

Extract reusable logic into roles using the standard directory layout (tasks/, handlers/, templates/, defaults/, vars/, meta/)

Define variables in group_vars/ and host_vars/ for environment-specific values, keeping secrets in vault-encrypted files

Use Jinja2 templates for configuration files that vary across environments

Add handlers for service restarts triggered by configuration changes

Validate the playbook with ansible-lint and ansible-playbook --check --diff (dry run)

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

creating-ansible-playbooks

安装方式

检查来源文件