ansible.builtin.import_playbook module – Import a playbook

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name import_playbook even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.import_playbook 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 plays to be executed.

  • Files with a list of plays can only be included at the top level.

  • You cannot use this action inside a play.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

free-form

string

The name of the imported playbook is specified directly without any other option.

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: partial

While the import can be host specific and runs per host it is not dealing with all available host variables, use an include instead for those cases

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: partial

The task itself is not looped, but the loop is applied to each imported task

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 imports

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

While the action itself will ignore the conditional, it will be inherited by the imported tasks themselves

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 not interpreted for this action, they are applied to the imported tasks

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

  • This is a core feature of Ansible, rather than a module, and cannot be overridden like a module.

See Also

See also

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.

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

- hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: play1

- name: Include a play after another play
  ansible.builtin.import_playbook: otherplays.yaml

- name: Set variables on an imported playbook
  ansible.builtin.import_playbook: otherplays.yml
  vars:
    service: httpd

- name: Include a playbook from a collection
  ansible.builtin.import_playbook: my_namespace.my_collection.my_playbook

- name: This DOES NOT WORK
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: task1

    - name: This fails because I'm inside a play already
      ansible.builtin.import_playbook: stuff.yaml

Authors

  • Ansible Core Team (@ansible)