kubernetes.core.k8s module – Manage Kubernetes (K8s) objects

Note

This module is part of the kubernetes.core collection (version 5.0.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install kubernetes.core. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: kubernetes.core.k8s.

Synopsis

  • Use the Kubernetes Python client to perform CRUD operations on K8s objects.

  • Pass the object definition from a source file or inline. See examples for reading files and using Jinja templates or vault-encrypted files.

  • Access to the full range of K8s APIs.

  • Use the kubernetes.core.k8s_info module to obtain a list of items about an object of type kind

  • Authenticate using either a config file, certificates, password or token.

  • Supports check mode.

Note

This module has a corresponding action plugin.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • python >= 3.9

  • kubernetes >= 24.2.0

  • PyYAML >= 3.11

  • jsonpatch

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

api_key

string

Token used to authenticate with the API. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_API_KEY environment variable.

api_version

aliases: api, version

string

Use to specify the API version.

Use to create, delete, or discover an object without providing a full resource definition.

Use in conjunction with kind, name, and namespace to identify a specific object.

If resource definition is provided, the apiVersion value from the resource_definition will override this option.

Default: "v1"

append_hash

boolean

Whether to append a hash to a resource name for immutability purposes

Applies only to ConfigMap and Secret resources

The parameter will be silently ignored for other resource kinds

The full definition of an object is needed to generate the hash - this means that deleting an object created with append_hash will only work if the same object is passed with state=absent (alternatively, just use state=absent with the name including the generated hash and append_hash=no)

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

apply

boolean

apply compares the desired resource definition with the previously supplied resource definition, ignoring properties that are automatically generated

apply works better with Services than ‘force=yes’

Mutually exclusive with merge_type.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

ca_cert

aliases: ssl_ca_cert

path

Path to a CA certificate used to authenticate with the API. The full certificate chain must be provided to avoid certificate validation errors. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_SSL_CA_CERT environment variable.

client_cert

aliases: cert_file

path

Path to a certificate used to authenticate with the API. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_CERT_FILE environment variable.

client_key

aliases: key_file

path

Path to a key file used to authenticate with the API. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_KEY_FILE environment variable.

context

string

The name of a context found in the config file. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_CONTEXT environment variable.

continue_on_error

boolean

added in kubernetes.core 2.0.0

Whether to continue on creation/deletion errors when multiple resources are defined.

This has no effect on the validation step which is controlled by the validate.fail_on_error parameter.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

delete_all

aliases: all

boolean

added in kubernetes.core 2.5.0

When this option is set to true and state=absent, module will delete all resources of the specified resource type in the requested namespace.

Ignored when state is not set to absent or when one of (src), name or resource_definition is provided.

Parameter kind is required to use this option.

This parameter can be used with label_selectors to restrict the resources to be deleted.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

delete_options

dictionary

added in kubernetes.core 1.2.0

Configure behavior when deleting an object.

Only used when state=absent.

gracePeriodSeconds

integer

Specify how many seconds to wait before forcefully terminating.

Only implemented for Pod resources.

If not specified, the default grace period for the object type will be used.

preconditions

dictionary

Specify condition that must be met for delete to proceed.

resourceVersion

string

Specify the resource version of the target object.

uid

string

Specify the UID of the target object.

propagationPolicy

string

Use to control how dependent objects are deleted.

If not specified, the default policy for the object type will be used. This may vary across object types.

Choices:

  • "Foreground"

  • "Background"

  • "Orphan"

force

boolean

If set to yes, and state is present, an existing object will be replaced.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

generate_name

string

added in kubernetes.core 2.3.0

Use to specify the basis of an object name and random characters will be added automatically on server to generate a unique name.

This option is ignored when state is not set to present or when apply is set to yes.

If resource definition is provided, the metadata.generateName value from the resource_definition will override this option.

If resource definition is provided, and contains metadata.name, this option is ignored.

mutually exclusive with name.

hidden_fields

list / elements=string

added in kubernetes.core 2.5.0

Hide fields matching this option in the result

An example might be hidden_fields=[metadata.managedFields]

Only field definitions that don’t reference list items are supported (so spec.containers[0] would not work)

host

string

Provide a URL for accessing the API. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_HOST environment variable.

impersonate_groups

list / elements=string

added in kubernetes.core 2.3.0

Group(s) to impersonate for the operation.

Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_IMPERSONATE_GROUPS environment. Example: Group1,Group2

impersonate_user

string

added in kubernetes.core 2.3.0

Username to impersonate for the operation.

Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_IMPERSONATE_USER environment.

kind

string

Use to specify an object model.

