ansible-doc(1)

ansible-doc1

Plugin documentation tool

Usage

usage: ansible-doc [-h] [--version] [-v] [-M MODULE_PATH]

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 ...]

Overview

displays information on modules installed in Ansible libraries. It displays a terse listing of plugins and their short descriptions, provides a printout of their DOCUMENTATION strings, and it can create a short "snippet" which can be pasted into a playbook.

Options

Plugin

--metadata-dump

For internal use only Dump json metadata for all entries, ignores other options.

--no-fail-on-errors

For internal use only Only used for --metadata-dump. Do not fail on errors. Report the error message in the JSON instead.

--playbook-dir 'BASEDIR'

Since this tool does not use playbooks, use this as a substitute playbook directory. This sets the relative path for many features including roles/ group_vars/ etc.

--version

show program's version number, config file location, configured module search path, module location, executable location and exit

-F, --list_files

Show plugin names and their source files without summaries (implies --list). A supplied argument will be used for filtering, can be a namespace or full collection name.

-M, --module-path

prepend colon-separated path(s) to module library (default={{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ "/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules" }}). This argument may be specified multiple times.

-e 'ENTRY_POINT', --entry-point 'ENTRY_POINT'

Select the entry point for role(s).

-h, --help

show this help message and exit

-j, --json

Change output into json format.

-l, --list

List available plugins. A supplied argument will be used for filtering, 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.

-s, --snippet

Show playbook snippet for these plugin types: inventory, lookup, module

-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')

-v, --verbose

Causes Ansible to print more debug messages. Adding multiple -v will increase the verbosity, the builtin plugins currently evaluate up to -vvvvvv. A reasonable level to start is -vvv, connection debugging might require -vvvv. This argument may be specified multiple times.

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

For a full list check <https://docs.ansible.com/>. or use the ansible-config command.

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.

Releases

7 releases since Debian 8 (Jessie); the text changed 6 times.

  1. 8
  2. 9
  3. 10
  4. 11
  5. 12
  6. 13
  7. Arch

--entry-point since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --help since Debian 10 (Buster); --json since Debian 10 (Buster); --list since Debian 10 (Buster); --list_files since Debian 10 (Buster); --metadata-dump since Debian 11 (Bullseye); --no-fail-on-errors since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --playbook-dir since Debian 11 (Bullseye); --roles-path since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --snippet since Debian 10 (Buster); --type since Debian 10 (Buster); --verbose since Debian 10 (Buster); --version since Debian 10 (Buster); -F since Debian 10 (Buster); -e since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -h since Debian 10 (Buster); -j since Debian 10 (Buster); -l since Debian 10 (Buster); -r since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -s since Debian 10 (Buster); -t since Debian 10 (Buster); -v since Debian 10 (Buster).

--all until Debian 10 (Buster); -a until Debian 10 (Buster).

Author

Ansible was originally written by Michael DeHaan.

From ansible-core 2.21.5-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.