Will my playbook run?

Volant loads the whole ansible-core 2.19 grammar, so your playbook parses here as it parses under Ansible. Whatever this release does not support yet is named before the first connection, and the run stops there. You find out in seconds, and nothing half-runs.

Check a project

1. Read it without running it. Listings and --syntax-check never stop on an unsupported module or keyword, so they work even on a playbook this release cannot run yet:

   volant playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml --syntax-check
   volant playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml --list-tasks

   If the task list matches what ansible-playbook --list-tasks prints, Volant compiled your roles, imports and tags the same way.

2. Ask for a real run against one host you can afford to touch:

   volant playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml --limit test1

   Anything this release cannot execute stops the run before it connects. The message names the module, the keyword or the value, and the run exits with code 4.

3. Fix or wait. Everything not supported yet is listed in Keywords or Modules, and most have a workaround below.

Note

A file that only a dynamic include_tasks or include_role names is read when a host reaches that statement, so an unsupported module or keyword inside it stops the run at that point instead of before it. See Includes and imports.

At a glance

Area	Runs today	Not yet
Plays	pre_tasks, roles, tasks, post_tasks, handlers, serial, strategy: linear	any_errors_fatal, max_fail_percentage, order, throttle
Tasks	when, loop, with_items, with_first_found, with_fileglob, register, until, retries, changed_when, failed_when, ignore_errors, no_log, environment, timeout, tags	async, other with_* lookups, check_mode: true, diff
Blocks	block, rescue, always
Reuse	roles and dependencies, import_tasks, import_role, import_playbook, include_tasks, include_role, include_vars	include_vars: dir
Delegation	delegate_to, delegate_facts, run_once	local_action
Modules	command, shell, raw, controller modules, copy, dnf, fetch, package, reboot, service, template, unarchive, most ansible-core Python modules, modules from installed collections	a few modules backed by an action plugin: uri, script and others, and a collection’s own action plugins
Inventories	static INI files, group_vars, host_vars	YAML inventories, inventory directories, dynamic inventories
Connections	ssh with keys or an ssh-agent, local	SSH passwords, Windows, network devices
Escalation	become through sudo, with or without a password	su, doas and other methods
Templating	Jinja2 with the common Ansible filters, tests and lookups	!vault, !unsafe, some filters such as hash or password_hash, filters and lookups from collections
Run modes	normal runs, the four listing commands	--check, --diff, --start-at-task, --step

Common blockers and what to do

Not supported yet	Why	What you can do today
uri, script	These modules rely on an action plugin that runs on the controller first, and Volant does not have theirs yet.	Use a module without an action plugin, such as get_url or lineinfile, or command and shell.
A collection module its collection runs through an action plugin, such as ansible.posix.synchronize	Volant runs a collection’s modules, not its action plugins.	Keep the play under ansible-playbook for now.
A collection that is not installed	Volant never installs one. It asks the controller’s ansible-core what is installed, before the first connection.	Run the ansible-galaxy collection install command the error names. See Modules from collections.
local_action	It is not supported yet.	Write delegate_to: localhost, which does the same job and runs.
with_dict and the other with_* forms	Only with_items, with_first_found and with_fileglob have a loop.	Rewrite with loop and a filter, such as loop: "{{ users | dict2items }}".
check_mode: true or --check	There is no check mode yet.	Run against a test host.
An inventory in YAML	Only INI inventories are read.	Convert it to INI, or keep it under Ansible for now.
gather_subset	Not supported yet.	Remove it: the play gets every fact.

If a playbook behaves differently under Volant and ansible-playbook without being reported as unsupported, that is a bug. Please open a compatibility report with a minimal playbook.