Use to create, delete, or discover an object without providing a full resource definition.

Use in conjunction with api_version, name, and namespace to identify a specific object.

If resource definition is provided, the kind value from the resource_definition will override this option.

kubeconfig

any

Path to an existing Kubernetes config file. If not provided, and no other connection options are provided, the Kubernetes client will attempt to load the default configuration file from ~/.kube/config. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_KUBECONFIG environment variable.

Multiple Kubernetes config file can be provided using separator ‘;’ for Windows platform or ‘:’ for others platforms.

The kubernetes configuration can be provided as dictionary. This feature requires a python kubernetes client version >= 17.17.0. Added in version 2.2.0.

label_selectors

list / elements=string

added in kubernetes.core 2.2.0

Selector (label query) to filter on.

merge_type

list / elements=string

Whether to override the default patch merge approach with a specific type. By default, the strategic merge will typically be used.

For example, Custom Resource Definitions typically aren’t updatable by the usual strategic merge. You may want to use merge if you see “strategic merge patch format is not supported”.

See https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/run-application/update-api-object-kubectl-patch/#use-a-json-merge-patch-to-update-a-deployment

If more than one merge_type is given, the merge_types will be tried in order. This defaults to ['strategic-merge', 'merge'], which is ideal for using the same parameters on resource kinds that combine Custom Resources and built-in resources.

Mutually exclusive with apply.

merge_type=json has been removed in version 4.0.0. Please use kubernetes.core.k8s_json_patch instead.

Choices:

  • "merge"

  • "strategic-merge"

name

string

Use to specify an object name.

Use to create, delete, or discover an object without providing a full resource definition.

Use in conjunction with api_version, kind and namespace to identify a specific object.

If resource definition is provided, the metadata.name value from the resource_definition will override this option.

namespace

string

Use to specify an object namespace.

Useful when creating, deleting, or discovering an object without providing a full resource definition.

Use in conjunction with api_version, kind, and name to identify a specific object.

If resource definition is provided, the metadata.namespace value from the resource_definition will override this option.

no_proxy

string

added in kubernetes.core 2.3.0

The comma separated list of hosts/domains/IP/CIDR that shouldn’t go through proxy. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_NO_PROXY environment variable.

Please note that this module does not pick up typical proxy settings from the environment (e.g. NO_PROXY).

This feature requires kubernetes>=19.15.0. When kubernetes library is less than 19.15.0, it fails even no_proxy set in correct.

example value is “localhost,.local,.example.com,127.0.0.1,127.0.0.0/8,10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168.0.0/16”

password

string

Provide a password for authenticating with the API. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_PASSWORD environment variable.

Please read the description of the username option for a discussion of when this option is applicable.

persist_config

boolean

Whether or not to save the kube config refresh tokens. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_PERSIST_CONFIG environment variable.

When the k8s context is using a user credentials with refresh tokens (like oidc or gke/gcloud auth), the token is refreshed by the k8s python client library but not saved by default. So the old refresh token can expire and the next auth might fail. Setting this flag to true will tell the k8s python client to save the new refresh token to the kube config file.

Default to false.

Please note that the current version of the k8s python client library does not support setting this flag to True yet.

The fix for this k8s python library is here: https://github.com/kubernetes-client/python-base/pull/169

Choices:

  • false

  • true

proxy

string

The URL of an HTTP proxy to use for the connection. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_PROXY environment variable.

Please note that this module does not pick up typical proxy settings from the environment (e.g. HTTP_PROXY).

proxy_headers

dictionary

added in kubernetes.core 2.0.0

basic_auth

string

Colon-separated username:password for basic authentication header.

Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_PROXY_HEADERS_BASIC_AUTH environment.

proxy_basic_auth

string

Colon-separated username:password for proxy basic authentication header.

Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_PROXY_HEADERS_PROXY_BASIC_AUTH environment.

user_agent

string

String representing the user-agent you want, such as foo/1.0.

Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_PROXY_HEADERS_USER_AGENT environment.

resource_definition

aliases: definition, inline

string

Provide a valid YAML definition (either as a string, list, or dict) for an object when creating or updating.

NOTE: kind, api_version, name, and namespace will be overwritten by corresponding values found in the provided resource_definition.

server_side_apply

dictionary

added in kubernetes.core 2.3.0

When this option is set, apply runs in the server instead of the client.

Ignored if apply is not set or is set to False.

This option requires “kubernetes >= 19.15.0”.

field_manager

string / required

Name of the manager used to track field ownership.

force_conflicts

boolean

A conflict is a special status error that occurs when an Server Side Apply operation tries to change a field, which another user also claims to manage.

