kb-perbyte / ansible-navigator

A text-based user interface (TUI) for the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

ansible-navigator

A text-based user interface (TUI) for the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Quick start

Using a virtual environment and pip

mkdir project_directory
cd project_directory
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install ansible-navigator
ansible-navigator --help

By default, ansible-navigator uses execution environments, to use ansible-navigator without an execution enviroment, ansible is required

pip install ansible
ansible-navigator --execution-environment false

RHEL8/Centos8 prerequisites:

sudo dnf install python3
sudo dnf install gcc python3-devel

Welcome

Start at the welcome page, from the welcome page you can run playbooks, browse collections, explore inventories, review docs and more.

ansible-navigator

Other things to try direct from the command line

Using interactive mode, which is the default

Review and explore available collections

ansible-navigator collections

Review and explore current ansible configuration

ansible-navigator config

Review and explore documentation (default mode is interactive)

ansible-navigator doc ansible.netcommon.cli_command

Review and explore an inventory

ansible-navigator inventory -i inventory.yaml

Run and explore a playbook

ansible-navigator run site.yaml -i inventory.yaml

Using stdout mode, which returns ansible's familiar command-line interface (CLI) output

Show the current ansible configuration

ansible-navigator config dump -m stdout

Show documentation

ansible-navigator doc sudo -t become  -m stdout

Show an inventory

ansible-navigator inventory --list -i inventory.yaml -m stdout

Run a playbook

ansible-navigator run site.yaml -i inventory.yaml -m stdout

Available subcommands

For the full list of available subcommands and their mapping to ansible commands, see the subcommand guide

Configuring ansible-navigator:

ansible-navigator can be configured:

1. using default values
2. with a settings file
3. with environment variables
4. at the command line
5. while issuing : comamnds within the text-based user interface (TUI)

Setting are applied in that order. For an overview of these approaches, see the settings guide

Key bindings and colon commands

While using the terminal user interface keys and commands are avilable, the following is also available within the application by typing :help:

## GENERAL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
esc                                     Go back
^f/PgUp                                 Page up
^b/PgDn                                 Page down
arrow up, arrow down                    Scroll up/down
:collections                            Explore installed collections
:config                                 Explore the current Ansible configuration
:d, :doc <plugin>                       Show a plugin doc
:r, :run <playbook> -i <inventory>      Run a playbook using in interactive mode
:f, :filter <re>                        Filter page lines using a regex
:h, :help                               This page
:i, :inventory <inventory>              Explore the current or alternate inventory
:l, :log                                Review current log file
:o, :open                               Open current page in the editor
:o, :open {{ some_key }}                Open file path in a key's value
:q, :quit                               Quit the application
:q!, :quit!, ^c                         Force quit while a playbook is running
:rr, :rerun                             Rerun the playbook
:s, :save <file>                        Save current plays as an artifact
:st, :stream                            Watch playbook results real time
:w, :write <file>                       Write current page to a new file
:w!, :write! <file>                     Write current page to an existing or new file
:w>>, :write>> <file>                   Append current page to an existing file
:w!>>, :write!>> <file>                 Append current page to an existing or new file

## MENUS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0-9]                                   Go to menu item
:<number>                               Go to menu item
:{{ n|filter }}                         Template the menu item

## TASKS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0-9]                                   Go to task number
:<number>                               Go to task number
+, -                                    Next/Previous task
_, :_                                   Toggle hidden keys
:{{ key|filter }}                       Template the key's value
:d, :doc                                Show the doc for the current task's module
:j, :json                               Switch to JSON serialization
:y, :yaml                               Switch to YAML serialization

## LINE INPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
esc                                     Exit line input
^A                                      Beginning of line
^E                                      End of line
insert                                  Enable/disable insert mode
arrow up, arrow down                    Previous/next command in history