Developer Guide

.. _developer_guide:

Developer Guide

.. note::

**Making Open Source More Inclusive**

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. We are beginning with these four terms: master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist. We ask that you open an issue or pull request if you come upon a term that we have missed. For more details, see `our CTO Chris Wright's message <https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/making-open-source-more-inclusive-eradicating-problematic-language>`_.

Welcome to the Ansible Developer Guide!

Who should use this guide?

If you want to extend Ansible by using a custom module or plugin locally, creating a module or plugin, adding functionality to an existing module, or expanding test coverage, this guide is for you. We've included detailed information for developers on how to test and document modules, as well as the prerequisites for getting your module or plugin accepted into the main Ansible repository.

Find the task that best describes what you want to do:

• I'm looking for a way to address a use case:

  • I want to :ref:add a custom plugin or module locally <developing_locally>.
  • I want to figure out if :ref:developing a module is the right approach <module_dev_should_you> for my use case.
  • I want to understand :ref:what a successful collection creator path looks like <developing_collections_path>.
  • I want to :ref:develop a collection <developing_collections>.
  • I want to :ref:contribute to an Ansible-maintained collection <contributing_maintained_collections>.
  • I want to :ref:contribute to a community-maintained collection <hacking_collections>.
  • I want to :ref:migrate a role to a collection <migrating_roles>.

• I've read the info above, and I'm sure I want to develop a module:

  • What do I need to know before I start coding?
  • I want to :ref:set up my Python development environment <environment_setup>.
  • I want to :ref:get started writing a module <developing_modules_general>.
  • I want to write a specific kind of module:
    • a :ref:network module <developing_modules_network>
    • a :ref:Windows module <developing_modules_general_windows>.
    • an :ref:Amazon module <ansible_collections.amazon.aws.docsite.dev_guide_intro>.
    • an oVirt/RHV module <https://github.com/oVirt/ovirt-ansible-collection/blob/master/README-developers.md>_.
    • a :ref:VMware module <ansible_collections.community.vmware.docsite.vmware_ansible_devguide>.
  • I want to :ref:write a series of related modules <developing_modules_in_groups> that integrate Ansible with a new product (for example, a database, cloud provider, network platform, and so on).

• I want to refine my code:

  • I want to :ref:debug my module code <debugging_modules>.
  • I want to :ref:add tests <developing_testing>.
  • I want to :ref:document my module <module_documenting>.
  • I want to :ref:improve documentation by using Ansible markup <ansible_markup>.
  • I want to :ref:document my set of modules for a network platform <documenting_modules_network>.
  • I want to follow :ref:conventions and tips for clean, usable module code <developing_modules_best_practices>.
  • I want to :ref:make sure my code runs on Python 2 and Python 3 <developing_python_3>.

• I want to work on other development projects:

  • I want to :ref:write a plugin <developing_plugins>.
  • I want to :ref:connect Ansible to a new source of inventory <developing_inventory>.
  • I want to :ref:deprecate an outdated module <deprecating_modules>.

• I want to contribute back to the Ansible project:

  • I want to :ref:understand how to contribute to Ansible <ansible_community_guide>.
  • I want to :ref:contribute my module or plugin <developing_modules_checklist>.
  • I want to :ref:understand the DCO agreement <developer_certificate_of_origin> for contributions to the Ansible Core <https://github.com/ansible/ansible>_ and Ansible Documentation <https://github.com/ansible/ansible-documentation>_ repositories.

If you prefer to read the entire guide, here's a list of the pages in order.

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 2

developing_locally developing_modules developing_modules_general developing_modules_checklist developing_modules_best_practices developing_python_3 debugging developing_modules_documenting ansible_markup sidecar developing_modules_general_windows developing_modules_in_groups testing module_lifecycle developing_plugins developing_inventory developing_core developing_program_flow_modules developing_api developing_rebasing developing_module_utilities developing_collections_path developing_collections migrating_roles collections_galaxy_meta overview_architecture