When set to True, server-side apply will force the changes against conflicts.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

src

path

Provide a path to a file containing a valid YAML definition of an object or objects to be created or updated. Mutually exclusive with resource_definition. NOTE: kind, api_version, name, and namespace will be overwritten by corresponding values found in the configuration read in from the src file.

Reads from the local file system. To read from the Ansible controller’s file system, including vaulted files, use the file lookup plugin or template lookup plugin, combined with the from_yaml filter, and pass the result to resource_definition. See Examples below.

The URL to manifest files that can be used to create the resource. Added in version 2.4.0.

Mutually exclusive with template in case of kubernetes.core.k8s module.

state

string

Determines if an object should be created, patched, or deleted. When set to present, an object will be created, if it does not already exist. If set to absent, an existing object will be deleted. If set to present, an existing object will be patched, if its attributes differ from those specified using resource_definition or src.

patched state is an existing resource that has a given patch applied. If the resource doesn’t exist, silently skip it (do not raise an error).

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

  • "patched"

template

any

Provide a valid YAML template definition file for an object when creating or updating.

Value can be provided as string or dictionary.

The parameter accepts multiple template files. Added in version 2.0.0.

Mutually exclusive with src and resource_definition.

Template files needs to be present on the Ansible Controller’s file system.

Additional parameters can be specified using dictionary.

Valid additional parameters -

newline_sequence (str): Specify the newline sequence to use for templating files. valid choices are “\n”, “\r”, “\r\n”. Default value “\n”.

block_start_string (str): The string marking the beginning of a block. Default value “{%”.

block_end_string (str): The string marking the end of a block. Default value “%}”.

variable_start_string (str): The string marking the beginning of a print statement. Default value “{{“.

variable_end_string (str): The string marking the end of a print statement. Default value “}}”.

trim_blocks (bool): Determine when newlines should be removed from blocks. When set to yes the first newline after a block is removed (block, not variable tag!). Default value is true.

lstrip_blocks (bool): Determine when leading spaces and tabs should be stripped. When set to yes leading spaces and tabs are stripped from the start of a line to a block. This functionality requires Jinja 2.7 or newer. Default value is false.

username

string

Provide a username for authenticating with the API. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_USERNAME environment variable.

Please note that this only works with clusters configured to use HTTP Basic Auth. If your cluster has a different form of authentication (e.g. OAuth2 in OpenShift), this option will not work as expected and you should look into the community.okd.k8s_auth module, as that might do what you need.

validate

dictionary

how (if at all) to validate the resource definition against the kubernetes schema. Requires the kubernetes-validate python module.

fail_on_error

boolean

whether to fail on validation errors.

Choices:

  • false

  • true

strict

boolean

whether to fail when passing unexpected properties

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

version

string

version of Kubernetes to validate against. defaults to Kubernetes server version

validate_certs

aliases: verify_ssl

boolean

Whether or not to verify the API server’s SSL certificates. Can also be specified via K8S_AUTH_VERIFY_SSL environment variable.

Choices:

  • false

  • true

wait

boolean

Whether to wait for certain resource kinds to end up in the desired state.

By default the module exits once Kubernetes has received the request.

Implemented for state=present for Deployment, DaemonSet and Pod, and for state=absent for all resource kinds.

For resource kinds without an implementation, wait returns immediately unless wait_condition is set.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

wait_condition

dictionary

Specifies a custom condition on the status to wait for.

Ignored if wait is not set or is set to False.

reason

string

The value of the reason field in your desired condition

For example, if a Deployment is paused, The Progressing type will have the DeploymentPaused reason.

The possible reasons in a condition are specific to each resource type in Kubernetes.

See the API documentation of the status field for a given resource to see possible choices.

status

string

The value of the status field in your desired condition.

For example, if a Deployment is paused, the Progressing type will have the Unknown status.

Choices:

  • "True" ← (default)

  • "False"

  • "Unknown"

type

string

The type of condition to wait for.

For example, the Pod resource will set the Ready condition (among others).

Required if you are specifying a wait_condition.

If left empty, the wait_condition field will be ignored.

The possible types for a condition are specific to each resource type in Kubernetes.

See the API documentation of the status field for a given resource to see possible choices.

wait_sleep

integer

Number of seconds to sleep between checks.

Default: 5

wait_timeout

integer

How long in seconds to wait for the resource to end up in the desired state.

Ignored if wait is not set.

Default: 120

Notes

Note

  • To avoid SSL certificate validation errors when validate_certs is True, the full certificate chain for the API server must be provided via ca_cert or in the kubeconfig file.

