Welcome to the Ansible Development Tools Workshop

A brief introduction to the workshop, including tips for the lab environment.

Workshop Overview

Welcome to the Intro to creating automation with the new Ansible Development Tools workshop!

This workshop introduces Ansible Development Tools as a modern, opinionated toolchain for building, testing, and distributing Ansible content.

Rather than focusing on individual commands in isolation, the workshop emphasizes:

  • Consistency across environments

  • Reproducible development workflows

  • Improved developer experience

  • Alignment with enterprise automation practices

The objective is to understand how Ansible content is developed today, not just how it is executed.

Lab Tips

Before we begin, here are some basic tips to improve your lab experience:

  1. The instructions sidebar (where you are reading this) can be resized by dragging its border. This is useful if you need extra space for the main panel.

  2. If you receive any VS Code notification pop-ups, you can safely ignore and dismiss them by clicking x, Dismiss, or Ignore, unless otherwise noted.

  3. Copy & Pasting into the VS Code Terminal: There is a known issue with the workshop setup while trying to paste into the VS Code Terminal:

    Reload extensions in VS Code

    1. Chrome: The key combo of Control + Shift + V (Mac: Command + Shift + V) should work for pasting. Another workaround requires using Firefox.

    2. Firefox: The key combo of Control + Shift + V (Mac: Command + Shift + V). There is another workaround by using the right-click menu for Paste into the Terminal (and if using Linux, you might use the selection-buffer and middle-click).

  4. The lab consists of several Modules (also known as Chapters or Sections). Each Module contains one or more Tasks.

  5. When you finish a Module, you must click the Next button at the bottom of the instructions sidebar to proceed.

What Are Ansible Development Tools?

Ansible Development Tools (often referred to as Ansible Dev Tools or ansible-dev-tools) are a curated bundle of command-line tools designed to support the entire Ansible content lifecycle.

These tools cover:

  • Project scaffolding

  • Local development environments

  • Linting and static analysis

  • Testing with ephemeral infrastructure

  • Content signing

  • Execution Environment creation

  • CI/CD integration

Instead of assembling and maintaining these tools individually, the bundle provides known-good versions and predictable integration between tools.

Why Use the ansible-dev-tools bundle?

Using the Ansible Dev Tools bundle provides several key advantages.

Reproducibility

All contributors use the same tools and compatible versions, locally and in automation pipelines, reducing environment-related issues.

Integrated Workflow

The tools are designed to work together:

  • Scaffolding feeds testing

  • Testing feeds packaging

  • Packaging feeds publishing

This enables a smooth transition from development to distribution.

Shift-Left Quality

Quality checks are applied early in the development lifecycle through linting, testing, and policy enforcement.

Enterprise Alignment

The workflow aligns with enterprise automation practices, including Automation Hub, Execution Environments, and signed content.

Tools You Will Encounter in This Workshop

Throughout the workshop, you will work with several Ansible development tools, including:

  • ansible-creator for project scaffolding

  • ansible-lint for static analysis and best practices

  • molecule for role and collection testing

  • ansible-navigator for a consistent execution interface

  • ansible-sign for content signing

  • ansible-builder for Execution Environment creation

  • Supporting tools such as tox, pytest-ansible, and container engines

Each tool will be introduced when it becomes relevant in the workflow.

Installation and Environment Options (Overview)

Ansible Development Tools can be consumed in multiple ways depending on workflow and system requirements.

This workshop uses one of these approaches, but you will be able to install ansible-dev-tools with the option that adapts best to your situation.

Dev Containers

  • Preconfigured and containerized development environments

  • Ideal for integrating with VS Code

  • Consistent across OS platforms, supporting Mac OS, Windows and Linux

  • Red Hat supported and community options

RPM Packages

  • Suitable for RHEL-based systems

  • System-level integration

  • Common in enterprise environments

  • Red Hat supported

Dev Spaces (Future Direction)

  • Browser-based, cloud-hosted development environments

  • Centralized configuration

  • Minimal local setup

  • Red Hat supported and community options

Python Packages (pip)

  • Flexible and lightweight

  • Often combined with virtual environments

  • Common for local developer setups

  • Community supported

Regardless of the installation method, the development workflow remains consistent.

Scope and Expectations

This workshop focuses on development workflows and tooling.

It assumes basic familiarity with Ansible concepts and does not cover introductory Ansible usage or production operations.

What Comes Next

In the following modules, you will:

  1. Scaffold an Ansible project using modern tooling

  2. Understand how environments and dependencies are managed

  3. Apply linting and testing to improve content quality

  4. Build Execution Environments suitable for automation platforms

  5. Package and sign content

By the end of the workshop, you should understand not only how to use the tools, but also how they fit together in a complete development workflow.