Ansible Commands Cheat Sheet

Displays the installed Ansible version and configuration paths.

Displays help for the Ansible ad-hoc command.

Lists available Ansible configuration settings.

Displays the active Ansible configuration values.

Displays the current ansible.cfg configuration file.

Displays documentation for the ping module.

Lists available Ansible modules.

Displays the module arguments and usage examples for the copy module.

Displays the inventory in JSON format.

Displays inventory groups and hosts as a tree.

Displays variables associated with a specific inventory host.

Lists all hosts that match the selected inventory pattern.

Lists hosts belonging to the servers group.

Runs a module against all hosts in the specified inventory.

Tests Ansible connectivity to all inventory hosts.

Tests connectivity to hosts in the servers group.

Runs a command on remote servers using the command module.

Runs a shell command on remote servers.

Collects system facts from remote hosts.

Runs fact gathering against the selected hosts.

Displays the hostname of remote servers.

Displays the remote execution user.

Installs a package using the package module.

Starts or manages a service.

Creates or manages files and directories.

Copies a file from the control node to remote hosts.

Renders a Jinja2 template and copies it to remote hosts.

Runs a command without shell-specific processing.

Runs a command through the remote shell.

Prints a debugging message during execution.

Runs an Ansible playbook against the specified inventory.

Checks playbook syntax without executing tasks.

Runs the playbook in check mode to preview changes.

Shows differences for tasks that modify files.

Runs a playbook with verbose output.

Runs a playbook with highly detailed debugging output.

Restricts playbook execution to the selected inventory group or hosts.

Runs the playbook against a specific host.

Lists the tasks that would be executed by a playbook.

Lists tags available in the playbook.

Runs only tasks matching the specified tag.

Skips tasks matching the specified tag.

Starts playbook execution at a specified task.

Runs a playbook interactively, prompting before each task.

Displays host variables available to the selected host.

Displays gathered Ansible facts.

Passes an extra variable to a playbook.

Loads extra variables from a YAML file.

Displays the hostname gathered by Ansible facts.

Displays the remote operating system distribution.

Provides a variable that can be evaluated by task conditions.

Collects facts that can be used by when conditions.

Tests conditional task behavior without applying changes.

Reviews tasks before executing loop-based automation.

Previews changes made by repeated tasks.

Displays detailed information useful when debugging loops.

Lists tasks and helps verify handler-triggering tasks.

Previews playbook execution involving handlers.

Provides detailed output for handler execution debugging.

Runs a command with privilege escalation.

Enables privilege escalation for a playbook.

Prompts for the privilege escalation password.

Runs a privileged service-management command.

Lists installed Ansible roles.

Installs an Ansible role from Ansible Galaxy or another configured source.

Lists installed Ansible collections.

Installs an Ansible collection.

Creates the standard directory structure for a new role.

Searches Ansible Galaxy for roles matching a keyword.

Installs roles or collections listed in a requirements file.

Creates a new encrypted Ansible Vault file.

Displays the decrypted contents of a Vault file.

Edits an encrypted Vault file.

Encrypts an existing YAML file with Ansible Vault.

Decrypts an Ansible Vault file.

Changes the password used to encrypt a Vault file.

Prompts for the Vault password when running a playbook.

Connects to remote hosts using a specified SSH user.

Uses a specific SSH private key for authentication.

Uses the local connection method instead of SSH.

Enables very detailed connection debugging output.

Connects using a specific user with privilege escalation enabled.

Renders a Jinja2 template and deploys the resulting file.

Copies a static configuration file to remote hosts.

Previews configuration changes before deployment.

Checks system uptime on remote servers.

Checks memory usage on remote servers.

Checks root filesystem disk usage.

Lists failed systemd services.

Displays listening TCP and UDP ports.

Displays recent high-priority system logs.

Sets the number of parallel forks used during playbook execution.

Clears the fact cache before playbook execution when a fact cache is configured.

Runs a playbook interactively, prompting before each task.

Starts execution at a specific task.

Loads and displays inventory generated from a YAML inventory source.

Displays groups and hosts from a dynamic inventory source.

Lists hosts discovered by the inventory source.

Runs a deployment playbook from a CI/CD pipeline.

Validates expected deployment changes before applying them.

Restricts automated deployment to the production inventory group.

Passes a deployment variable from a CI/CD workflow.

Verifies that inventory groups and hosts are structured as expected.

Verifies SSH connectivity and Ansible access to hosts.

Verifies that Ansible can collect facts from remote hosts.

Checks the playbook for syntax errors before execution.

Uses detailed output to investigate task and connection failures.

Previews configuration changes and file differences without applying them.

Displays only Ansible configuration values that differ from defaults.