ansible.builtin.include_tasks module – Dynamically include a task list

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_tasks even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.include_tasks for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.

Synopsis

  • Includes a file with a list of tasks to be executed in the current playbook.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

apply

string

added in Ansible 2.7

Accepts a hash of task keywords (for example tags, become) that will be applied to the tasks within the include.

file

string

added in Ansible 2.7

Specifies the name of the file that lists tasks to add to the current playbook.

free-form

string

Specifies the name of the imported file directly without any other option - include_tasks: file.yml.

Is the equivalent of specifying an argument for the file parameter.

Most keywords, including loop, with_items, and conditionals, apply to this statement unlike ansible.builtin.import_tasks.

The do-until loop is not supported.

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: none

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target

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 objeys until/retry/poll keywords

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_role

Load and execute a role.

Re-using Ansible artifacts

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

Examples

- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: task1

    - name: Include task list in play
      ansible.builtin.include_tasks:
        file: stuff.yaml

    - ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: task10

- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: task1

    - name: Include task list in play only if the condition is true
      ansible.builtin.include_tasks: "{{ hostvar }}.yaml"
      when: hostvar is defined

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

- name: Apply tags to tasks within included file when using free-form
  ansible.builtin.include_tasks: install.yml
  args:
    apply:
      tags:
        - install
  tags:
    - always

Authors

  • Ansible Core Team (@ansible)