ansible-doc(1)

💅 ansible-doc(1) — the plugin documentation tool, bestie

okay so first things first: this page lives in the System administration commands section of the manual, and the whole thing is literally just ansible-doc — a tool that tells you everything about the plugins chillin' inside your Ansible libraries. think of it as a lil' encyclopedia you can summon from the terminal. 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

usage: ansible-doc [-h] [--version] [-v] [-M MODULE_PATH]
       [--playbook-dir BASEDIR] [-t
       {become,cache,callback,cliconf,connection,httpapi,inventory,lookup,netconf,shell,vars,module,strategy,test,filter,role,keyword}]
       [-j] [-r ROLES_PATH] [-e ENTRY_POINT | -s | -F | -l |
       --metadata-dump] [--no-fail-on-errors] [plugin ...]

no cap, that's the whole vibe at a glance. 💀

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so what does it do? it displays information on modules installed in Ansible libraries. that's the main character job, ok. but it does three lil' party tricks:

• it shows you a terse listing of plugins along with their short descriptions 👑
• it gives you a printout of their DOCUMENTATION strings ✨
• and it can cook up a short "snippet" that you can literally paste straight into a playbook 🎀

it's giving "reference manual + copy-paste queen". obsessed.

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💜 COMMON OPTIONS 💜

🔌 Plugin

• --metadata-dump — for internal use only!! this dumps json metadata for all entries and ignores all other options. like, it's not even listening to you anymore. 🙈
• --no-fail-on-errors — also for internal use only, and only used with --metadata-dump. it means "don't fail on errors" — instead, it reports the error message inside the JSON. so the error still exists, it's just, like, ✨documented✨.
• --playbook-dir 'BASEDIR' — since this tool doesn't use playbooks (iconic of it), use this as a substitute playbook directory. this sets the relative path for a bunch of features including roles/, group_vars/, etc. your fake playbook home base 🏠
• --version — show the program's version number, config file location, configured module search path, module location, executable location, and then exit. it's the full ✨receipts✨ dump.
• -F, --list_files — show plugin names and their source files without summaries (this implies --list). if you pass an argument, it'll be used for filtering — and that filter can be a namespace or full collection name. 🗂️
• -M, --module-path — prepend colon-separated path(s) to the module library (default={{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ "/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules" }}). this argument may be specified multiple times — stack 'em up, no shade. 🔥
• -e 'ENTRY_POINT', --entry-point 'ENTRY_POINT' — select the entry point for role(s). that's it, that's the whole thing. 🎯
• -h, --help — show this help message and exit. the classic. the og. 🫶
• -j, --json — change output into json format. for when you want your data machine-readable, fr fr. 🤖
• -l, --list — list available plugins. if you supply an argument it gets used for filtering, and that filter can be a namespace or full collection name. 💅
• -r, --roles-path — the path to the directory containing your roles. this argument may be specified multiple times. yes queen, multiple times. 🎀
• -s, --snippet — show playbook snippet for these plugin types: inventory, lookup, module. the copy-paste shortcut of your dreams ✨
• -t 'TYPE', --type 'TYPE' — choose which plugin type (defaults to "module"). available plugin types are: ('become', 'cache', 'callback', 'cliconf', 'connection', 'httpapi', 'inventory', 'lookup', 'netconf', 'shell', 'vars', 'module', 'strategy', 'test', 'filter', 'role', 'keyword'). seventeen of 'em. pick your fighter 👑
• -v, --verbose — causes Ansible to print more debug messages. adding multiple -v increases the verbosity, and the builtin plugins currently evaluate up to -vvvvvv. a reasonable level to start is -vvv, and connection debugging might require -vvvv. this argument may be specified multiple times. verbose? me? never. 😭

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

the following environment variables may be specified:

• ANSIBLE_LIBRARY — override the default ansible module library path
• ANSIBLE_CONFIG — specify override location for the ansible config file

many more are available for most options in ansible.cfg — like, a lot a lot.

for a full list check <https://docs.ansible.com/>. or just use the ansible-config command. iykyk 💜

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🦋 FILES 🦋

• /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg — config file, used if present
• ~/.ansible.cfg — user config file, overrides the default config if present
• ./ansible.cfg — local config file (in current working directory), assumed to be 'project specific' and overrides the rest if present

as mentioned above, the ANSIBLE_CONFIG environment variable will override all others. it's the final boss of config precedence 👑

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🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Ansible was originally written by Michael DeHaan. legend behavior, honestly. 🫶

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⭐ COPYRIGHT ⭐

Copyright © 2018 Red Hat, Inc | Ansible. Ansible is released under the terms of the GPLv3 license. slay and legally binding 💅

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• ansible (1)
• ansible-config (1)
• ansible-console (1)
• ansible-galaxy (1)
• ansible-inventory (1)
• ansible-playbook (1)
• ansible-pull (1)
• ansible-vault (1)

extensive documentation is available in the documentation site: <<https://docs.ansible.com>>. IRC and mailing list info can be found in file CONTRIBUTING.md, available in: <<https://github.com/ansible/ansible>> 🍓

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bestie reminder: the doc site is your bestie, the man page is your bestie, and --help is always one keystroke away 💖

okay that's the whole page!! this was scanned and served to you straight from Ansible 2.22.0, and yeah — it's the ansible-doc(1) page, the one and only. go read some plugin docs, you absolute icon 🌸✨🎀