ansible.builtin.add_host module – Add a host (and alternatively a group) to the ansible-playbook in-memory inventory

Note

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

Synopsis

  • Use variables to create new hosts and groups in inventory for use in later plays of the same playbook.

  • Takes variables so you can define the new hosts more fully.

  • This module is also supported for Windows targets.

Note

This module has a corresponding action plugin.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

groups

aliases: group, groupname

list / elements=string

The groups to add the hostname to.

name

aliases: host, hostname

string / required

The hostname/ip of the host to add to the inventory, can include a colon and a port number.

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

action

Support: full

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: full

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: partial

While this makes no changes to target systems the ‘in memory’ inventory will still be altered

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: partial

While parts of this action are implemented in core, other parts are still available as normal plugins and can be partially overridden

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

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

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

Notes

Note

  • The alias host of the parameter name is only available on Ansible 2.4 and newer.

  • Since Ansible 2.4, the inventory_dir variable is now set to None instead of the ‘global inventory source’, because you can now have multiple sources. An example was added that shows how to partially restore the previous behaviour.

  • Though this module does not change the remote host, we do provide ‘changed’ status as it can be useful for those trying to track inventory changes.

  • The hosts added will not bypass the --limit from the command line, so both of those need to be in agreement to make them available as play targets. They are still available from hostvars and for delegation as a normal part of the inventory.

See Also

See also

ansible.builtin.group_by

Create Ansible groups based on facts.

Examples

- name: Add host to group 'just_created' with variable foo=42
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    name: '{{ ip_from_ec2 }}'
    groups: just_created
    foo: 42

- name: Add host to multiple groups
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    hostname: '{{ new_ip }}'
    groups:
    - group1
    - group2

- name: Add a host with a non-standard port local to your machines
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    name: '{{ new_ip }}:{{ new_port }}'

- name: Add a host alias that we reach through a tunnel (Ansible 1.9 and older)
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    hostname: '{{ new_ip }}'
    ansible_ssh_host: '{{ inventory_hostname }}'
    ansible_ssh_port: '{{ new_port }}'

- name: Add a host alias that we reach through a tunnel (Ansible 2.0 and newer)
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    hostname: '{{ new_ip }}'
    ansible_host: '{{ inventory_hostname }}'
    ansible_port: '{{ new_port }}'

- name: Ensure inventory vars are set to the same value as the inventory_hostname has (close to pre Ansible 2.4 behaviour)
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    hostname: charlie
    inventory_dir: '{{ inventory_dir }}'

- name: Add all hosts running this playbook to the done group
  ansible.builtin.add_host:
    name: '{{ item }}'
    groups: done
  loop: "{{ ansible_play_hosts }}"

Authors

  • Ansible Core Team

  • Seth Vidal (@skvidal)