ansible.builtin.include_role module – Load and execute a role

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name include_role even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.include_role for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.

Synopsis

• Dynamically loads and executes a specified role as a task.

• May be used only where Ansible tasks are allowed - inside pre_tasks, tasks, or post_tasks play objects, or as a task inside a role.

• Task-level keywords, loops, and conditionals apply only to the include_role statement itself.

• To apply keywords to the tasks within the role, pass them using the apply option or use ansible.builtin.import_role instead.

• Ignores some keywords, like until and retries.

• This module is also supported for Windows targets.

• Does not work in handlers.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
allow_duplicates boolean	Overrides the role’s metadata setting to allow using a role more than once with the same parameters. Choices: false true ← (default)
apply string added in Ansible 2.7	Accepts a hash of task keywords (for example tags, become) that will be applied to all tasks within the included role.
defaults_from string	File to load from a role’s defaults/ directory. Default: "main"
handlers_from string added in Ansible 2.8	File to load from a role’s handlers/ directory. Default: "main"
name string / required	The name of the role to be executed.
public boolean added in Ansible 2.7	This option dictates whether the role’s vars and defaults are exposed to the play. If set to true the variables will be available to tasks following the include_role task. This functionality differs from standard variable exposure for roles listed under the roles header or ansible.builtin.import_role as they are exposed to the play at playbook parsing time, and available to earlier roles and tasks as well. Choices: false ← (default) true
rolespec_validate boolean added in ansible-core 2.11	Perform role argument spec validation if an argument spec is defined. Choices: false true ← (default)
tasks_from string	File to load from a role’s tasks/ directory. Default: "main"
vars_from string	File to load from a role’s vars/ directory. Default: "main"

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
action	Support: none While this action executes locally on the controller it is not governed by an action plugin	Indicates this has a corresponding action plugin so some parts of the options can be executed on the controller
async	Support: none	Supports being used with the async keyword
become	Support: none	Is usable alongside become keywords
bypass_host_loop	Support: none	Forces a ‘global’ task that does not execute per host, this bypasses per host templating and serial, throttle and other loop considerations Conditionals will work as if run_once is being used, variables used will be from the first available host This action will not work normally outside of lockstep strategies
bypass_task_loop	Support: none	These tasks ignore the loop and with_ keywords
check_mode	Support: full	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.
connection	Support: none	Uses the target’s configured connection information to execute code on it
core	Support: full	This is a ‘core engine’ feature and is not implemented like most task actions, so it is not overridable in any way via the plugin system.
delegation	Support: none Since there are no connection nor facts, there is no sense in delegating includes	Can be used in conjunction with delegate_to and related keywords
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
ignore_conditional	Support: none	The action is not subject to conditional execution so it will ignore the when: keyword
platform	Platforms: all	Target OS/families that can be operated against
tags	Support: full Tags are interpreted by this action but are not automatically inherited by the include tasks, see apply	Allows for the ‘tags’ keyword to control the selection of this action for execution
until	Support: full	Denotes if this action obeys until/retry/poll keywords

Notes

Note

• Handlers and are made available to the whole play.

• After Ansible 2.4, you can use ansible.builtin.import_role for static behaviour and this action for dynamic one.

See Also

See also

ansible.builtin.import_playbook

Import a playbook.

ansible.builtin.import_role

Import a role into a play.

ansible.builtin.import_tasks

Import a task list.

ansible.builtin.include_tasks

Dynamically include a task list.

Re-using Ansible artifacts

More information related to including and importing playbooks, roles and tasks.

Examples

- ansible.builtin.include_role:
    name: myrole

- name: Run tasks/other.yaml instead of 'main'
  ansible.builtin.include_role:
    name: myrole
    tasks_from: other

- name: Pass variables to role
  ansible.builtin.include_role:
    name: myrole
  vars:
    rolevar1: value from task

- name: Use role in loop
  ansible.builtin.include_role:
    name: '{{ roleinputvar }}'
  loop:
    - '{{ roleinput1 }}'
    - '{{ roleinput2 }}'
  loop_control:
    loop_var: roleinputvar

- name: Conditional role
  ansible.builtin.include_role:
    name: myrole
  when: not idontwanttorun

- name: Apply tags to tasks within included file
  ansible.builtin.include_role:
    name: install
    apply:
      tags:
        - install
  tags:
    - always

Authors

• Ansible Core Team (@ansible)

Collection links

• Issue Tracker
• Repository (Sources)
• Communication