Ansible Configuration Files¶

ansible.cfg¶

This tells Ansible where to find things and how to behave. Place at ~/ansible/ansible.cfg.

The core of it:

[defaults]
inventory = inventory/hosts.ini
remote_user = username
private_key_file = ~/.ssh/ansible
# ...

[privilege_escalation]
become = True
# ...

The complete file is in the worked example: Base Configuration → ansible.cfg.

What each setting does:

inventory: Default inventory file so you don't have to pass -i every time.
remote_user: SSH user on all managed nodes.
private_key_file: The Ansible SSH key you generated.
roles_path: Where to find roles.
host_key_checking = False: Don't prompt on first SSH connection. Safe on a local VLAN.
retry_files_enabled = False: Don't create .retry files on failure (they clutter the directory).
callback_result_format = yaml: More readable output format (YAML results from the built-in default callback; the old stdout_callback = yaml plugin was removed in community.general 12).
become = True: Use sudo by default (most tasks need root).
become_ask_pass = False: Assumes username has passwordless sudo. If not, set this to True or configure sudoers.
vault_password_file = .vault_pass: Decrypts the vault automatically (see Vault).

Important: username needs passwordless sudo on all managed nodes. Fresh Debian minimal doesn't ship sudo, so this is a manual step before the first run: see Install & project setup → SSH key setup or Base Configuration → Pre-Ansible setup.