Examples

- name: Create a k8s namespace
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    name: testing
    api_version: v1
    kind: Namespace
    state: present

- name: Create a Service object from an inline definition
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    definition:
      apiVersion: v1
      kind: Service
      metadata:
        name: web
        namespace: testing
        labels:
          app: galaxy
          service: web
      spec:
        selector:
          app: galaxy
          service: web
        ports:
        - protocol: TCP
          targetPort: 8000
          name: port-8000-tcp
          port: 8000

- name: Remove an existing Service object
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: absent
    api_version: v1
    kind: Service
    namespace: testing
    name: web

# Passing the object definition from a file

- name: Create a Deployment by reading the definition from a local file
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    src: /testing/deployment.yml

- name: >-
    Read definition file from the Ansible controller file system.
    If the definition file has been encrypted with Ansible Vault it will automatically be decrypted.
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    definition: "{{ lookup('file', '/testing/deployment.yml') | from_yaml }}"

- name: >-
    (Alternative) Read definition file from the Ansible controller file system.
    In this case, the definition file contains multiple YAML documents, separated by ---.
    If the definition file has been encrypted with Ansible Vault it will automatically be decrypted.
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    definition: "{{ lookup('file', '/testing/deployment.yml') | from_yaml_all }}"

- name: Read definition template file from the Ansible controller file system
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    template: '/testing/deployment.j2'

- name: Read definition template file from the Ansible controller file system that uses custom start/end strings
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    template:
      path: '/testing/deployment.j2'
      variable_start_string: '[['
      variable_end_string: ']]'

- name: Read multiple definition template file from the Ansible controller file system
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    template:
    - path: '/testing/deployment_one.j2'
    - path: '/testing/deployment_two.j2'
      variable_start_string: '[['
      variable_end_string: ']]'

- name: fail on validation errors
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    definition: "{{ lookup('template', '/testing/deployment.yml') | from_yaml }}"
    validate:
      fail_on_error: yes

- name: warn on validation errors, check for unexpected properties
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    definition: "{{ lookup('template', '/testing/deployment.yml') | from_yaml }}"
    validate:
      fail_on_error: no
      strict: yes

# Download and apply manifest
- name: Download metrics-server manifest to the cluster.
  ansible.builtin.get_url:
    url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server/releases/latest/download/components.yaml
    dest: ~/metrics-server.yaml
    mode: '0664'

- name: Apply metrics-server manifest to the cluster.
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    src: ~/metrics-server.yaml

# Wait for a Deployment to pause before continuing
- name: Pause a Deployment.
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    definition:
      apiVersion: apps/v1
      kind: Deployment
      metadata:
        name: example
        namespace: testing
      spec:
        paused: True
    wait: yes
    wait_condition:
      type: Progressing
      status: Unknown
      reason: DeploymentPaused

# Patch existing namespace : add label
- name: add label to existing namespace
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: patched
    kind: Namespace
    name: patch_namespace
    definition:
      metadata:
        labels:
          support: patch

# Create object using generateName
- name: create resource using name generated by the server
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    state: present
    generate_name: pod-
    definition:
      apiVersion: v1
      kind: Pod
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: py
          image: python:3.7-alpine
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent

# Server side apply
- name: Create configmap using server side apply
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    namespace: testing
    definition:
      apiVersion: v1
      kind: ConfigMap
      metadata:
        name: my-configmap
    apply: yes
    server_side_apply:
      field_manager: ansible

# Delete all Deployment from specified namespace
- name: Delete all Deployment from specified namespace
  kubernetes.core.k8s:
    api_version: apps/v1
    namespace: testing
    kind: Deployment
    delete_all: true

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

result

complex

The created, patched, or otherwise present object. Will be empty in the case of a deletion.

Returned: success

api_version

string

The versioned schema of this representation of an object.

Returned: success

duration

integer

elapsed time of task in seconds

Returned: when wait is true

Sample: 48

error

complex

error while trying to create/delete the object.

Returned: error

items

list / elements=string

Returned only when multiple yaml documents are passed to src or resource_definition

Returned: when resource_definition or src contains list of objects

kind

string

Represents the REST resource this object represents.

Returned: success

metadata

complex

Standard object metadata. Includes name, namespace, annotations, labels, etc.

Returned: success

spec

complex

Specific attributes of the object. Will vary based on the api_version and kind.

Returned: success

status

complex

Current status details for the object.

Returned: success

Authors

  • Chris Houseknecht (@chouseknecht)

  • Fabian von Feilitzsch (@fabianvf)