Ansible Reference Code Blocks

Canonical patterns to compose from when writing Ansible code. Include only the blocks that the playbook or role actually needs.

Error Handling - block/rescue/always

Use this pattern for tasks that may fail and require recovery or guaranteed cleanup:

- name: Risky operation with recovery
  block:
    - name: Task that might fail
      ansible.builtin.command: /bin/risky

  rescue:
    - name: Recovery action
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "Recovering from failure..."

  always:
    - name: Cleanup temporary file
      ansible.builtin.file:
        path: /tmp/temp
        state: absent

• block: the primary task sequence.
• rescue: runs only when a task in block fails; use it for recovery logic.
• always: runs unconditionally after block or rescue; use it for cleanup.

Template Task Pair

- name: Render nginx virtualhost config
  ansible.builtin.template:
    src: nginx-vhost.conf.j2
    dest: /etc/nginx/sites-available/{{ site_name }}.conf
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: "0644"
  notify: Reload nginx

shell/command with Idempotency Guards

- name: Compile application
  ansible.builtin.command:
    cmd: make build
    chdir: /opt/app
  creates: /opt/app/bin/app
  changed_when: false